The Northeastern baseball team (9-8, 5-1 CAA) returned to Friedman Diamond March 13 to 15, winning all three of their games over the Towson Tigers (6-10, 0-6 CAA). The team had consistently steady performances on the mound, holding off late surges to secure the weekend sweep.
The Huskies began the weekend with a 6-3 victory over the Tigers March 13.
Towson opened up scoring the top of the second inning, jumping to a 3-0 lead.
Junior shortstop and third baseman Frank Adamski Jr. singled down the right field line before advancing on a hit-by-pitch and a sacrifice bunt. Junior second baseman and shortstop Yariel Rodriguez hit a single to bring Adamski home.
Junior right fielder Brady Nathison then scored off of a throwing error by senior shortstop Carmelo Musacchia, and a sacrifice fly by sophomore first baseman Nich Francuzenko brought in Rodriguez.
Northeastern quickly struck back, tying the game at three runs apiece in the bottom of the second inning.
Three walks and a pair of stolen bases by Musacchia and redshirt freshman left fielder Anthony Ruggiero loaded the bases for redshirt freshman third baseman AJ Aschettino, who walked to bring in the first run. Junior second baseman Chris Walsh hit a sacrifice fly to score Musacchia and cut the lead down to one. A single by redshirt senior center fielder Harrison Feinberg brought in the game-tying third run.
The Huskies grabbed a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the fifth inning after a scoreless top of the fifth by the Tigers. Sophomore first baseman Eric Cha walked, advancing to second on a wild pitch and stealing third base before scoring from a single to left field by Aschettino.
In the top of the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, Northeastern’s defense produced hitless innings — including three strikeouts.
The Huskies grabbed two insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth inning off solo home runs by Cha and Aschettino.
Two ground outs and a strikeout from the Tigers sealed a 6-3 victory for Northeastern.
The Huskies continued into game two strong, defeating the Tigers with a score of 3-1 in Saturday afternoon’s pitchers’ duel.
Northeastern struck first in the fifth inning after a quiet start to the game. Redshirt sophomore catcher Will Fosberg started things off with a single to left field. Walsh then laid a sacrifice bunt to move Fosberg into scoring position. Junior right fielder Ryan Gerety followed that up with a single up the middle. With runners on the corners, Feinberg reached first on a fielder’s choice for the 1-0 lead.
On the same play, a throwing error by the Tigers allowed Gerety to move to third. Senior designated hitter Matt Brinker hit a groundout to first, scoring one more to make the run count 2-0.
In the sixth inning, Towson gained a run with an RBI double to left, but a great defensive relay by Ruggiero and Musacchia contained the Tigers to just one run by gunning down the runner at the plate.
The Huskies then responded immediately in the bottom of the inning with a Musacchia triple to right center. Cha then smoked a sacrifice fly to right center, bringing Musacchia home.
Senior starting right-handed pitcher Luc Rising worked a quality start through six frames, allowing just one run on four hits. Rising had five strikeouts on the day with only one walk on 77 pitches. Graduate student right handed pitcher Andrew Wertz closed out the final three innings in his first relief appearance of the season, securing the win. He allowed just one hit with one strikeout to end the game.
Senior right-handed pitcher Ryan Griffin took to the mound on Sunday. Griffin pitched 6.2 innings, allowing five hits and two runs but acting as a steady presence for the Huskies throughout despite a shaky offensive performance.
The final game of the sweep picked up in the second inning when Walsh stepped up to the plate. Down two outs, Walsh nailed a 2-RBI single to score Cha and Tarantino. Cha took first after getting hit by a pitch before advancing to third on a single from Tarantino, who proceeded to steal second. Walsh sealed the deal at bat to put the Huskies up 2-0.
Northeastern’s performance was blemished by Towson’s first run, which came in the top of the fifth when junior second baseman Colin Cusick took third on a wild pitch and brought it home on junior center fielder Nick LoBello’s groundout RBI to third.
The Huskies didn’t allow Towson to get its hopes up for long. Senior right-handed pitcher Dutch Deprospero returned to the mound for the Tigers at the top of the fifth, presumably trying to capitalize off of the momentum from their run. However, Brinker stepped in, jumping on the first pitch for a homer to left field that put the Huskies up 3-1.
With two outs down and one runner on first, the Huskies saw a failed pickoff attempt from Griffin at the top of seventh that put Towson’s runner on third. The Tigers added another run off of a misplay by Aschettino that made it 3-2. However, right-handed pitchers graduate student Matthew Sapienza and sophomore Andrew Rogovic stepped in for the final two innings, keeping Towson scoreless and furthering Northeastern’s advantage.
The Huskies were back in action against the Merrimack College Warriors (7-8, 4-2 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) Tuesday, March 17 at 2:30 p.m. at Friedman Diamond where they took their first loss at home since a 3-2 extra inning loss to Towson March 21, 2025.
