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NAVIGATORS ADD SALEM STATE PITCHING TRIO TO 2018 ROSTER
LYNN — The North Shore Navigators have players from six other states set to join their roster for the upcoming Futures Collegiate Baseball League season, but their three latest additions are Massachusetts natives who won’t have far to travel come summer. Salem State University pitchers Stephen Keskinidis, J.P. Reiling, and Brock Riley will cross the border to Lynn to play this summer, general manager Bill Terlecky announced this week.
“Since they all enter the season with significant collegiate experience, I expect Stephen, J.P., and Brock to play a key role on our ballclub both on the field and in terms of leadership,” said Terlecky. “Coming from nearby Salem State, they’ll also provide an immediate boost to our team chemistry, which is so important during the short summer season.”
Keskinidis manned the top spot in Salem’s rotation as a sophomore, posting a 2-3 record and 3.48 ERA over 14 appearances. The Stoneham native started nine games, completed two, and saved another for the Vikings, who compete in the Division III Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference. He piled up a team-high 47 strikeouts in 54.1 innings. A former Middlesex League All-Star in soccer as well as baseball, Keskinidis then went 2-1 with a 0.81 ERA in three summer starts for the New York Collegiate League’s Sherrill Silversmiths before the Wachusett Dirt Dawgs signed him for the tail end of the FCBL season.
Reiling is a Nahant native sophomore who finished his high school career as a captain in both baseball and basketball at Bishop Fenwick. The left-hander recorded 22 strikeouts in 25.1 innings and held opponents to a .225 batting average during his first season of collegiate ball. As a high school senior, Reiling was the Salem News area leader with a 0.88 ERA and ranked second with 84 strikeouts in 68 innings.
Riley begins his first season as a Viking after spending two years at Division II power Franklin Pierce University and redshirting at the University of Maine. The Lowell native has played three straight summers in New England leagues as well, including the last two with Wachusett. Riley enjoyed a solid 2017 campaign as a Dirt Dawg, going 1-0 with a 2.34 ERA and 26 strikeouts in 22 innings. Riley was a two-time Merrimack Valley Conference All-Star in high school.
The Vikings, who have produced 10 former Navigators, finished with a 22-20 record in 2017. During Lynn native Al Donovan’s first season as head coach, Salem posted the second-best mark in MASCAC play at 10-4.
The Navigators open their 2018 schedule on Thursday, May 31 at Martha’s Vineyard before the home schedule at Fraser Field kicks off Saturday, June 2 against Worcester.
