ITEM FILE PHOTO
North Shore Navigators pitcher Nick Malatesta has been a part of the pitching resurgence for the Navs this season.
By JOSHUA KUMMINS
LYNN — North Shore Navigators manager John Zizzo’s word of the season is “resilient.”
After starting this Futures Collegiate Baseball League campaign with eight consecutive losses and a 1-12 record through 13 games, the Navs are bound for the postseason.
At this point, however, it’s not all about the standings.
“Our group’s resilient, as I’ve said all year,” Zizzo said. “We fought back from a lot of adversity in the standings and everything, but I don’t really look at the standings. I just want to play every game, each day.”
North Shore (28-26) has clinched at least the No. 5 seed in the FCBL’s overall standings and would secure a home playoff game with another victory and a loss by the Brockton Rox.
The Navs will likely face the Rox in Sunday’s postseason opener, although whether the game will be played at Fraser Field or Brockton’s Campanelli Stadium is still to be determined.
North Shore’s offense is balanced, but has sat closer to the bottom of the league statistically for the majority of the season. However, it is the pitching that allowed the Navs to even remain competitive, let alone chance a playoff position, as July came around.
On June 16, the Navs had the worst ERA in the FCBL at 5.75. Since then, the team’s collective mark has dropped by more than two runs, to a league-best 3.36.
It is a statistic that St. Joseph’s College of Maine pitcher Nick Malatesta credits to the entire team and its development over the course of the season.
“It’s great knowing that the team behind you is going to make the plays and they’re going to get the job done,” said Malatesta, a Wrentham native. “That speaks volumes about our team, about how far we’ve come along since the beginning of the season. Everybody is just clicking.”
While Cole O’Connor (Dartmouth) and Swampscott native Brian Burke respectively led the starting rotation and bullpen with five wins apiece, some unsung heroes have emerged on the staff.
Malatesta has been a strong swingman for the Navs as he has made seven starts and five appearances out of the bullpen, compiling an ERA just over 3.00 entering his Friday night start against the East Division champion Seacoast Mavericks.
Conor Bawiec was an All-Empire 8 utility player during his sophomore spring at Elmira College and has been a key contributor in that role this summer. Bawiec earned the win, his first of the summer, with 6 ⅓ innings of two-run ball in Thursday’s 5-4 win over Bristol.
An innings cap has shut O’Connor down for the remainder of the season, leaving the Navs with 11 available pitchers.
Fellow second-year Navigator Speros Varinos (Tufts) is slated to make Sunday’s start. His 1.84 ERA ranked second in the FCBL as of Thursday.
“Speros is still our No. 1 guy for our playoff game on Sunday, wherever that is,” Zizzo said. “But, Bawiec threw a great game for us, so that makes you feel great after a guy had an injury earlier in the year and came back. He’s another guy we can add into the mix now, so it’s a whole-staff situation right now for us.”
The Navs’ resiliency was tested in a big way Thursday as just four players remained on the bench for the completion of a suspended game with Bristol that ultimately spanned 21 innings.
Peabody’s Bobby Tramondozzi (UMass Boston) pitched the final four innings to earn the win and also hit the game-winning sacrifice fly, ending the longest game in FCBL history.
Tramondozzi had not taken an at-bat all year, but relished the opportunity to help the team in any way he could. It was yet another example of the team’s resiliency.
“That was awesome. We were all joking around in the clubhouse, ‘Oh, Bobby’s going to come in and getting the winning hit’ or whatever,” Bawiec said. “But, Coach wouldn’t have him in the lineup if he knew he couldn’t hit the ball.”
The club has benefitted from the additions of Lynnfield’s Jordan Roper (Marist) in early July and catcher Nate Rossi (Keene State) and Nick Falkson (Tufts) more recently, keeping the team well rested entering the “second season.”
“I think the new guys have done a great job picking up everybody up,” Malatesta said. “Maybe, a couple people have been a little tired, so these guys have come in and filled spots.”
Zizzo and the Navs have subscribed to the “one game at a time” mentality, and it’s paying off with the club playing some of of its best baseball of the season.
“We had two five-game winning streaks and a seven-game winning streak, so we’re a very streaky team, and our hitting is the same way,” Zizzo said. “You’re not going to win ‘em all here, and you have to understand that. It’s baseball, it’s a long haul.”
Joshua Kummins can be reached at joshuakummins95@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaKummins.