By Nate Owen, News Staff

This is the second in the series of articles profiling the five top male and female senior athletes at Northeastern, culminating in the Huntington News male and female’ Senior Athletes of the Year.

In the blink of an eye, senior Mike Tamsin went from crushing linebackers and running seam routes, to annihilating hanging breaking balls and stretching singles into doubles.
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Tamsin, the starting third baseman for the Huskies, is just four hits away from setting Northeastern’s all time career record, and owns a lofty .369 career batting average.’ He’s led NU in batting average and on-base percentage in each of his three full seasons as a Husky.
But it almost wasn’t meant to be.
The Branford, Conn. native originally signed on to play tight end at Holy Cross.
‘Holy Cross was the only school that gave me a good scholarship,’ he said. ‘But Northeastern stepped in late in the summer and offered a baseball scholarship.’
The’ 6’2, 245-pound slugger was a standout in football, baseball and basketball during his time at Branford High School and and later at Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, Conn.’ In 2004, he was named New Haven Register Athlete of the Year.
But after not receiving any offers to plays baseball in college, Tamsin said he looked to take his talent to the gridiron at Holy Cross.
It wasn’t until Tamsin and his father, a Northeastern alumnus, contacted Husky baseball coach Neil McPhee and the process of Tamsin coming to NU began.
‘He came to our winter camp and we saw him at the camp and immediately recruited him,’ McPhee said. ‘Then as the springtime went on he applied and he was a very good student so he was accepted. From that point he had his choice of Holy Cross or Northeastern and lucky for us, he chose Northeastern.’
One of the highlights of Tamsin’s Husky career came before he officially saw a pitch as a Husky, when teammate Chris Emanuele, who’s career hit mark he is on pace to shatter, blasted a leadoff home run against Matt Clement in the annual Red Sox-Northeastern scrimmage in Fort Myers.
‘Even though I wasn’t in the game at the time, it was just big, being in that atmosphere,’ Tamsin said. ‘[Playing the Red Sox] is something not a lot of teams get to do.’
Tamsin appeared in the game as a pinch hitter, going 2-for-2, and hasn’t stopped hitting since.
The engineering major made an immediate impact during his freshman year, leading the team with a .353 batting average in 2006. He was named second team All-CAA, CAA All-Rookie and Louisville Slugger Freshman All-America that year. During one stretch, he reached base safely in 35 straight games.
‘ As a sophomore, Tamsin hit .366 with a career-high eight home runs and 40 RBI. He was again named to the second team All-CAA and was also named All-New England.
‘ Last year, he ripped opposing pitchers for a .380 average and set a Husky single-season record with 73 hits, in the process garnering first team All-CAA honors.
‘He’s the best contact hitter I’ve ever coached,’ McPhee said. ‘He has an amazing ability to square up balls and hit line drives.’
All of his prowess at the plate comes despite constant shuffling around the diamond.
After spending time at first base, DH and left field, Tamsin entered this season at the Huskies’ starting third baseman.
‘I played where I had to play, because of injuries or where the team needed me,’ he said. ‘I just tried to keep the same approach at the plate.’
In addition to being just four hits shy of setting the all-time mark, Tamsin currently tops the charts in career batting average, and is third in on-base percentage (.456).
‘It would be a great honor, a great accomplishment,’ Tamsin said of reaching the all-time hits mark. ‘It would mean a lot, all the hard work, long seasons, playing baseball in the summer. I knew it would pay off.’
As for what he will miss most about being at Northeastern, Tamsin said it would be his teammates and being in Boston, especially when the Red Sox are playing.
When his playing days at NU are done, the lefty hit machine said he hopes to get drafted.
‘I’d like to get drafted, but if not, I have my engineering degree to fall back on,’ he said. ‘No matter what happens, I think it will work out.’