Sophomore catcher Cooper Tarantino’s chopper to short in the top of the ninth ended Northeastern baseball’s hopes of three-peating as Beanpot champions. The Huskies put up a good fight, but could not string together enough strong offense throughout the game.
Northeastern (20-16, 10-5 CAA) fell to 20 and 16 after a one to three loss to the Boston College Eagles (27-12, 11-7 Atlantic Coast Conference) during the Baseball Beanpot championship game Tuesday April 14th.
Northeastern’s singular run came from redshirt senior left fielder Harrison Feinberg.
Feinberg has had a stellar season, batting .341, with a 1.099 OPS and 11 home runs coming into the game. He added to that total, with a 426-foot bomb to deep center in the top of the fourth. Feinberg’s 115 mph homer was the 43rd of his career, breaking Northeastern’s career home run record held by Frank Pessanello, at 42.
Feinberg continued his strong offensive day going into the eighth. He was able to get on base after a weak grounder snuck into the outfield because of a defensive shift. From there, he showed off his wheels, stealing second and third. However, the Huskies were not able to bring him home.
Freshman third baseman Tyler Harmony was another bright spot on offense.
Harmony hasn’t played much this year, but he has been hot the past few games. He came into the game five for his last 14 and he continued his hot streak. He collected two singles and a walk in the game with his farthest advancement to third base in the ninth.
Aside from Feinberg and Harmony, who combined for four of the team’s five hits, Northeastern could not get much going offensively.
Pitching dominated the night, with sophomore right-hander Andrew Basel getting the start for Northeastern. He followed up a stellar performance against Harvard in the Beanpot semifinals on April eight, with yet another strong outing.
Basel went five innings giving up only two hits, one earned run and two walks. He also had two punch outs.
Basel’s one conceded run came in the bottom of the fifth, when Boston College’s freshman first baseman Luke Gallo launched a homer over the left field fence. Basel seemed shaken up after the homer, hitting one batter and walking another. He was able to calm down after a visit from assistant head coach Kevin Cobb.
He got the second out of the inning by striking out sophomore shortstop Julio Solier before getting out of the inning after sophomore shortstop Henry DiGiorgio made a nice play to get the final out at first.
Basel was replaced after the fifth with sophomore right-hander Andrew Rogovic stepping on in relief.
Rogovic struggled, walking the first two batters. After a questionable safe call at third base during a double steal, Rogovic gave up a bloop single into left field which scored two runs. Those were the last runs of the night.
The game entered a stalemate after the sixth. A rain delay stopped the game for approximately 50 minutes between the top and bottom of the eighth. Northeastern threatened with a runner at third during the eighth and ninth but couldn’t cash in.
At the end of the day, the lack of offense killed the Huskies. The team played good defense all game and only let up three runs, but when they had runners in scoring position, they couldn’t get them home.
Despite this, there is a lot to look forward to for Northeastern. The entire infield is staffed by underclassmen and should improve as the season progresses. Basel pitched well once again and could have the potential to be a strong starter. The Huskies could very well find themselves back in the Beanpot championship next year.
Northeastern will get back in conference play against the North Carolina A&T Aggies (9-25, 3-12 CAA) April 17 to 19 in Greensboro N.C.
