Sunday Afternoon Update – Brockton at North Shore Navigators Tonight at 7 p.m. in Playoff Opener-
Speros Varinos is the starting pitcher tonight for Navs.
Saturday Night Game Story
Portmouth, NH – The North Shore Navigators finished off the regular season in style on a trip to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The team defeated the Seacoast Mavericks by a final score of 14-3 to finish the FCBL season with a 29-27 record and clinch the fourth seed in the playoff race. The win ensured that the team will have a home playoff game to kick off their postseason.
In the first inning, the Navigators got their offense going in a small rally. With one out, MacDaniel Singleton (Salem State University) singled and Jordan Roper (Marist College) moved him to third with a single of his own. Christian Cabrera (Broward CC) would then come to the plate and lace a single up the middle to score Singleton. Then, Mike D’Acunti (Southeastern University) really opened things up by lacing a pitch to the right field gap for a double. That gave the Navs a 3-0 lead heading to the bottom of the first.
The third inning saw the Navigators offense continue to thrive. D’Acunti led off the frame with an absolute bomb to center field that traveled over the fence for his third home run of the season. Two batters later, Colby Maiola (UMass Lowell) came to the plate and launched his eighth home run of the season. The homer helped Maiola to set the Navigators franchise record for single season home runs, which had previously been held by current Los Angeles Angels minor leaguer Richie Fecteau. The two homers made the score 5-0.
The scoring would not end there as Singleton would double home a run to make it 6-0. Then, with the bases loaded, Cabrera would come up huge. He blasted a three run double to left field that blew the game wide open and gave the Navigators a 9-0 lead.
From there, the Navigators would go on to score 5 more runs late in the game to take home the 14-3 victory. On the night, seven Navigators recorded a hit while every batter reached base at least once. Eight Navigators recorded RBIs and D’Acunti and Cabrera led the way with three RBIs apiece.
Although the offense was the story of the game, the Navigators got a terrific performance out of their starting pitcher, Al Wallach (Framingham State). Wallach made his first start of the season and did not disappoint for the Navigators. He worked 5 2/3 innings for the team and shut out the Mavericks for the first five innings, only allowing a single hit. He did allow three runs in the sixth inning, but this was only after the Navs already had a 12-0 lead. He was credited with the win thanks to his effort.
To close the game, Quinn DiPasquale (Stevens Institute) and Alex Brickman (Siena College) came on and shut down the Mavericks. They worked 3 2/3 scoreless innings combined and looked solid on the mound.
The Navigators will take on the fifth seeded Brockton Rox on Sunday, August 7 at 5:00 p.m. The game will be a do-or-die game at Fraser Field in Lynn and the winner will advance to the FCBL semi-finals.
