The Northeastern baseball team (25-17, 15-6 CAA) took a series victory against the Hofstra Pride (15-22, 9-12 CAA), winning two of the three games, with the Pride spoiling the sweep on Sunday.
A stellar performance by redshirt junior right-handed pitcher Robbie O’Connor led the Huskies to 8-0 victory in the first game April 24.
“[O’Connor] was the story today. He was dialed in right away,” head coach Mike Glavine said. “He pitched out of a couple big-time jams.”
O’Connor was dominant early, striking out two of three batters and forcing a groundout in a three up, three down top of the first inning.
The Husky bats also got started early, jumping out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Freshman third baseman Tyler Harmony walked and was brought in by a pair of singles from junior center fielder Ryan Gerety and senior designated hitter Matt Brinker.
The next four innings were a pitchers’ duel, with both teams failing to score in that stretch. Hofstra’s ace, senior right-hander Carlos Martinez, struck out six batters and allowed two hits. O’Connor threw four strikeouts and saved the team from a one out, two runners in scoring position jam in the top of the third inning.
Northeastern broke the stalemate in the bottom of the sixth inning, putting four runs across the plate. Gerety led off with a single before Brinker’s seventh home run of the season brought in two runs. Senior right fielder Carmelo Musacchia was hit by a pitch, stole second and advanced to third on a balk before a single by freshman second baseman Charlie Criscola allowed him to score. Sophomore shortstop Henry DiGiorgio’s single scored the final run of the inning and gave his team a 5-0 lead.
Pitching continued to excel for the Huskies when sophomore right-handed pitcher Andrew Rogovic replaced O’Connor in the top of the seventh inning. Rogovic struck out three batters across two hitless innings.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, the Huskies extended their lead to 8-0. Sophomore catcher Cooper Tarantino singled, and DiGiorgio hit a ground rule double to put two runners in scoring position. Harmony singled to score Tarantino before redshirt senior left fielder Harrison Feinberg cleared the bases with a double to right field.
Redshirt sophomore left-handed pitcher David McSweeney entered the game in the top of the ninth inning, putting up three quick outs to secure the win for his team.
“It was a total team effort,” Glavine said. “Everyone, including the defense, did a really great job.”
Northeastern followed up its shutout with a tough 8-6 win on Saturday, which was also the team’s senior day.
Senior right-hander Luc Rising got the start and the win, pitching a dominant 5.2 innings for the Huskies. Rising cut through Hofstra’s lineup, striking out nine and only letting up two runs, only one of which was earned. In the fourth inning, Rising made program history with an immaculate inning, when all three Hofstra batters struck out swinging on just three pitches each.
Sophomore right-hander Chris Bedford started for Hofstra. He was pulled in the fourth inning and gave up six runs on seven hits and three walks.
The Huskies got a slow start on offense. The team missed a golden opportunity to open the scoring in the first with the bases loaded and only one out. They were not able to cash in as redshirt freshman first baseman AJ Aschettino struck out looking and Musacchia flew out to right.
The Huskies opened up scoring in the third as Brinker singled to left and then advanced to third, thanks to an Aschettino double. Musacchia then reached first base on a fielding error that also allowed the Huskies to plate two runs.
Northeastern added to the scoring in the fourth. DiGiorgio opened the inning up with a leadoff single and was able to advance all the way to third in the next at-bat when Harmony singled to right center. DiGiorgio scored as Harmony advanced to third after Feinberg snuck a ground ball past the first baseman. Feinberg then stole second and Gerety walked to load the bases.
Harmony scored on what was ruled an infield single by Brinker. With the bases still loaded, Bedford was pulled from the game and the junior southpaw Tanner Sanderoff took over.
All things considered, Sanderoff was able to limit the damage but still gave up two runs while the bases were loaded by hitting Aschettino with a pitch and walking redshirt sophomore catcher Will Fosberg. Northeastern left the inning with a comfortable 6-0 lead.
Hofstra was able to answer in the fifth when junior shortstop Michael Brown sent a sac fly to deep center, scoring sophomore second baseman George Holt from third.
Rising was relieved in the next inning after a single from sophomore right fielder Nick Gallello scored graduate student first baseman Danny Corona due to a fielding error by DiGiorgio.
The Huskies answered in the bottom of the sixth when Criscola hit a sac fly of his own to score Aschettino and restore the lead to five runs.
Freshman right-hander Cooper Maher replaced Rising but did not have as much success.
Maher was able to get out of the sixth unscathed but let up the final four of Hofstra’s six runs in the seventh inning.
The first run came when Brown singled to score sophomore catcher Nick Biddle from second. Then, a few at-bats later, Corona sent a three-run bomb to dead center to cut the Northeastern lead to just one run. Maher was pulled after giving up a triple to junior third baseman Gabriel Melara.
Northeastern increased its lead to two runs in the seventh. Gerety hit a ground-rule double with two outs and was scored by Brinker, who sent a grounder through the infield.
Graduate student right-hander Andrew Wertz, who came in to relieve Maher, shut down Hofstra for the rest of the game. He gave up no runs and struck out five, earning himself a save.
It was a complete team win for Northeastern. The offense played well, securing eight runs. When they needed good pitching, it was there. Rising and Wertz both shone, mowing down Hofstra’s bats and combining for 14 strikeouts. Wertz was clutch, coming into a close game and completing the save with three strikeouts to end the game in the ninth.
Northeastern looked to follow up its team win by completing the sweep on Sunday, but instead suffered a 13-2 mercy rule loss.
Senior right-hander Ryan Griffin got the start and the loss for the Huskies. He pitched 3.2 innings where he gave up six runs, only two of which were earned. Griffin looked to be settling in for a good outing until the catastrophic fourth inning, when all six of his runs scored, and Hofstra scored 11 of its 13 runs.
On the mound for Hofstra was freshman lefty Nick Reese. Reese came into the game with an ERA over six, but he did not pitch like it against the Huskies. Reese went all seven innings, giving up two runs — only one of which was earned — on three hits, and had two strikeouts.
Northeastern got on the board first with the first two runs of the game.
Brinker picked up an RBI after he scored Harmony on a bases-loaded fielder’s choice in the first. In the second inning, DiGiorgio brought Mussachia home from third on a line drive single. The inning ended on the same play when DiGiorgio tried to get a hustle double and was tagged out sliding into second. That was the last bit of meaningful offense for Northeastern.
Hofstra responded in the fourth. The Pride’s first run came after Griffin hit two batters and allowed a single, loading the bases, setting up a sac fly from redshirt senior center fielder Tyler Cox to score Corona from third.
After another walk to reload the bases, a fielding error from DiGiorgio turned what could have been the inning-ending double play into another run. Holt came up next and lined out to second base. Criscola tried to double up Biddle, who had gotten a bit too far off the base, but the toss back to second was off, allowing Gallello to score from third. Brown went on to hit a ground-rule double, scoring one and putting runners at second and third.
Sophomore right-hander Andrew Basel came in to try to salvage the inning, but was unable to do so.
Basel walked Griggs in the next at-bat and then walked Corona in his second at-bat of the inning to bring in another run for a 5-2 scoreboard. Melara then hit a grounder up the middle to score two runs and put players on first and second.
Gallello then cleared the bases with a double that went off the right field wall. A scary scene followed when Cox ripped a liner that hit Basel on his arm. Basel went down, and Glavine and the trainer came out. Basel had to come out of the game, but managed to walk off the field himself. To add insult to injury, the ball bounced off of him and landed in the outfield, allowing another run to score and put Hofstra in the double digits, 10-2.
Graduate student righty Andrew Sapienza came in for the injured Basel.
Sapienza only let up one more run in the inning when Biddle singled to score Cox, who had stolen second.
Hofstra scored two more runs after that. In the fifth, Corona doubled to score Griggs from second. The Pride added to its lead in the seventh when Melara singled to score Brown from second, meaning that Northeastern was going to need two runs in the bottom of the inning to avoid the mercy rule.
The Huskies could not get the hits they needed and went down in order to end the game.
If Saturday’s game was a good team win, Sunday’s was a bad team loss. The Huskies’ bats were silent for most of the game, and the sluggish defense and errors in the fourth doomed them and prevented a sweep.
Northeastern will look to get back to its winning ways this Wednesday, April 29, when they head up north to face off against the University of Maine (14-25, 9-6 America East).
