Nighthawks Blank North Shore To Move Back Above .500

By Thaddeus Sawyer

A combination of five pitchers, 147 pitches and 14 strikeouts led the Nighthawks’ pitching staff to its first shutout this season on Wednesday night.

Couple that with an eight-run offensive explosion and you have the recipe for an 8-0 blowout Nighthawks (8-7-1) win over the North Shore Navigators (6-9).

"Just having to get guys in with two off days and then another off day on Saturday, we were fortunate to be able to use that many arms," Nighthawks Manager Chase Allen said. "Then those guys just coming in and doing their job. They had their innings and they did exactly what they're capable of."

Anthony Bubba, Trey Sejnoha, Vincent Luther, Joey Young and Charlie Jones combined for nine innings of scoreless work, with each notching at least one strikeout.

It was Young who rose above the rest, leading the group with four strikeouts in just two innings while letting some competitive fire leak from his typically calm and mild-mannered exterior.

Young, who was awarded the lineup card in the postgame huddle by Allen, said that this is the best he has felt on the mound in a long time after dealing with an injury-riddled spring.

"It’s refreshing," Young said. "It's a feeling that I feel like I've needed that I didn't quite know I did. I've had a ton of fun out here and hopefully I can just keep it rolling and keep going with the guys."

Bubba started the game on the mound, surrendering the Navigators' only hit of the day to reigning NECBL Player of the Week Hudson Ellis with one out in the first. The Quinnipiac transfer finished three scoreless frames.

Next up was Sejnoha, making a relief appearance after the Nighthawks opted to move his spot in the rotation with the extra rest days to allow the Dartmouth pitcher to work on some adjustments in-game. The right-hander punched out two of the four batters he faced.

Luther and Young then each tossed two shutout innings each, with Jones finishing out the ninth to complete the one-hitter. In the fifth, Luther struck out his Binghamton University teammate, Navigators left fielder Grant Hunter, swinging on a full count to send Luther trotting back gingerly to the dugout.

Nighthawks catcher Nick Quagliato said that he takes a great deal of pride in his pitching staff's performance and that their success is his first priority.

"I tell them that the small wins like, in pregame, how you do your warmup, you're stretching, how you do your bands," Quagliato said. "You win those, now you got to go win catch play and then after you win catch play, go win the bullpen. Then after the bullpen, you got to go out on the real mound, just take everything one at a time. Being present and just stacking up the small wins leads to greater successes."

At the plate, the Nighthawks finished with more runs than hits as the Navigators struggled to find the plate. Upper Valley hitters earned a combined 12 walks on the day.

Most of the damage came in a big second inning. 

Making his first start in more than a year, North Shore pitcher Aidan Gelbsman stranded the bases loaded in the first inning but wasn’t as lucky in the second.

After walking the bases loaded after a complete loss of command, Gelbsman eventually walked in the first run of the game after issuing ball four to Frank Kelly just off the outside edge.

Four pitches later, and Willie Hurt was also taking a jog down the first base path with an RBI walk of his own.

Gelbsman was well on his way to forcing in a third straight run had he even found the glove of catcher Aidan Sengenberger. Instead, the left-hander’s 1-0 pitch went all the way to the backstop after getting away from him high and away.

That gave left fielder Anthony Greco time to scurry home for the third run of the inning and ended Gelbsman's day after just one inning of work and 11 batters faced.

That wasn't the end of the day, however, for his stat line. Third baseman James Love immediately pushed reliever Ismael Borrero’s first pitch through the left side of the infield, splitting a diving Tyler Shulman at third as well as shortstop Hudson Ellis clear the final two runners off the bases and take a 5-0 lead.

"Getting runs early is always awesome," Hurt said. "Thankfully, we came back and scored a couple more, but it's good."

The Nighthawks tacked on three more scores across the fourth and fifth innings. Love pushed across another with an RBI groundout after Kelly reached on an error earlier in the fourth. In the fifth, Hurt smoked a line drive back up the middle that nearly clipped Borrero and found the outfield for a two-run single.

"I'm just trying to free up with guys on base, not [press] too much," Hurt said. "Just trying to get it done like I know I can."

Love and Hurt tied for the team lead with three RBIs apiece.

Second baseman Tim Dickinson led the lineup with a two-hit performance.

Kelly stole three bases to skyrocket into a tie for first in the NECBL with 11, while Hurt, Love and Quagliato each swiped one as well.

After dominating the Navigators on both sides of the ball on Wednesday, the Nighthawks will look to continue playing high-level complementary baseball on Thursday as they travel to Rhode Island to take on the Ocean State Waves (6-10) in the last regular-season meeting between the two clubs this season.

First pitch at Old Mountain Field is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. The game is expected to stream live on NECBL+.