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Navs Pitchers Dominate While Bats Find Hits in Collegiate Play

04/29/2024 1:30 PM

Until the North Shore Navigators assemble at Fraser Field to begin the 2024 New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL) season in early June, the team will be highlighting its incoming players’ top performances each week on nsnavs.com and social media.

Below is the 10th installment of the Navs' College Baseball Report, which will appear weekly on Mondays.

LYNN, Mass. — Deep pitching performances combined with strong hitting weekends propel incoming members of the North Shore Navigators in the 11th week of collegiate play. 

Headlining the group was returning Navigator left-hander Jack Iannibelli (Stonehill), who struck out three batters without allowing a run over 6.2 innings of combined relief work. Iannibelli secured his first win of the season on Sunday after dealing 4.2 frames against Coppin State, following a two-inning appearance in a win the prior Tuesday at Yale. The Stoneham native has now pitched three consecutive scoreless appearances and has accumulated seven strikeouts across his last four. 

Fellow returnee Sawyer Duarte (Middlebury) earned his second win in a row for the NESCAC playoff-bound Panthers, striking out seven over eight innings of five-hit ball against Wesleyan on Saturday. Duarte allowed just one hit through his first four innings while giving up just one earned run on the way to a 7-2 win. Saturday’s outing was Duarte’s with at least five strikeouts and his second with at least seven innings pitched.  

In the batter's box, catcher Matt Chatelle (Merrimack) went 4-for-8 between Saturday and Sunday, helping his Warriors achieve another sweep in Northeast Conference play against FDU. Chatelle started his weekend with a double and a home run on Saturday, driving in two of his team’s four runs in a shutout win. Chatelle’s homer on Saturday marked his career-high sixth of the season.

Infielder James Agabedis (Tulane) enjoyed a breakout week, going 8-for-12 with three doubles and one RBI across the Green Wave’s first three games. Agabedis led off his week with a 4-for-4 day last Tuesday against Southern Miss, putting up two doubles and an RBI. he followed up that performance with a 3-for-5 day including another double in the opening of an American Athletic Conference series against Wichita State. Agabedis drove his average up to .367 for the season, while his three doubles last week have outpaced the two total he hit last season. 

Danny MacDougall (Endicott) put up eight more hits for the top-ranked team in Division 3 baseball, finishing the week 8-for-18 with seven RBI. MacDougall highlighted his week early, going 4-for-4 with a double and two RBI on Thursday against UMass Boston. MacDougall then brought the power on Saturday, hitting a home run in each of the Gulls’ games against Hartford. The latter was a grand slam. MacDougall also walked eight times and struck out only once over five games. MacDougall leads Endicott in stolen bases with 28 and doubles with 12.   

Outfielder Alex Luccini (UMass Lowell) scored five runs and drove in two more while going 5-for-16 across four games. Luccini bookended his week with strong performances, going 2-for-4 last Tuesday against Harvard and finishing with the same line against UMBC on Sunday. Luccini slugged his ninth home run of the season and added a double against Harvard, as he holds the team lead in home runs (9), RBI (34) and slugging percentage (.538) for the River Hawks.

The on-base streak continued for Kyle Jones (Stetson), who has now reached base safely in 31 consecutive games after going 7-for-18 with a home run this past week. Jones began his week with a 2-for-4 game against Florida before collecting two hits in each of the Hatters’ first two games against North Florida. Jones opened the weekend series with a 2-for-4 effort with two walks and a run scored on Friday before slugging his second homer and stealing a base on Saturday. Jones drove his batting average up to a team-best .366, and currently leads the Atlantic Sun Conference with 21 stolen bases. 

St. John’s Prep grad Pat D’Amico (Seton Hall) took after Luccini in finishing with strong bookends to his last week of play. D’Amico went 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored last Tuesday against Rider. He rounded out the week with another 2-for-4 game, scoring twice while hitting his second homer of the season and doubling against Big East foe Butler on Sunday.

Mason Dobie (Dayton) contributed to the Flyers’ big week, going 5-for-17 with three runs scored and three RBI. Dobie started with a 2-for-4 outing against Eastern Kentucky, securing three RBI on a double and a homer. He then hit safely in three straight games against Davidson, drawing a walk and scoring a run as part of the team’s series sweep.

Another Nav with a big Tuesday was recent signee Will Burns (Maine), who slugged his first career home run as part of a 2-for-4 performance against Merrimack. The Reading native and former Austin Prep standout also collected a hit on Saturday as part of a 1-for-2 day with another RBI and two walks against America East foe Binghamton.    

Returning to the mound, Zane Coppersmith (Stetson) provided two more key performances out of the Hatters’ bullpen, putting together 1.2 innings of scoreless baseball across two games against North Florida. Coppersmith struck out a pair in his inning of Friday work before pitching two-thirds of a frame on Sunday. The freshman dropped his ERA to 1.37, marking the lowest of any Stetson reliever with at least one full inning of work.   

Harvard got strong relief work from Truman Pauley, who racked up eight strikeouts across his two appearances last week. Pauley allowed just two hits and struck out three in a two-inning outing against UMass Lowell last Tuesday. He went even deeper in Ivy League play on Saturday, striking out five and allowing just two earned runs over a career-long 5.2 innings against Penn. Pauley has tossed six consecutive games with at least two strikeouts while appearing for at least five innings.

Jack Volo (Georgetown) finished off the Hoyas’ 13-5 win last Tuesday over George Washington, striking out a season-high three while allowing just two hits across two innings. It was his seventh scoreless outing of the season.

The Navigators will return to historic Fraser Field and the NECBL for their 17th summer season in 2024, with first pitch set for Tuesday, June 4. Stay up to date on the latest Navs news — including further updates on current and former players — by visiting nsnavs.com and following the team on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.