By Zolan Kanno-Youngs, News Correspondent
The Huskies won their first Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) series of the season, taking two of three games from William & Mary.
Northeastern won Friday’s series opener 8-0 and defeated the Tribe 4-3 Sunday in the series finale. Saturday’s game was the squad’s only CAA loss, 4-3, as they sit tied for second in the CAA.
Freshman third baseman Jason Vosler led the offense going 3-12 including his first career home run in the series opener.
“It felt real good,” Vosler said. “We’re lead by a good group of older kids that made us comfortable in our role. It doesn’t seem like there’s a separated group between freshman and seniors, we’re all one team.”
William & Mary struck first on Sunday when sophomore infielder Ryan Lindemuth hit an RBI groundout, scoring junior infielder Kevin Nutter in the bottom of the first.
The Huskies found a spark in the fourth when Vosler reached on an error with two outs and no one on. He scored on junior catcher Jon Leroux’s double to left center.
They got on the board again when sophomore outfielder Connor Lyons brought home Leroux on a double for his fifth RBI of the season. Sophomore shortstop Oliver Hart made it a three-run inning with a single to right field, scoring Lyons.
Junior Kevin Ferguson got the win, going seven innings and surrendering just one earned run on three hits with seven strikeouts.
Once the Huskies took the lead in the fourth off Lyons’ double, Ferguson pitched three scoreless innings until senior pitcher Sam Berg relieved him.
The Huskies’ win was sealed in the eighth when freshman Rob Fonseca tacked on another run for the Huskies with his first collegiate home run, putting Northeastern up 4-2.
“We’re really pleased with how our freshmen have been performing,” head coach Neil McPhee said. “It’s really been a complete team effort.”
Senior pitcher Andrew Leenhouts lead the way for the Huskies, throwing a complete, four-hit shutout in the 8-0 series opener Friday afternoon.
“We’ve had a lot of very strong performances for our program but that could be the best or most important one,” McPhee said. “His performance gave everyone a jump start in confidence for playing the conference season.”
Leenhouts also struck out 10 batters while walking just one throughout the nine innings.
“The first few weeks I wasn’t as successful as our other weekend guys, and just seeing what they did and using some of their approaches has really helped me,” Leenhouts said.
Lyons started the Huskies’ scoring with a RBI single that brought home freshman catcher Alex McKeon in the second inning.
Sophomore second baseman Aaron Barbosa – who went 4-4 with two runs and two RBIs – singled to bring home Vosler to give the Huskies a 2-0 lead.
McKeon made it 3-0 in the third inning with a sacrifice fly that drove home Fonseca. Vosler’s home run tacked on one more run for the Huskies.
The Tribe couldn’t stop the bleeding in the fourth inning when the freshman Michael Foster and Barbosa hit back-to-back triples. A sacrifice fly by junior catcher John Puttress tacked on the second run of the inning, increasing the lead to six.
Sophomore left fielder Matt Miller added he seventh RBI by hitting the Huskies fourth triple of the game to bring home Barbosa. Miller scored when McKeon reached on an error, giving the Huskies their eighth run of the game.
“We’re not playing like a hits only team or a home run team or a base stealing team, we’re putting everything together,” McPhee said.
Northeastern continued the hitting rampage from Friday’s offensive showing on Saturday, but they ultimately fell 4-3 for the their only loss of the series. McKeon started it off in the first inning when he brought home Barbosa and Puttress with a bases loaded RBI single.
While the Husky offense surged in the early going, junior pitcher Dylan Maki struggled giving up three runs in the first inning. William & Mary senior infielder Tadd Bower hit a two-run single to tie the game 2-2. Maki then gave up the lead when senior outfielder Stephen Arcure hit an RBI single to bring home senior catcher Chris Forsten. Freshman infielder Michael Katz added to the lead with a sacrifice fly bringing home junior outfielder Ryan Brown.
Barbosa cut into the William & Mary lead when he came around to score as a result of Puttress reaching on an error.
“The season’s obviously a long, long way to go but it really does complete that we’re on the right track,” McPhee said.
The Huskies are 7-4 after playing eight games in nine days over spring break, including a 25-0 loss in n exhibition game to the Boston Red Sox March 3 in Fort Myers.
