BROOKLINE — Northeastern came into the rubber match of the series against UNCW looking for a win, after opening the series with a brutal loss Friday and getting into the win column Saturday with a comeback led by a three-homer performance by graduate student Alex Lane.
However, cold bats and sloppy defense from the Huskies throughout Sunday’s game left them coming up short in a 5-3 loss, with the offense being shut down by a seven-inning start by UNCW junior righty Zane Taylor.
“We weren’t competitive enough, it’s just that simple,” said Northeastern head coach Mike Glavine after the game. “There was no sense of urgency. … We let the starter hang around because we didn’t grind out at-bats.”
Wyatt Scotti got the ball to start for the first time since his rough performance against Delaware, where he gave up five home runs in four innings, and managed to start off this outing well. After a flyout and groundout to kick off the game, Scotti gave up a walk to sophomore first baseman Tanner Thach and a single to senior center fielder Trevor Marsh, but managed to get out of it on a flyout by junior catcher Bryan Arendt.
Northeastern’s offense started off slow, with the only action in the bottom of the first being junior center fielder Mike Sirota’s first walk of the game, but he was quickly stranded after a groundout from Lane to end the inning.
The top of the second was marked by costly defensive mishaps for the Huskies. After sophomore right fielder Alec DeMartino reached second on an overthrow by sophomore shortstop Carmelo Musacchia, he came home on a towering home run by sophomore left fielder Brock Wills, putting the score at 2-0. The Huskies’ bats were kept quiet in the bottom of the second, with sophomore third baseman Jack Goodman batting into a double play to end the inning.
Scotti showed a few signs of struggle again in the top of the third, giving up a walk to Thach and a single to Marsh to put two men on, but was able to get out of it with two-straight flyouts.
The Huskies’ offense managed to put together a rally in the bottom of the inning, started off by back-to-back walks by senior second baseman Luke Beckstein and Sirota. Beckstein was sent home by senior first baseman Tyler MacGregor to get the Huskies’ first run of the game.Lane then loaded the bases after being hit by a pitch, but the momentum was ended on a pop-out by senior DH Jimmy Sullivan.
The fourth inning kicked off a pitching battle between the Seahawks and Huskies. The top was a nice 1-2-3 inning to end Scotti’s outing, but the only offensive action for the Huskies was a double by freshman right fielder Ryan Gerety.
The fifth inning had a series of 1-2-3 innings for both teams, with southpaw senior Will Jones coming in to quiet the Seahawks’ lineup for Northeastern, and Taylor shutting down the home team’s offense in the bottom of the inning. Jones pitched another three-batter inning in the top of the sixth, topped off with a strikeout to DeMartino, and Taylor kept the Huskies’ bats cold.
Jones had a rough start to the seventh, hitting Wills with a pitch and giving up an RBI triple to UNCW’s junior shortstop Kevin Jones to put the score at 3-1. Afterwards, senior left-hander James Quinlivan came in to pitch for the Huskies against sophomore second baseman Kevin Novobilsky, and gave up a sacrifice fly to put the Seahawks up to four runs on the day, but managed to get out of the inning quickly.
Quinlivan came back out to start the eighth inning, but was pulled for sophomore righty Charlie Walker after a hard-hit single by Marsh was barely stopped on a diving play by Beckstein. After DeMartino singled, putting two players on base, Musacchia got a hold of a ground ball sharply hit by Wills and stopped the Seahawks’ momentum.
After seven innings of one-run ball from Taylor, UNCW senior southpaw Luke Craig took the mound. With one out, Sirota sent a home run out to center field to put the score at 4-2, but kept MacGregor and Lane quiet to end the eighth.
Walker was back to pitch for the ninth, and gave up a leadoff double to Kevin Jones on a defensive miscue by both Lane and Sirota in the outfield, before advancing on a wild pitch. After he walked senior third baseman Jac Croom to put runners on the corners, Walker was pulled from the game for junior right-hander Dennis Colleran with one out in the top of the ninth.
After hitting junior DH John Newton with a pitch to put two runners on, Thach hit a sacrifice fly to Sirota in center, whose hard throw to the infield wasn’t enough to catch Kevin Jones at home, putting the Seahawks in the lead at 5-2.
To lead off the bottom of the ninth for the Huskies, pinch-hitter Harrison Feinberg came in for Sullivan. The sophomore pulled a walk, and Musacchia sent him to third on a hard-hit ground ball down the first base line. The Huskies managed to lower their deficit to two runs on a wild pitch from Craig, but a flyout skied to center by senior catcher Gregory Bozzo ended the game for Northeastern at 5-3.
The loss on Sunday caps off a disappointing home week for the Huskies, winning only one of their four games.
“It’s the most disappointing week of the year for us to go 1-and-3 against the teams we played,” Glavine said. “If you look at it, we played three bad games and one good game, so that’s pretty disappointing.”
Northeastern will be back at Friedman Diamond on Friday at 2 p.m. to kick off a three-game home series against Elon.