Northeastern came into its third and final matchup of the weekend series versus conference rival Towson looking for the sweep, and came away successful. After back-to-back wins in Friday’s double-header, 6-5 and 12-8, the Huskies defeated the Tigers 5-4 Saturday in comeback fashion for the cherry on top of Senior Day.
Towson started off with the early edge, opening the scoring gates in the second inning with a two-run home run by senior catcher John Cristino.
The Huskies’ response in the third? Junior pitcher Wyatt Scotti struck out the side in the top of the inning, and graduate student Tyler MacGregor launched a home run in the bottom, cutting the deficit to 2-1.
Scotti delivered another strong performance on the mound through the fourth, notching his sixth strikeout in just 16 batters faced before sophomore pitcher Jack Beauchesne stepped in for relief. This was Scotti’s first start since sustaining a minor shoulder injury two weeks ago, and he was on a pitch count for this matchup.
“That was the plan going in,” said head coach Mike Glavine. “I thought [Scotti] pitched awesome. He gave us what we needed today and really gave us a chance to win.”
However, the Tigers capitalized on the change quickly and tallied next on the scoreboard in a slow fifth inning for the Huskies defensively. Towson’s redshirt seniors James Moses and Reyce Curnane had RBIs, off of a center-field double and in-field grounder to the pitcher, respectively, and the score was 4-1.
Northeastern slowly but surely chipped away at Towson’s three run lead. Redshirt senior Spenser Smith, the leadoff hitter for the inning, crossed home plate thanks to sophomore Mike Sirota’s RBI down the third base line to make it a 4-2 game. The Huskies loaded the bases again for the second time in the inning, but were unable to capitalize.
Yet it was only a matter of time. After Towson’s redshirt senior pitcher Jordan Luton took the mound as third relief, Northeastern reached its offensive breakthrough.
Senior Alex Lane started off the rally with a single to center field, followed by a homer to left field by redshirt freshman Harrison Feinberg to tie the game at four. Junior Greg Bozzo followed suit, matching Feinberg with another left field homer — the second of his career — to give the Huskies its first lead of the day for a score of 5-4.
“[Bozzo]’s such a great kid, he’s such a hard worker,” said Glavine. “He comes in that spot and comes up big. And he had another hit as well. To see him hit that home run obviously was huge and really happy for him personally.”
With four unanswered runs from the Huskies, the Tigers brought in graduate student pitcher Cam Clark to stop the bleeding, but the damage was already done. Both teams played tight eighth and ninth innings to contain further offensive opportunities and Northeastern came away with the 5-4 victory, extending its hot streak to eight.
The comeback speaks to Northeastern’s mentality through adversity, regardless of the score or records against opponents.
“Told the guys to throw the records out the window and it played out that way. Three really tough games and today was probably the toughest,” said Glavine. “Some things weren’t going our way, but we kept grinding out some at-bats and chipping away. We stayed in the game and then we breakthrough there late.”
Northeastern will need to adhere to that resilience as the team heads south for conference series matchups with UNCW and William & Mary in the closing weeks of the regular season.
“We play well on the road. We’re playing great teams – teams that are at the top of the conference,” said Glavine. “We’ll find out more about ourselves coming down the stretch, but I know the guys will be ready.”
The Huskies have a short turnaround as they face Stonehill on Wednesday. WRBB will have written coverage of the contest.