The Northeastern baseball team (4-5, 0-0 NCAA) took one of the four games against the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors (10-2, 0-0 Big West) this past weekend in the Aloha state. The Huskies lost the first game 5-11, third game 3-11 and fourth game 3-2, but won game two, 7-1.
In their first game, the Huskies failed to score first for the first time this season. The Rainbow Warriors tagged on three runs throughout the first four innings, with one coming from a bases loaded balk in the second.
In the fourth inning, Northeastern responded with an RBI double smoked to right field by sophomore outfielder Ryan Gerety. This scored graduate student catcher Gregory Bozzo and senior infielder Jack Doyle, making it a one-run game.
This one-run difference did not last for long. In the bottom of the inning, the Rainbow Warriors added on four more, making the score 7-2, the lead growing more substantial.
Tallying on one more in the 6th, redshirt junior outfielder Harrison Feinberg went deep with Bozzo on base, cutting down the lead down to 7-3.
This wasn’t enough though as Hawaii answered back, piling on 3 more runs in the bottom of the 6th and increasing the lead to 10-4.
Feinberg added another RBI with a fielder’s choice groundout. This brought graduate student first baseman Alex Lane home from third which narrowed the deficit to five. However, in the eighth, the Rainbow Warriors then responded with an RBI single that reclaimed the run.
Graduate student left-handed pitcher Jordan Gottesman, finished the day with three walks, two strikeouts in four innings pitched.
Game two went to the Huskies with the final score at 7-1 with a strong start from graduate student left-handed pitcher Will Jones. Jones pitched for five innings allowing just one run with four strikeouts.
Northeastern struck first off the bat of redshirt freshman catcher Will Fosberg in a big way, making it his first collegiate hit with two outs. In a 2-2 count in the second inning, Fosberg hit a dinger over right-center field, giving Northeastern the lead at 1-0.
In the bottom of the fourth, Hawaii answered back scoring a run of their own on an infield single.
The last couple of innings is where the Huskies started to pile it on, starting off with junior outfielder Cam Maldonado leading off with a double in the sixth. Junior shortstop Jack Goodman ripped a single down the line and brought Maldonado home to up the score to 2-1. Northeastern didn’t stop there, as Bozzo hit a ground-out chopper to first with two men on base. The throw home was too late to stop Goodman from scoring on the play, resulting in the third run of the inning for the Huskies.
In the seventh inning, Northeastern took control of the game with a lead off home run by Feinberg, his second long ball of the weekend. Gerety then hit a double and stole third, finally making it home on a passed ball, lengthening the lead to 5-1.
A hit-by-pitch for Maldonado, who then stole second, led him to reach home after a Lane knock up the middle.
Feinberg had an impressive game, hitting his second home run of the night on a full count in the eighth inning, with the total score at 7-1.
Junior right handed pitcher Charlie Walker and graduate student left handed pitcher Max Gitlin came out of the bullpen to wrap up the game with four scoreless.
Jones adds on to his notable start of the season going 3-0 with a 0.56 ERA.
The third game at Murakami Stadium went to the Rainbows by a score of 11-3 March 2.
In the third inning, Hawaii struck first with 3 two-out hits, increasing the lead to 3-0. Another run, this time unearned in the fifth, came from a sac fly, upping the score to 4-0. In the sixth, one more sac fly and a three-run home run by the Rainbows blew the Huskies out of the water with a score of 10-0.
Finally in the eighth, the Huskies broke the slump and tallied on a run on freshman first baseman Eric Cha’s first career hit. This hit scored Doyle from third, who led off the inning with a double.
In the bottom of the eighth, Hawaii added one more on, on a solo shot making the score 11-1.
Hope was diminished for Northeastern but a leadoff walk to Maldonado and a two-run home run by Goodman made the game 11-3. Hawaii was able to secure the win soon after.
The final game of the series was a dramatic 12-inning game with the final score of 3-2, Rainbows. Left-handed senior pitcher Jack Bowery dealt an impressive 10 2-run innings March 4.
In the second inning, the Rainbows quickly scored two runs on three hits and an error, leading 2-0. But Northeastern came right back in the third as senior utility man Justin Bosland scored on a single up the middle by Gerety.
Then in the fifth, the Huskies tied the game with a Maldonando double to right-center. This time Gerety was on the bases, and ran from first to home, beating the tag at the dish.
After that, Bowery was dominant. He retired the next 18 batters starting in the fifth all the way into extras. He finished his performance with 108 pitches thrown. Bowery had eight strikeouts, no walks and allowed just five hits going into the 11th inning before being relieved by senior right handed pitcher, Jack Beauchesne. Bowery is the first Husky pitcher to have a 10+ inning performance since 2000.
The Huskies had some runners in scoring position in the ninth and 10th innings but were unable to capitalize off of it, forcing extra baseball.
In the 11th inning, Beauchesne dealt with the Rainbows pressure and induced three ground outs, even one with the bases loaded.
Finally, in the 12th, a pair of errors by the Husky defense allowed the Rainbows to walk it off, with their first hit of the game since the fourth inning. A heated postgame handshake scuffle brought the emotional night to a close.
Northeastern is headed to face the San Diego State Aztecs (4-9, 0-0 Mountain West) in a four-game set March 6 at 6 p.m.
