In an action-packed weekend, Northeastern played its final away series against William & Mary. They started with a strong contest but fell apart as the weekend progressed, giving up the series with a tough loss.
Game One:
Northeastern took the lead early and did not let W&M get ahead of them to secure the win for the first game in the series.
In the top of the first, sophomore Mike Sirota hit a double to left center field. When redshirt senior Danny Crossen came to bat, his double allowed Sirota to run home, setting the score at 1-0 to start.
On the mound for the Huskies was freshman right-hander Aiven Cabral, who struck out four in his six innings and threw 91 pitches. He shut down W&M in the first inning, allowing no hits.
Sophomore right-hander Nate Knowles started for the Tribe, and went four innings.While he had three strikeouts of his own, he allowed six hits and six runs.
The top of the second brought more success for the Huskies. Freshman Cam Maldonado began with a double, followed by Knowles walking sophomore Jack Doyle. A bunt by redshirt senior Spenser Smith and a hit by junior Gregory Bozzo enabled bothMaldonado and Doyle to score.
Northeastern had a clean slate on the bases, but Knowles walked yet another player — this time junior Luke Beckstein. Sirota stepped to the plate for the second time and sent the ball out of the park, setting the score at 5-0.
Freshman Tank Yaghoubi was able to score a run in the bottom of the inning for the Tribe, but it would not be enough to catch up to the Huskies’ runaway lead.
After Sirota hit a single in the top of the fifth, Knowles — who had prevented any more runs — was relieved by left-handed graduate student Zach Tsakounis. He started by walking junior Tyler MacGregor.
Trying to stop the Huskies, Tsakounis struck out Crossen, but senior Alex Lane would be unstoppable at the plate. He hit a two-RBI homer beyond left field, increasing the lead to 8-1.
Patrick Harrington, a right-handed graduate student, took the mound and shut down the Tribe for the last three innings. He struck out two and allowed just two hits, securing an 8-1 Northeastern victory.
Game Two:
A strong win Friday was met by a loss on Saturday. Even though Northeastern jumped to a 4-0 lead early, they slowly met defeat as the contest progressed, falling 8-5.
Eric Yost, a junior right-hander, opened the game for the Huskies. He struck out two players in 3 ⅓ innings of work.
The top of the third was nothing short of impeccable for the Huskies. Homers from Sirota, MacGregor, and Maldonado put them at an early 4-0 lead.
W&M got on the board in the bottom of the inning as sophomore Luca Danos sent the ball to center field for a double. Senior Ben Williamson hit another double that got Danos home.
The Tribe came back for another strong inning in the fourth. Senior Joe Delossantos hit a homer to left field, and senior Max Winters hit an RBI double to score another run.
As Northeastern now only led the game 4-3, Yost was relieved by redshirt junior right-hander Jake Giglotti who allowed another single before striking out two players to end the inning.
Sirota was hit by a pitch in the top of the fifth and a wild pitch sent him to second, which led to a switch of pitchers. Sophomore right-hander Carter Lovasz came out from the bullpen to try and turn the tide.
Crossen singled, scoring Sirota, but got out on a stolen base attempt soon after. Northeastern inched their lead to a narrow 5-3 but were unable to score another run for the remainder of the game. Lovasz was what W&M needed — he allowed no runs from the Huskies in his five innings.
Gigliotti tightened up on the mound, leading to two scoreless innings, but the bottom of the seventh was where things switched up. Sophomore Luke Carmichael was hit by Giglotti’s pitch and Williamson snuck in another single.
Northeastern brought in right-handed redshirt senior Nick Davis to try and turn the tide, but their efforts failed. A pitching error contributed to four runs that were scored in the inning, giving W&M the lead. One more run in the bottom of the eighth brought the final score to 8-5. Even though the Huskies had the bases loaded in the top of the ninth, they could not score a run and were defeated.
Game Three:
Northeastern had a lot of momentum at the start , which was evident when Lane smashed the ball out of the park to score him and MacGregor, who had previously singled. Immediately after, Maldonado hit a home run out to left field for a 3-0 start to the game.
Sophomore Justin Bosland came close to a run of his own in the top of the second when he was walked by right-handed graduate student Cory Wall and stole second and third but couldn’t make the final stretch. Crossen scored another run in the top of the third on a fielder’s choice while Bozzo was at bat.
Right-handed junior Wyatt Scotti stepped to the mound with one goal — stop the Tribe. He only gave up one run over his 75 pitches and struck out three in six innings.
In the fourth, senior right-hander Tom Mayer relieved Wall but Bosland immediately. Mayer made an error that gave him the opening to run to second, and Sirota’s RBI single sent him home.
The Huskies committed an error in the bottom of the sixth that positioned junior Nate Goranson on second, but Beckstein held them off defensively at second base when two players grounded out.
Griffin Young, a right-handed graduate student, stepped onto the mound in the bottom of the seventh to close out the weekend for the Huskies. His first inning of work started with a walk to freshman Jerry Barnes III, who eventually made it home to score another run.
The Tribe loaded the bases and had an opening to tie the game. Goranson was the one to do it — his double sent all three runners home to tie. Young started to slip, walking Delossantos who then stole second and made it around the bases on a single from Yaghoubi allowing the Tribe to obtain a 6-5 lead.
This meant that the ninth inning was the Huskies’ last opportunity to take the series. MacGregor and Crossen started with promising singles yet three straight outs ended the game and sealed Northeastern’s fate.
The Huskies return home to the Friedman Diamond on Tuesday to face UMass Lowell with the first pitch at 3:05 p.m. Jack Sinclair will have the call on WRBB Sports.