LYNN — The North Shore Navigators logged their second consecutive win Thursday night, scoring four of their five runs in the third inning en route to a 5-3 win over the Worcester Bravehearts at Fraser Field.
Designated hitter George Sutherland (Cochise) went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI to lead North Shore’s eight-hit attack for the second consecutive night. St. John’s Prep grad Zach Begin (St. Joseph’s of Maine) held the Bravehearts to just two hits over the final three innings for a save, lifting the Navs to 6-13 on the year.
Navs starter Garret Keough (Holy Cross) retired the first two Worcester batters he faced, but four consecutive walks allowed right fielder Michael Dellicarri (SUNY Oswego) to circle the bases and score the first run. Third baseman Jon Hansen (West Chester) was credited with the RBI on the fourth of those free passes.
Worcester doubled its lead in the fourth inning as shortstop Alex Gionis (Holy Cross) scored on a wild pitch after being hit by a pitch with one out, but the Navs took the lead with four runs in the bottom half of the frame. Right fielder JP Knight (Tufts) led off the big inning with a single, advanced to second on his ninth stolen base of the season, and scored North Shore’s first run of the night after Sutherland dropped a single into shallow center field on a hit-and-run play.
Left fielder Jeff Mejia (UMass Lowell) and second baseman Joey Murphy (Saint Joseph’s of Maine) recorded back-to-back singles with two outs. Murphy tied the game with a liner to right, extending his hitting streak to five games. He advanced on a failed pickoff attempt that brought home Mejia and then scored as center fielder Michael Wynne (Wofford) worked into a rundown between first and second base.
The teams traded runs in the sixth to move the score to 5-3 as the game stretched into the later innings, and Begin held Worcester to just two hits from there en route to his first save of the season. Ethan Dyer (Endicott) earned his first win of the summer after allowing just one run on two hits over two innings of work in relief of Keough.
Gionis led off the top of the sixth with a triple and scored on Dellicarri’s RBI grounder to second base. In the bottom half, Sutherland and Varinos got the North Shore offense going with back-to-back singles, and Sutherland scored the insurance run on a wild pitch on his 19th birthday.
Begin dealt a 1-2-3 frame in the seventh before stranding two runners on base in the eighth and another in the ninth. Worcester slipped to 8-11 with its third consecutive loss.
The Navs conclude their three-game homestand Friday at 7 p.m. against Nashua. After recording two consecutive wins, North Shore now sits just a half-game behind the Silver Knights in the FCBL standings.