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Sharks Earn Second Win of 2023 Against Navs

06/12/2023 7:50 PM

LYNN, Mass. -- The Martha’s Vineyard Sharks scored in five of their nine innings on the way to defeating the host North Shore Navigators 9-1 in Monday night’s New England Collegiate Baseball League game at Fraser Field.

North Shore fell to 2-4 following its third straight loss. Defending NECBL champion Martha’s Vineyard moved to 3-2, with two of its victories coming against the Navs.

Navs right fielder Jake McElroy (Holy Cross) reached base in all four of his plate appearances, going 2-for-2 with two walks and scored the lone run. 

Navs starter Ross Dexter (UMass Boston) faced the minimum through the first five batters before back-to-back singles by Martha’s Vineyard shortstop Gio Colasante (Harvard) and designated hitter Carsten Sabathia (Georgia Tech) got the visitors’ offense going. An error on a failed pickoff attempt allowed the opening run to score with two outs.

The Sharks expanded their lead to 3-0 in the fourth. Right fielder Caden Shapiro (Princeton) hit a leadoff single and scored on Colasante’s ringing triple into the left-center gap. Sabathia followed with a sacrifice fly to left.

A two-out run in the next half-inning helped North Shore get back within two runs. Second baseman Henry Kaczmar (Ohio State) and McElroy immediately started the rally by drawing a walk. 

After the Navs were unable to move the runners over on an attempted sacrifice bunt, catcher Matt Chatelle (Merrimack) reached on a fielder’s choice and moved up on a subsequent error. Messervy continued his hot-hitting start to the season with an RBI single, ripping a single into right to get the home team on the board.

In the fifth, Sharks third baseman Nolan Nawrocki (Clemson) drew a leadoff walk and first baseman Ryan McCoy (Louisville) followed up with a base hit. After a successful double steal, center fielder Nathan Hall’s (Clemson) sac fly and a single by Shapiro upped the Vineyard lead to 5-1.

Hall ripped the Sharks’ second triple of the game with one-out in the seventh and came home to score on a Shapiro sac fly to center. A towering two-run home run by Carmine Petosa (Bryant) and an error allowed runs to score for the Vineyard an inning later.

Though the visitors racked up nine runs on 14 hits, Navs relievers Nick Davis (Northeastern) and Sawyer Duarte (Middlebury) each posted scoreless innings of relief. Davis fanned a pair of batters.

Shapiro and Colasante each went 3-for-4 and scored twice for the Sharks. Bradley Gagen (Tennessee) dealt four innings of one-hit, shutout relief with five strikeouts to earn the victory.

The Navs play the third of four straight home games at 6:35 p.m. Wednesday against the Vermont Mountaineers.