The Northeastern baseball team (30-9, 13-2) swept the College of Charleston Cougars (22-16, 7-8 CAA) April 18 to 20, solidifying its lead in the CAA.
The Huskies opened the weekend with a 4-0 win April 18.
The contest was scoreless through the first six innings. Graduate student left-handed pitcher Will Jones started on the mound for Northeastern. Through seven innings, Jones allowed three hits and struck out three batters. Northeastern’s batters struggled offensively, getting just three hits in six innings.
The stalemate was broken in the bottom of the seventh inning. Redshirt freshman designated hitter Will Fosberg tripled to right center field, and junior second baseman Carmelo Musacchia singled to bring in Fosberg, 1-0. Sophomore left fielder Ryan Gerety then singled to left field, scoring Musacchia and putting his team up 2-0.
The Huskies put two more runs on the board in the bottom of the eighth inning. Redshirt junior outfielder Harrison Feinberg tripled to center field. Junior shortstop Jack Goodman’s sacrifice fly out extended the lead 3-0. Senior third baseman Jack Doyle closed out scoring with a solo home-run to left field, 4-0.
Junior right-handed pitcher Aiven Cabral pitched six scoreless innings for the Huskies, lowering his ERA to 2.86. Senior left-handed pitcher Jack Bowery got the save, pitching three scoreless innings. Feinberg had an impressive 3-for-4 performance with six RBIs. Junior center fielder Cam Maldonado went 3-for-5 with an RBI, and Fosberg added another RBI.
Feinberg picked up his first RBI of the game off a sacrifice fly, driving in Gerety in the bottom of the first.
While the second inning was scoreless, the Huskies’ bats came alive in the bottom of the third. After starting off with a strikeout, back-to-back singles and stolen bases put the Huskies on second and third with one out.
With a 2-1 count, Feinberg drove a ball to left center for a three-run home run, putting the Huskies up 4-0. Goodman walked on four pitches and stole second before Fosberg knocked him in off a single, increasing the Huskies’ lead to 5-0.
Both teams were unproductive in the fourth and fifth, but the bottom of the sixth produced another four runs for Northeastern with two outs. With runners on first and third, Maldonado singled to score a run, advancing Gerety to third and increasing the Huskies’ lead 8-0. The Huskies’ final run of the game came off a throwing error for Charleston as Feinberg stole third and advanced home to put them up 9-0, the final score of the game.
In the last game of the series, Northeastern was able to complete the sweep on April 20 with a final score of 10-0 in a seven-inning Husky shutout.
The first runs of the game came in the second inning as Musacchia led off with a single. Junior catcher Matt Brinker hit another one, then graduate student first baseman Alex Lane smacked an RBI double down the left field line, scoring one. Graduate student catcher Gregory Bozzo hit an RBI single driving in one more. After, Gerety hit a sacrifice bunt for the 3-0 lead. For the Huskies fourth single of the inning, Maldonado ripped it to right field to increase the score to 4-0.
Another run for the Huskies came in the fourth, when Bozzo walked, stole second and then reached third on a throwing error. Another Gerety RBI, this time a sac-fly, allowed Bozzo to score.
In the fifth inning, Feinberg reached on a walk and stole second to get into scoring position. A Musacchia RBI single to right made the score 6-0.
The game was further broken open in the sixth as the Huskies added on four more runs. Lane walked and then stole second, then scored on a pitcher’s balk after advancing to third on a Bozzo single. Gerety, Feinberg and Doyle then all drove in runs for the final 10-0 win.
Graduate student left-handed pitcher Jordan Gottesman put on a show, tossing the entire seven-inning game with an impressive nine strikeouts. He allowed just one hit and one walk, retiring 11 in a row while throwing just 79 pitches throughout the game to secure his fifth win this season. Gottesman earned CAA pitcher of the week for his last two scoreless starts.
This is Northeastern’s 12th shutout of the season, extending its lead in the NCAA by five. The win also marks the 31st scoreless inning for the Husky pitching staff in a row. This is the Huskies second best CAA record through 15 games with head coach Mike Glavine at 13-2.
The Huskies will play next in New Jersey for a three-game series against the Monmouth Hawks (20-20, 7-8 Costal) this Friday, April 25th at 3 p.m.