Navs' bats awaken, Costello wins pitching debut, 10-0

Steve DelVecchio, Navigators Sports Information Department

Making his pitching debut for the North Shore Navigators, Matt Costello could not have asked for a better night. Backed by an offense that came alive after a tough road trip, the Navigators (14-8) defeated the Northern Division leading Keene Swamp Bats (15-7) by a score of 10-0 to win their seventh home game of the year in ten chances. The Navigators had been beaten by Keene in their previous three meetings this season.

With the help of five Swamp Bat errors - four of them on pick-off attempts - the Navigators hitters were able to punish Keene’s pitching throughout the evening while making them pay heavily for their defensive mistakes. Keene starting pitcher Sean Bierman and first baseman Paul Karmas were not able to get on the same page for a number of pickoff attempts throughout the first part of the game.

“My thinking has always been that you want to establish a lead early, because it’s really hard to make comebacks in this league,” Coach Jason Falcon said of capitalizing on his opponents miscues. “I wanted those fourth, fifth, and sixth runs – we were going to continue to put pressure on them and try to make them make mistakes.”

Timely North Shore hits and a string of errors chased Bierman from the game after five innings of work. He yielded six runs on six hits while striking out six and walking one. Only four of the runs were earned

One Navigator who was able to cash in on an error-filled night from Keene was shortstop Nick Belcher, who had three runs batted in on two hits and a sacrifice fly. Belcher seemed to have Bierman’s number each time he stepped into the box to face him.

“[I did the same thing] I always try to do,” Belcher said. “I tried to get a pitch and drive it. His curveball was pretty good tonight, but I just tried to get a good pitch that I could handle and put a good swing on it.”

With the top of the Navigators order (Justin Little, Mike Provencher, Sean McNaughton, Nick Belcher) accounting for six of North Shore’s ten runs, the bottom of the order was also able to make contributions. First baseman Kent Graham was 2 for 4 in the contest, knocking in a pair of runs and joining Mike Provencher in becoming the second Navigators player to homer this season.

“It felt great,” Graham spoke of his break-out evening. “I’ve been struggling, but I feel like tonight was a good stepping stone moving forward. It was nice to just get a win tonight – we really needed it.”

Although a pitcher is always thrilled to be given ten runs to work with in a game, Matt Costello and the rest of the North Shore pitching staff only needed one run to come up with the victory in tonight’s game. Perhaps the most impressive part of Costello’s performance tonight is that he is a rare talent in the NECBL, receiving time as a position player and a starting pitcher. North Shore Head Coach Jason Falcon spoke of the importance of having a player like Costello on your roster.

“He’s new, and we’re still learning him – I didn’t know he had this in him,” Falcon said. “We’re excited about the fact that he gives us another option - he’s another bullet in that pitching staff.”

“I asked him for five [innings],” Falcon continued. “He and I didn’t speak too much before the game, but you could tell by watching him operate that he wasn’t coming out unless he wasn’t doing well. We’re excited to have him as part of our rotation.”

In what has become typical fashion over the course of the season, the Nav’s bullpen came in to close the game out and preserve the shutout. Ryan Krull and Adam Herter pitched a scoreless seventh and eighth inning, respectively, to put the finishing touches on an outstanding start from Matt Costello.

The Navigators take on the Danbury Westerners tomorrow night, July 7^th, at 7PM. Mike Gallo will be on the bump for North Shore.