Baseball / Friedman Makes Record Appearance, Mainers Edge Navs in Monday Thriller

Friedman Makes Record Appearance, Mainers Edge Navs in Monday Thriller

Date:  Source: New England Collegiate Baseball League

SANFORD, Maine (July 28, 2025) 一 The North Shore Navigators rallied from four runs down after six innings to tie the game in the eighth, but fell to the host Sanford Mainers 8-7 in Monday night’s New England Collegiate Baseball League game at Goodall Park.

 

North Shore fell to 15-26 on the summer, while Sanford moved to 22-20 and clinched the No. 2 seed in the North Division playoff structure.

 

Designated hitter Aidan Sengenberger (Seton Hall) went 3-for-4 with three RBI and a run scored to lead the Navs, while catcher Aukai Kea (Vanderbilt) highlighted a 2-for-4 performance with a two-out, two-strike, two-RBI single to level the score in the eighth. 

 

The Navs climbed out of a 7-3 deficit, scoring twice in both the seventh and eighth innings. After Sanford second baseman Zack Kent’s (Binghamton) sacrifice fly scored the go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth, Sengenberger led off the ninth with a double before the hosts got out of a bases-loaded jam to end the game.

 

Swampscott native righty Pierce Friedman (Maine) became North Shore’s franchise leader in career NECBL appearances. In his 45th Navs outing over three summers, Friedman relieved Elliott Eaton (Princeton) after 3.1 innings and finished the game, striking out a summer career-high six while allowing zero hits across the final 4.2 frames.

 

In the seventh, center fielder Nater Wachter (UConn) drew a leadoff walk before Kea lined a single to center two batters later. After a double steal moved both runners into scoring position, Sengenberger dropped a two-out, two-run single into right to make it a 7-5 game.

 

Friedman’s second 1-2-3 inning of the night set up the game-tying opportunity in the eighth. 

 

The Navs got the offense going with two outs, as right fielder Ethan Wilson (Winthrop) and Wachter hit back-to-back singles and first baseman Alex Marot (Charleston Southern) walked to load the bases. Kea offered Sanford closer Sam Mitchell (Alabama) a rude greeting, lining his two-run single into right-center field to bring the Navs even.

 

In the ninth, Sengenberger ripped a leadoff double to deep center and third baseman Davis Baker (Penn) walked on a full-count pitch. Wilson’s two-out free pass loaded the bases, but Mitchell retired the side to clinch the win for Sanford.

 

After Eaton worked around a two-out baserunner to retire the side in the first, center fielder Sam Miller’s (Binghamton) two-out RBI single into the shortstop hole an inning later gave the Mainers a 1-0 lead.

 

Meanwhile, Sanford starter Connor Toriello (Salve Regina) set aside the first five Navigators he faced before fellow left-hander Alex Cook (Stonehill) replaced him due to injury and continued the scoreless and hitless outing through three innings. 

 

The Navs then flipped the score with three runs on three hits in the fourth. Marot drew a leadoff walk, advanced to second on a balk and stole third before crossing the plate as left fielder Alec Welshans (La Salle) ripped a game-tying RBI double to the left-field wall two batters later. 

 

Sengenberger followed Welshans with an opposite-field single to right to give North Shore its first lead, and shortstop Jack Rickheim (Harvard) lined a double inside the left-field line to make it a 3-1 ballgame.

 

After Sanford’s first six batters reached base and five scored to begin the fourth, Friedman struck out the first two batters he faced to end the threat. He also struck out two in the fifth. The first run he allowed came in the sixth after Miller was hit by a pitch, stole second and third, and scored on a throwing error.

 

North Shore returns home to play its final three regular-season games at Fraser Field, beginning with a 4:05 p.m. doubleheader on Tuesday against the North Adams SteepleCats. The team’s finale against the Danbury Westerners, which was originally scheduled for Thursday at Rogers Park, will now be played in Lynn at 1:05 p.m. on Wednesday.