For a second season in a row, Northeastern baseball earned a CAA Championship victory, but were eliminated from the College World Series after losses to the No. 13 University of Kansas Jayhawks May 29 and No. 14 University of Arkansas Razorbacks May 31.
After a hard fought season, the team (39-22, 22-8 CAA) was eliminated despite a 5-1 win against Missouri State giving hopes of staying alive.
The Huskies fell to host Kansas May 29, 6-3. Senior right handed pitcher Luc Rising had a strong start, dealing two strikeouts in the bottom of the first inning.
“We competed our butts off. We played hard, we played together and it was just a great baseball game,” head coach Mike Glavine said. “We came up short in the end.”
Kansas got on the board first in the bottom of the second on a two-run shot by junior catcher Augusto Mungarrieta. Rising secured two outs, but gave up a solo homer to senior designated hitter Dariel Osoria.
Redshirt sophomore catcher Will Fosberg answered with a homer in the top of the third to make the score 3-1, but the Jayhawks extended their lead to 4-1 with a home run from junior shortstop Tyson Leblanc in the bottom of the third.
Northeastern cut the lead down to two in the top of the fifth when freshman second baseman Charlie Criscola doubled and advanced to third on a flyout before being brought in by a fielder’s choice.
The Huskies, never one to go down without a fight, pulled the score within one in the top of the sixth inning. A pair of singles advanced junior center fielder Ryan Gerety to third and brought the leading run to the plate. The team only managed one run, however, on a groundout by Criscola that brought in Gerety and made the score 4-3.
Just when the game looked to be in Northeastern’s control, Kansas put two insurance runs across the plate in the bottom of the eighth inning from four singles.
With a three-up, three-down top of the ninth inning, the Huskies were sent to the elimination game against the Missouri State University Bears (34-21, 20-10), where they put together a dominant 5-1 victory to escape the chopping block.
“I thought we had a great mindset coming into the game,” Glavine said. “We were frustrated there a little bit early in the game and the guys kept punching.”
Freshman third baseman Tyler Harmony led off the top of the first inning with a walk before being advanced to second by redshirt senior designated hitter Harrison Feinberg. Senior left fielder Matt Brinker knocked a double into left field to plate Harmony and make the score 1-0.
Redshirt junior righty Robbie O’Connor had a stellar performance in his seven innings of work, letting up just one run and striking out three.
In the top of the sixth inning, consecutive doubles by redshirt freshman first baseman AJ Aschettino and Criscola scored another run for the Huskies. Senior right fielder Carmelo Musacchia kept his team’s momentum rolling and smashed a two-run homer, his fifth of the season, into the left field bleachers to extend the lead to 4-0.
The Bears scored their lone run of the contest in the bottom of the seventh inning on back-to-back doubles from junior infielder Jax Ryan and senior catcher Carter Bergman.
Northeastern put up its fifth and final run in the top of the ninth when Feinberg doubled to right center field to score Harmony, who had reached first on a fielding error.
“This team has a lot of grit,” Musacchia said. “There’s a lot of talent, but there’s not just one guy that goes out there every day and does it. You never know who’s going to be the star of the day.”
On Sunday, the Huskies fell 10-9 to Arkansas.
After graduate student right-handed pitcher Andrew Wertz secured three outs, the Huskies were given a chance to escape elimination.
Northeastern also had to account for the absence of Feinberg, who was not in the lineup. Feinberg also did not play in the field during the win over Missouri State, rather as a designated hitter.
Freshman right-hander Cooper Maher got the start for the Huskies, facing off against junior right-handed pitcher Tate McGuire for the Hogs.
Maher started off the game by retiring the Hogs’ first ten batters and striking out five. He came back down to earth in the fourth, allowing two runs, one of which was earned, on a single from junior second baseman Nolan Souza. Another run was scored on a bloop single from redshirt junior first baseman Reese Robinett later in the inning.
The Huskies responded in the bottom of the inning; Criscola hit it to the second baseman, but a fielding error by Souza allowed him to reach safely and Gerety to score from third.
Once again, Souza created runs for the Razorbacks in the fifth. The second baseman singled with two outs to score one run. The Huskies were able to get out of the inning, though, when junior shortstop Camden Kozeal was tagged out at home on a throw from sophomore left fielder Carter Bentley.
Down 4-1, the Huskies needed some offense, and they got it in the sixth.
Brinker opened up the scoring with a blast to deep center off of senior southpaw Parker Coil who replaced McGuire. Coil let up another run when sophomore shortstop Henry DiGiorgio brought Aschettino home from second with a single. Northeastern tied the game when Bentley singled off the new pitcher sophomore righty Steele Eaves to score sophomore catcher Cooper Tarantino from second with two outs.
Northeastern now had some momentum going with the game tied, but quickly lost its grasp.
The Razorbacks landed two blows in the seventh inning with Souza and Robinett both launching two-run homers off of freshman righty Tom Mahoney who had come in for Maher. Those two gut punches gave the Hogs a four-run lead.
Northeastern may have been knocked down, but they were far from out. Aschettino responded in the bottom of the seventh with a two-run shot of his own to bring the Huskies back within two.
Arkansas added to their lead in the top of the ninth with a solo blast apiece from senior designated hitter Zack Stewart and Robinett. The Huskies now needed four runs to keep their season alive, and they had only one inning to do it.
“Just seeing that ninth inning I had no doubt in my mind that we were gonna come back and win that game,” Glavine said.
The team seemed to have the same mindset. Gerety opened the inning with an infield single and a one-out walk from Aschettino put runners on first and second.
Criscola grounded to second but beat out the throw to first. Fosberg came to the plate as a pinch hitter with runners at the corners and two outs. With the count full, Fosberg ripped a double to right, scoring both runners and bringing the tying run to the plate.
The bench seemed to get some energy as the momentum had swung hard back towards the Huskies. In the next at bat, DiGiorgio brought Fosberg home with a single to cut the Hogs’ lead to one. Carter was up next and walked to give Harmony a chance with runners in scoring position. What had looked impossible just minutes before seemed to be happening. The comeback ended there, as Harmony flew out to left field to end the game.
In a postgame press conference, Glavine said the game was just a glimpse of what this team has been all year: resilient and gritty. The team has battled through adversity all year after dropping their first five games and battling back to go 39-22 overall and win their second-consecutive conference championship.
It was a record-breaking season for the Huskies. The team led the nation in stolen bases with 212, a solid 31 more bags than second place. Additionally, Feinberg broke the school’s career homerun record with 47 on the season, five more than the previous 42 set by Frank Pesanello in 2009.
The team’s future looks bright with young players playing a big role in their success. Since taking over at third base Harmony, a freshman, has led the team in batting average with a stellar .403. Maher, also a freshman, sports a 3.72 ERA and showed promise against Arkansas, throwing three perfect innings with six strikeouts against one of the better teams in the SEC.
While they are going to lose some players to graduation, including the powerhouse Feinberg, the Huskies look to be set to build around a young core and continue to improve over the next couple years.
