Live Updates - Navs @ Vermont, 7/2/2008

North Shore Navigators: (12-6, 2nd in Northern Division)
@
Vermont Mountaineers: (9-8, 4th in Northern Divison)

Previous Meetings
This will be the fourth meeting of the season between the Navs and the Mountaineers, with North Shore leading the season series 2-1. North Shore came away with a 4-3 victory against Vermont on opening day. Since then, each team has taken a game at the other's home park - the Navs with a 8-2 win in Montpelier on June 27, and Vermont with a 3-2 decision the very next day at Fraser Field.

Starting Lineups

Navs/Vermont

1. Little (CF) / Sherry (SS)
2. Provencher (RF) / Felix (C)
3. McNaughton (LF) / Nieto (CF)
4. Belcher (DH) / Mercer (1B)
5. Kuehl (2B) / Schauer (LF)
6. McConnell (C) / Harris (RF)
7. Graham (1B) / Oaks (DH)
8. Geason (3B) / Duffy (3B)
9. Zurcher (SS) / Roof (2B)

Starting Pitchers

NS: #55 Wayde Kitchens (0-1, 0.52 ERA, 17.1 IP, 12 K, 8 BB, .238 BAA)
VT: #23 Nick Greenwood (2-0, 2.45 ERA, 18.1 IP, 23 K, 3 BB, .211 BAA)

Live Updates

9:19 PM: Navs win, Navs win! Oaks goes down on three pitches and Duffy grounds out to short. Navs win, 4-3.

9:17 PM: Harris hits a rope to left, but it hangs up enough for McNaughton to make the play. One out as McConnell has a few quick words with Prescott.

9:16 PM: Prescott hits Schauer with his first pitch tonight. One on, no out.

9:12 PM: McNaughton, Belcher and Kuehl down in order in the ninth. Chris Prescott is on, going for his seventh save of the season. It all comes down to this...

9:03 PM: Two batters, two popouts for "Killa" Kowalski. Zurcher made a nice sliding catch on the latter. To the ninth we go, still 4-3. Dusty Odenbach is in for Vermont, Chris Prescott is throwing in the Navigator pen.

8:59 PM: Markovitz gets Felix to fly out, but that'll be it for him as Falcon has come out to make the change. Now pitching for the Navs... Chris Kowalski.

8:56 PM: Felix kept runners at first and second with several blocks in the dirt, and Balsind popped Provencher up to first to end the inning. Markovitz is coming out for the bottom of the 8th.

8:45 PM: With the Navs looking for an insurance run here in the eighth, Matt Costello pinch hit for Graham, beating out an infield single to deep short to lead off the inning. Chris Kowalski is warming up in the pen.

8:41 PM: Roof with a fly ball into shallow center. Little made a sliding catch, but it was deep enough to let Oaks come in from third. Markovitz gets Sherry to pop out for the third out. 4-3 Navs

8:39 PM: Oaks drove a two-strike pitch into the gap in right-center. Little made a diving stab, but couldn't quite come up with the ball, allowing Oaks to make it all the way to third. Markovitz fanned Duffy for the first out of the inning. Full count to Roof...

8:34 PM: A long drive into the gap in left-center off the bat of McConnell, but Schauer ran under it for the third out of the inning. Markovitz has come in to pitch for the Navs. Kitchens' final line: 6IP, 2R, 1ER, 5K, 4BB.

8:28 PM: With Little on third and McNaughton on second, Vermont's manager called for an intentional walk of Tyler Kuehl. With that, Panzarella is done for the day and AJ Balsind will come in to face Jay McConnell. Will #18 make him pay?

8:20 PM: Greenwood is done for Vermont, leaving with a line of 6 IP, 4R, 3ER, 6H, 6K, 2BB. Nick Panzarella is on for his first appearance of the season. He walked Little to open the inning.

8:18 PM: The Kitchen walked another batter in the sixth but didn't yield anything else. He's thrown quite a few pitches to this point, and it looks like Jason Markovitz is warming up in the Navs' bullpen.

8:08 PM: A 1-2-3 inning for Greenwood and the Mountaineers. Still 4-2 heading into the bottom of the sixth.

8:02 PM: A much-needed quick inning for Kitchens. He walked Jonathan Roof to open the inning, but got the next two batters to pop out to Geason and McConnell on a total of three pitches. J-Mac then called for a pitchout and hosed Roof at second for the third out.

7:55 PM: Kuehl singled with two out, but McConnell grounded into a fielder's choice to end the Navs' half of the fifth. Greenwood seems to be settling down after the big third inning.

7:45 PM: Jeff Mercer hit a single up the middle to open the fourth. After a Scott Shauer groundout and a Nick Harris flyout, Mercer stood on third. Oaks then lined a single to left to send him home. That's just the second earned run of the year allowed by The Kitchen. 4-2 Navs

7:32 PM: Geason placed a double down the right field line with one out, but seemed to pull up lame on his way into second. Coach Falcon came out to check on him, but it doesn't look to be too serious - he'll remain in the game.

7:27 PM: McConnell's snap throw to third got away from Geason, giving Vermont its first run of the game. But Kitchens got Kevin Nieto with a routine fly ball to Provencher, limiting the damage. 4-1 Navs

7:25 PM: Steven Felix down by way of the K. Two out.

7:24 PM: Kitchens has struggled with his control a bit here in the third, walking Matt Duffy and Greg Sherry. Alan Oaks singled in between the walks, and the bases are loaded with one out in the inning.

7:10 PM: In the words of our internet broadcaster Brett Franklin, "Nick Belcher delivers just when you least expect it." With Prov on second and Little on third, Belcher knocked both of them with a signle over the glove of the Vermont third baseman, reaching second on the throw. Then, Tyler Kuehl struck out, but the ball got away from catcher Steven Felix, who threw it away and allowed Kuehl to reach. Belcher came all the way around from second to cross home. 4-0 Navs

7:04 PM: In the most unsurprising news of the night, Mike Provencher delivered for the Navs. After a Kyle Geason single and a Justin Little walk, Provencher bounced a double down the left field line, plating Geason. 1-0 Navs

6:57 PM: Looks like we've got an old-fashioned pitcher's duel on our hands, another 1-2-3 inning for Kitchens. Both pitchers have 3 strikeouts over their first two innings.

6:51 PM: With two outs in the second, catcher Jay McConnell broke the ice for the Navs with a line-drive single to right. But Greenwood struck out Kent Graham to retire the side.

6:46 PM: Sorry for getting the post up a bit late, but we're underway. Greenwood and Kitchens each posted a 1-2-3 inning to begin tonight's game. The Kitchen picked up two strikeouts in the process.