PITTSFIELD – “ The North Shore Navigators broke out the bats leading to their second doubleheader sweep of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League season, posting 9-1 and 10-4 victories over the Pittsfield Suns on Saturday night at Wahconah Park.
The two victories lift the Navs to 16-19 on the season and into a seventh-place tie with the Worcester Bravehearts, who they beat in four out of five meetings this season. Pittsfield slides to 18-19 with its second and third consecutive losses.
Navs starters Austen Michel (Dartmouth) and Corey Imbriano (Northern Essex C.C.) combined to pitch 12 of 14 innings on the day with 17 strikeouts. Michel went the seven-inning distance, fanning nine.
Second baseman Daane Berezo (VCU) went 5-for-5 in the opener and finished the doubleheader with seven hits, while Alex Brickman (St. Petersburg) recorded four RBI in each game, breaking the Navs’ single-season record and extending his FCBL lead with 41.
The Navs return to action one final time before the FCBL All-Star break Sunday as they host the Bristol Blues at Fraser Field. Matt Connor’s (UMass Lowell) makes the start with first pitch scheduled for 5 p.m.
Game 1: North Shore 9, Pittsfield 1
There was no sign of let up for North Shore as seven batters came to the plate in a three-run first inning, setting up its second 15-hit attack in four games. Berezo tied Navigator franchise records with a 5-for-5 night and four runs scored, while first baseman Brickman went 2-for-5 and drove in four. Third baseman Nick Falkson (Tufts) and left fielder Nick Fuhrmann (Frederick C.C.) drove in two runs apiece.
Shortstop Joey Pena (St. Thomas Aquinas) and Berezo recorded back-to-back singles off Pittsfield starter Bob Hamel (Western New England) to open the game before a walk to designated hitter Tyler Kapsucinski (Marist) loaded the bases with nobody out. After Brickman struck out, Falkson dropped a two-run single to left field and Fuhrmann’s fielder’s choice grounder to shortstop gave the visitors an early 3-0 lead.
Michel had not walked more than one batter in any of his first four starts this season before issuing free passes to the first two Suns he faced. Later, Pittsfield leadoff man and center fielder Kevin Donati (UAlbany) scored on designated hitter Ryan Arena’s (Babson) sacrifice fly to left.
Pittsfield managed just two hits in the second inning and one each in the third and fourth against Michel, who struck out a season-high nine batters in becoming the first pitcher in the Nav’s FCBL history to throw two complete games – albeit, a pair of seven-inning efforts – in a single season.
The Navs scored in three of the last five frames to take the commanding win. In the third, Brickman scored Berezo with the team’s third of three straight hits, following up Kapuscinski’s single to right, which extended his new franchise record-setting hitting streak to 13 games.
The Navs left two runners aboard in the fourth and fifth innings before Brickman’s grounder to shortstop, Fuhrmann’s second fielder’s choice, and an error all plated runs in a four-hit sixth. In the seventh, North Shore went to work with two outs as Berezo lined his fifth hit of the game into center field, Kapuscinski walked, and Brickman doubled to right to bring them both home.
Michel allowed a leadoff double to Pittsfield shortstop Hal Hughes (LSU) in the fifth, but retired the next nine batters he faced. He finished the game on 96 pitches, 67 of which were strikes.
Game 2: North Shore 10, Pittsfield 4
The teams traded runs in the first inning as Brickman scored Pena with a line single to center field, while Pittsfield left fielder Greg Cavaliere (Rhode Island) hit a leadoff single and scored on the back end of an attempted double steal. Brickman set the Navs’ seasonal benchmark with his 38th RBI of the season, passing Mike D’Acunti, who set the previous record last summer.
Imbriano and Pittsfield’s Jensen Lewis (New Mexico) each tossed two scoreless innings following the 1-1 deadlock, but North Shore exploded for nine runs on seven hits and two errors in a 15-batter fourth inning. Imbriano struck out eight over five innings of six-hit ball, nabbing his first win of the summer.
Each of the first six Navs who came to bat scored runs in the fourth inning, but only two of them – right fielder Ted Leathersich and center fielder Jeff Mejia, both of UMass Lowell – reached via base hits.
Brickman provided the biggest blow as the ninth batter of the game-winning frame, downing a two-run single inside the right-field line, while Falkson posted his first of two hits on the ballgame and scored on Leathersich’s sacrifice fly to right field four batters later, which marked the innings second out. Leathersich recorded two RBI in a game for the first time this summer, both coming in one inning.
The nine-run inning ensured the Navs’ fouth double-digit scoring effort in the last five games.
The Suns scored three times in the sixth inning against Cam Lanzilli (Eckerd), who allowed two earned runs on two hits, including second baseman Scott Holzwasser’s (Northeastern) RBI single, and two walks.
North Shore recorded two hits in the sixth and one in the seventh without scoring a run. Cole Bradley (Wofford) finished off the game with a 1-2-3 frame, including two fly balls and a strikeout.
