On Friday, Feb. 22 the Northeastern baseball team became the first team to face the reigning world champion Red Sox since the Dodgers did so in October. The two teams faced off in their annual exhibition game in Fort Myers, Florida..

The Huskies lost the seven-inning game, 6-0, but that did not distract them from the value of the opportunity to play the renowned Red Sox, whose home of Fenway Park is just a couple miles from NU’s Parson’s Field.

“A lot of us are local guys who grew up as Red Sox fans so that was a lot of fun,” redshirt freshman Corey DiLoreto said.

Northeastern tried out five pitchers against the defending champions, beginning with redshirt junior Kyle Murphy who stopped the Red Sox from scoring.

Sophomore David Stiehl took over on the mound for the second inning, allowing a Bobby Dalbec home run before adding three straight outs that ended the inning. Following his performance were redshirt sophomore Tom Githens, sophomore Sam Jacobsak and freshman Owen Langan.

Despite the Huskies’ strong effort in challenging the Red Sox, only three players registered hits: John Mazza, DiLoreto and Scott Holzwasser.

“That’s one of the highlights of the year for our team,” head coach Mike Glavine said.

Challenging the defending champion Red Sox is especially notable as the first World Series was played on the current Northeastern campus, at the site formerly known as the Huntington Avenue Grounds, between the Boston Red Sox (formerly Boston Americans) and the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Today a statue of pitcher Cy Young stands at the former home plate outside the Cabot Center and marks a notable point in Northeastern’s history.