By Jessica Geller, News Correspondent
The Northeastern baseball team ventured down to Newark, Del. in hopes of stealing a crucial road Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) series win this weekend, but the University of Delaware swept the Huskies.
“This weekend showed us we will not beat anyone in this conference unless we have a well rounded game including pitching, defense and offense,” senior outfielder Connor Lyons said. “We need to execute better and be confident in all the phases of the game in order to win in the CAA.”
Friday’s series opener was dominated by strong pitching. Northeastern junior starting pitcher Nick Berger had a stellar outing, pitching seven scoreless innings and striking out five. Delaware’s senior starting pitcher Dan Gatto pitched 10 scoreless innings.
Northeastern had opportunities to score throughout the game but failed to capitalize. In the first, freshman catcher Nick Fanneron flied out with junior infielder Jason Vosler and redshirt-sophomore infielder Michael Foster on the corners.
Freshman catcher Gabe Levanti led off the 10th inning with a double. He advanced to third when Connor Lyons reached base on a throwing error. But the inning ended on a popup from senior outfielder Brad Burcroff.
The pitchers’ duel ended in the bottom of the 12th. With sophomore Nick Cubarney pitching, Delaware redshirt-junior Joe Giacchino led off with a triple and scored the game-winning run on a suicide squeeze by junior Norm Dunkin. The Blue Hens won the first game of the series, 1-0.
On Saturday, sophomore starting pitcher James Mulry sent the Blue Hens down in order the first two innings. In the third inning, Delaware put seven runs on the board. Only one run was earned.
Delaware increased its lead to 9-0 with two unearned runs in the sixth. Three additional runs put the Blue Hens ahead, 12-0, in the seventh.
Northeastern finally broke 18 scoreless innings in the eighth when Vosler hit an RBI groundout with the bases loaded, allowing redshirt-sophomore catcher Josh Treff to cross home plate. Connor Lyons, who went 3-3, scored during the next at-bat on a wild pitch.
Delaware held on to win, 12-2.
Connor Lyons led off the first inning of Sunday’s game with a walk, followed by a Vosler single. Fanneron hit a 2-RBI triple to put Northeastern ahead, 2-0. The Huskies made the score 3-0 in the second with Lyons’ RBI single, which scored Burcroff from third.
Freshman pitcher Dustin Hunt allowed two runs in the third inning but then sent down 10 batters in a row. Northeastern led 3-2 through six innings.
Delaware tied the game in the bottom of the seventh, but Northeastern reclaimed the lead in the eighth. Senior outfielder Sean Lyons tripled, scoring Vosler and freshman catcher Gabe Levanti. Burcroff hit a sacrifice fly to bring home senior outfielder Sean Lyons, giving the Huskies a 6-3 lead.
Delaware added two runs in the eighth and tied the game again in the ninth. In the 11th inning, Connor Lyons tripled followed by back-to-back walks to Foster and Vosler. Junior pinch hitter Keith Kelly drew a bases-loaded walk. The Huskies were up 7-6.
The Blue Hens walked off with a single in the bottom of the 11th, winning 8-7.
Head Coach Neal McPhee sought out the positive after the series, noting the team put themselves in position to win Friday and Sunday but failed to execute fundamental plays.
Connor Lyons was one Husky who had a great series.
“Having good days at the plate and still losing can be frustrating, but even more frustrating is the fact that we played well enough to beat Delaware and were not able to,” Lyons said. “The losses we had this weekend will only make us try harder and press, which is not what we want. We had a very good approach Friday and Sunday, the same kind of approach that won us two at Charleston.”
Northeastern fell to 13-15 following the trio of losses.
“Get the depression and negative out of your mind and focus on this week,” Coach McPhee told his team after the sweep. “Each individual has to do that in his own way.”
