By Jimmy Brooks, News Staff
In a season that has seen far more losses than wins, it seems like almost every team the Huskies have faced have stifled their late inning comeback attempts. Against UMass Amherst Wednesday, it was the rain that did the stifling.
The Minutemen carried a 3-2 lead after a third inning rally and when the Huskies tried to make another nail-biting comeback, the game was called by umpires at around 4:15 PM.
Just three days earlier, the Huskies found themselves at Friedman Diamond, trying to wrap up a three-game weekend series against William & Mary with a series win.
Despite being down 5-2 in the eight inning and a disappointing record that has been in place since the beginning of the season, the Huskies attempted to claw back, reinforcing head coach Neil McPhee’s statements that this team refuses to give up, no matter the circumstance.
“Even during our huge losing streak, we came out hard,” sophomore catcher John Puttress said. “Nobody [on this team] ever wants to lose.”
Just a day earlier, the Huskies were shellacked for an 8-0 loss in front of a home crowd at Friedman. A team that has attempted so many late inning comebacks over the year was, for once, not able to spark anything at all offensively, despite a solid 2-4 effort by junior co-captain Matt Miller. The shutout marks only the third time in 27 losses that the Huskies have been shut out.
“It was just one of those games where nothing was going right for us,” Puttress said. “We just couldn’t hit, and they were getting those situational hits.”
Miller said the team’s ability to finish games has hindered its performance.
“We just can’t put teams away this year, and we haven’ t been scoring enough runs to win,” the first baseman said. “Our pitching keeps us in most games, but we haven’t been able to break out and get going.”
Despite the losses to finish up the series, McPhee’s squad was able to come away with a win in game one, defeating William and Mary by a final score of 5-3. Puttress was able to get things rolling early with a two-RBI double to right center.
Senior Co-Captain Les Williams collected his fourth win of the year in his outing, not surprisingly hurling eight innings.
“I think that one of our best games of the year,” Puttress said. “Les threw a great game. We got ahead in the first inning and got those two runs later. Overall, we made no errors that game, and we did a lot better fielding.”
Just days previous to the William and Mary series, in what was likely the most anticipated game of the last few weeks, the Husky squad had a chance to suit up at Fenway park against UMass in the Beanpot consolation game.
The Huskies ran into trouble in the first inning, surrendering three runs and two errors. The squad was unable to rally back and win, despite outscoring UMass from the 2nd inning forward.
JT Ross threw a solid 5.1 innings, allowing just one earned run, but the unearned runs brought about by errors proved to be the biggest issue of the day for the squad.
Despite the loss, the many players on the squad still cherished their chance to play at one of the most historic, time tested stadiums in the world.
“It’s a great experience,” Miller said. “It’s of the perks of getting to play at Northeastern. Right up there against getting to play the Sox in [spring training], just a great experience.. you feel like a little kid playing baseball.”
The Huskies now sit at 13-27, but more importantly 8-13 in conference play, good for third last. While the numbers may not look pretty, the squad remains mathematically eligible to make the CAA tournament later this month.
“We’re not out of this thing yet,” Miller said. “There hasn’t been quit in anybody this whole year so I don’t expect that to happen at all… We have a great opportunity this weekend and two final series at home.
The Huskies have approximately nine inter conference games left. Hypothetically, if the Huskies were to win seven of nine, they would sit at a respectable 15-15 in CAA play.
“You can never say never in this game,” Miller said. “It’s a game of streaks.”
