By: Ravi Pandya
Coming off of a thrilling Beanpot win against Harvard, the Huskies looked to keep the momentum going with a weekend series against Elon. Northeastern came into the series with a 14-12 record overall and a 3-2 record against CAA opponents.
On Friday, the Huskies won in relatively easy fashion as they beat the Phoenix 6-3 behind an Aaron Civale quality start and runs batted in from Charlie McConnell, Max Burt, Cam Walsh, Josh Treff, and Mason Koppens. After eight solid innings from Civale, which included six strikeouts, and three earned runs allowed, the Huskies turned it over to Mike Fitzgerald to finish the game. Fitzgerald did not disappoint as he retired the three batters he faced without any trouble.
The second game of the series proved to be the toughest pitching matchup for the Huskies. James Mulry pitched well, and only gave up one run off of a Tyler McVicar RBI single in the fourth inning. In the seventh inning, Andrew Misiaszek gave up an RBI single to Ryne Ogren. Misiaszek proceeded to finish the game without allowing any further damage. Unfortunately for the Huskies, those two runs were all that the Elon pitching staff needed. Michael Elefante pitched 8 innings of fast-paced shutout baseball. He constantly kept hitters off balance and only allowed two hits in his outing. After those eight innings, Elon closer Chris Hall quickly ended the game on 11 pitches and picked up his sixth save of the year.
The rubber match of the series appeared on paper to be a relatively easy win for the Huskies. However, the game played on the field proved that it would not be the case. Elon’s starting pitcher, Jordan Barrett, came into the game with an ERA over 7. On the other hand, potential future draft MLB draft pick Dustin Hunt was on the mound for the Huskies. After escaping trouble in the first couple of innings, Barrett was able to settle into the game and pitch 6 innings with two runs allowed. Those runs came off of a Zach Perry RBI double in the 1st and a Nolan Lang sac fly in the 6th. Dustin Hunt cruised through the first six innings, and only allowed an RBI single to Kory Shumate. However, he did allow an opposite field homerun to Tyler McVicar that was heavily carried by the wind. After Hunt allowed two runs in 7 innings, Tyler Robinson came in for relief and did not allow a hit in either of the two innings that he pitched. After Barrett left the game for the Phoenix after six innings, Chris Hall pitched four shutout innings including an extra inning in the tenth. In the top of the tenth inning, Mike Fitzgerald allowed an RBI single to Shumate that ended up being the game-winning run for the Phoenix. Chris Hall won his second game of the season after completing the game for Elon.
The Huskies’ next week consists of a Wednesday game against Quinnipiac and a weekend series at Delaware.