BROOKLINE – After an impressive 14-3 victory over Monmouth yesterday, Northeastern once again took care of business at home, defeating the Hawks 7-1 in a sunny Saturday afternoon matchup.
For the second straight game, Northeastern had to find their way without superstar center fielder Mike Sirotta due to soreness.
“He felt better today, I don’t think you’ll see him tomorrow, but I think you’ll see him soon after that,” said Northeastern head coach Mike Glavine.
Aiven Cabral, last year’s phenom freshman and first team all CAA pitcher, came into the afternoon looking to find his footing. He entered the matchup with an 0-2 record, and 6.23 ERA. The Hawks hopped on Cabral early in the first inning, as their first two batters, Casey Caufield and Harry Padden both singled to start the ballgame. Caufield went on to score on a base hit from Austin Denlinger, but Cabral managed to limit the damage to just one run in the inning.
“We’ve been giving up runs in the first inning which is a little frustrating,” Glavine said. “We did it yesterday, we did it again today. The good side of that is it doesn’t faze us now. We have no issues playing from behind.”
The Huskies offense also started out on a strong note in the bottom of the first inning. After Luke Beckstein walked and Tyler MacGregor knocked a double down the line, both players scored thanks to back-to-back errors by Monmouth’s starting pitcher Alec Couture. Jack Goodman’s sacrifice fly brought home Alex Lane to move the Huskies lead to 3-1, which is where the inning would end.
After the first, Cabral was purely dominant. He did not allow a single hit after the first frame, allowing just two base runners over the next five innings. He struck out just three batters, but threw just 65 pitches over his six innings of work. Per his standards, Cabral forced nine groundouts, as his combination of offspeed pitches along with his fastball proved too much for the Hawks batters to handle.
“Aiven is a strike thrower, he’s not a strikeout guy…he did that today really well today,” Glavine said.
In the bottom of the second, MacGregor extended the Huskies lead when he drove in Ryan Gerety with a fielder’s choice with runners on the corners. The score would remain 4-1 until the fourth inning, when yet another Goodman sacrifice fly drove in MacGregor.
Monmouth stuck with starter Alec Couture into the sixth inning despite a high number of pitches, but the starter was yanked after 5.1 innings, having given up seven hits and seven runs on 111 pitches. The right hander also walked five Northeastern batters.
An RBI double from Lane was the backbreaker for Couture that knocked him out of the game in that sixth inning. Lane had yet another great game out of the three spot in the lineup, going 2-5 with a pair of RBI.
“Lane is on another planet right now,” Glavine said. “His swing decisions are outstanding. When he swings at a bad pitch it almost catches you off guard.”
The two players above him in the lineup, Beckstein and MacGregor, also had two hits each.
“Those guys have carried us,” Glavine said, referring to the top three players in his lineup. “Beckstein has been an incredible leadoff hitter, he does everything you ask…he’s the guy that the other team can’t stand, and I love it. The other two, they just come up big every game…they’ve been awesome all year long.”
The rest of the Huskies lineup was not as strong at the dish though — batters four through nine combined for just three hits. That group was able to produce five walks though, two of which were drawn by Cam Maldonado.
Jack Bowery took over for Cabral on the mound to start the seventh inning, and he went on to complete the three inning save, his second of the year. Over those innings he allowed just two walks and no hits.
The Huskies were active on the basepaths all day long, as they finished with four stolen bases. Both Maldonado and Gerety were thrown out stealing though, and Beckstein was also tagged out when he got caught in a pickle between first and second base. The Huskies aggressive base running was also on display on a Carmelo Musacchia triple, when Monmouth right fielder Eric Sabato was unable to bring down a high fly ball.
Despite not a single home run from the Huskies, it was a professional outing top to bottom as they took care of business. The team improved to an impressive 7-0 at home, 20-6 overall, and 4-1 in CAA conference play. They currently sit in second place in the conference behind only the undefeated UNC Wilmington Seahawks.
Northeastern will have the opportunity to close out the series sweep of Monmouth tomorrow afternoon in another 1 p.m. meeting at Friedman Diamond. Khalin Kapoor and Matty Wasserman will be on the call WRBBSports+.