Navigators Fall to Mainers in Midday Clash

By Jason Glick

LYNN, Mass. — On Saturday, the North Shore Navigators marched into Goodall Park in Sanford, Maine, and left with a 4-2 victory — their first of the New England Collegiate Baseball League season — over the Sanford Mainers.

The victorious road team trend continued Tuesday, as the Navigators (1-3) fell to the Mainers (3-2) 7-1 at Fraser Field. Peabody native Danati Fronduto (San Jacinto) had a team-high two hits and scored North Shore's lone run. 

Although Navs pitchers John Milewski (Brandeis) and Ismael Borrero (Mercer) dealt five strikeouts in the first four innings, Sanford broke the game open with five runs across the fifth and sixth innings to seal the result.

After a scoreless opening inning, the Mainers piled a pair of baserunners for second baseman Jacob Harring (Salve Regina) to bring home to take a 2-0 lead in the top of the second. Still, every out that starter Milewski recorded was a swinging strikeout. The Navigators responded with their first hit, courtesy of Fronduto.

During the next two innings, the Navs unleashed Borrero, who tossed a couple of strikeouts. Sanford went 1-2-3 in the third and only mustered one hit.

On the flipside, Sanford right-hander Drew Smith (UConn) remained potent, but the Navigators nearly got a run off him. Second baseman Conor Moriarty (Bowdoin) walked in the third inning and advanced to second and third base off passed balls.

The fifth inning was the game's most eventful. Sanford loaded its bases for catcher Brennan Staubley (Southern Connecticut State), who blasted a double to center, scoring another pair of baserunners. In a fielder's choice opportunity, third baseman Brian Connolly (Rhode Island) scored designated hitter Steven Kraus (Binghamton) to gain a 5-0 advantage.

But the Navs had some fireworks in the fifth, too. Similarly to the third inning, they came one base short of a run. Moriarty lifted a ball through a gaping centerfield hole and rounded the bases for a triple — the Navs' first of the summer.

Sanford matched North Shore's pace with right fielder Sam Miller's (Binghamton) triple during the top of the sixth. He scored on the ensuing at-bat, shipped home by center fielder Nick Zampieron (Stony Brook), who also reached home plate on a Kraus sacrifice fly.

Although the Navigators went down 7-0, they strung together their first pair of consecutive innings with hits in the sixth, as right fielder Grayson Carpenter (Dayton) singled to gain a team-leading four hits on the season, fittingly playing as North Shore's leadoff man.

North Shore suppressed the Mainers in the seventh, retiring them in four at-bats. It made them pay with three straight players reaching base in the latter half. Fronduto nabbed his second single of the game. Hudson Ellis (Oral Roberts) reached first following a Mainers error, scoring Fronduto to make it 7-1.

North Shore found its footing on the mound, only surrendering one hit in the last two innings. In the batter's box, Ellis and third baseman Simmi Whitehill (Monmouth) singled, but the late turnaround — with five straight innings with a hit — couldn't flip the outcome.

The Navs return to action Wednesday night on the road against the Keene Swamp Bats. First pitch at Alumni Field is at 6:35 p.m.