ITEM PHOTO BY KATIE MORRISON
Navigators pitcher Speros Varinos delivers a pitch during Sunday’s play-in game against the Brockton Rox at Fraser Field.
By Joshua Kummins
LYNN — The North Shore Navigators and Brockton Rox were about as close as two teams can be through a whole summer baseball season.
They finished just two games apart in the middle of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League (FCBL) standings and split their head-to-head season series with four wins apiece.
Thanks to rising Tufts University senior Speros Varinos’ masterful work on the mound and five second-inning runs, Sunday’s postseason opener at Fraser Field was not much of a contest.
The fourth-seeded Navs (30-27) earned a 5-0 win, with Varinos dealing eight innings of two-hit, shutout ball en route to his third victory of the summer.
“Just time after time with him,” said Navs manager John Zizzo of Varinos. “We were lucky today to put five runs up early, put it on his back and let him go with it, but he’s something else. Just a strike-thrower. When you’ve got a five-run lead, that’s how you’re supposed to pitch.”
Varinos struck out five Rox and did not walk one as he worked 1-2-3 frames in six of his eight innings, helping to lift the Navigators into the best-of-three semifinal round for just the second time in their FCBL history. A whopping 73 of Varinos’ 104 pitches were strikes.
The second-year Navigator from Middleton threw eight complete innings in the Navs’ no-hitter July 8, but nearly matched his effort in what could be his final home start as a Navigator.
“I just wanted to go out there and pitch my best today, knowing it could be my last time pitching here,” Varinos said. “I just felt like I was spotting my fastball really well today. They’re an aggressive team, so they liked to jump at it sometimes.”
Both sides went down 1-2-3 in the first inning, but the Navs took a commanding lead after pounding out four hits against Brockton starter Eric Keating (FAU) in the second.
North Shore sent 10 men to the plate as Keating threw 43 of his 76 total pitches in the blowout frame. Each of the first five Navs who came to bat in the inning scored.
“(Keating) had a low ERA and likes to throw his breaking ball a lot. We knew that, so our approach at the plate was geared towards that,” Zizzo said. “We have the best pitching staff in the league. And so when we can get a lead early, we’re pretty dangerous.”
Swampscott’s Brian Burke (Curry) proved just that, slamming the door shut with a 1-2-3 ninth inning, using just 14 pitches.
Shortstop Joey Pena (St. Thomas Aquinas) provided the crushing blow in the big frame, slicing a two-run double inside the right field line to score both catcher Mike D’Acunti (Southeastern) and first baseman Nick DiBenedetto (Trinity) with one out.
Center fielder Colby Maiola (UMass Lowell) paced the Navs offense, going 3-for-4 with a run scored and a RBI. After DiBenedetto’s single through the right side brought home the first run of the game, Maiola ripped a hard-hit ball past Brockton third baseman Chase Smartt (Troy) to drive in another.
“I was definitely just more trying to get on base any way I could,” Maiola said. “I was in the No. 8 hole today, so my role kind of changed from trying to be that big power guy to getting on base for the top of the lineup again.”
The North Shore defense was stellar as well, ensuring Varinos’ efforts in the Navs’ eventual sixth shutout of the year would not be spoiled.
Varinos’ Tufts teammate Nick Falkson made an over-the-shoulder catch at third base to deny Rox right fielder Rob Andreoli (LIU Post) a base hit in the first at-bat of the game, while MacDaniel Singleton (Salem State) made a diving catch on second baseman Chris Berry’s (North Florida) drive to left field in the fourth.
“It was a good effort from everybody today,” Varinos said. “That’s how you know everything is going to turn out alright because we were playing really well. Everything was kind of clicking.”
Maiola managed the Navs’ only hits outside of the five-run frame, leading off the fourth inning with an infield single and the sixth with a double. Brockton’s Bryce Tucker (UCF) struck out nine Navs batters over the final five innings.
The Navs will now face the two-time defending champion and top-seeded Worcester Bravehearts, a team they won three of four regular-season games against, in the semifinal round.
Game 1 of the best-of-three series is set for 7 p.m. Monday at Fraser Field. Southern Maine’s Jake Dexter is slated to get the start for the Navs.
“We played well against them, but we’ve got confidence against anyone we play,” Zizzo said. “If you’re not ready for that, you’re not a competitor. And we don’t have anybody here that’s not a competitor.”
Joshua Kummins can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaKummins.