BROOKLINE — Everybody wants to win on Senior Day.
And on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, Northeastern did just that, notching a 7-2 victory over the Elon Phoenix.
The festivities started with a touching ceremony featuring the seniors and their families both being honored. Four Husky seniors were named to the starting lineup, and each senior was introduced to loud cheers from the crowd.
Junior Jack Bowery took the hill for Northeastern, making his twelfth appearance of the season. This marked his first start of the year, however, as he’s mostly been confined to a bullpen role.
Bowery wasn’t flawless, but he was up to the task. After a scoreless first inning, he pitched himself into some trouble in the second, but escaped the jam relatively unscathed after allowing one run on an infield single by freshman catcher Joe Yovino.
Elon was able to scratch out another run in the third, but Bowery was hardly to blame. A hit-by-pitch and two softly-hit singles stretched the lead to 2-0 before Bowery was able to induce two groundouts to again limit the damage. The junior then worked through a flawless fourth before he exited, giving Northeastern a solid four innings. Bowery’s day came to a close having recorded eight groundouts and just one extra-base hit, an impressive showing for his first start.
If Bowery’s first four innings were solid, his counterpart’s first four were fantastic. Phoenix starter Justin Mitrovich held the Huskies offense to no runs and just four baserunners through the first four innings, striking out four in the process. Mitrovich has been Elon’s ace so far this year, entering Saturday’s game with a 4.26 ERA across a team-leading 61.1 innings pitched.
However, the fifth inning proved to be a hurdle Mitrovich couldn’t clear. After Northeastern’s Aiven Cabral pitched a scoreless top half, Carmelo Musacchia and Ryan Gerety led off the bottom with back-to-back singles. Then, with Cam Maldonado at bat, the right-hander tossed two wild pitches, allowing Musacchia to score and Gerety to take third base.
The Huskies were able to take the lead when a throwing error turned a Tyler MacGregor RBI groundout into two runs. Mitrovich was able to save some face, striking out Alex Lane to end the frame, but three Husky runs had crossed when the dust had settled.
Cabral and flamethrowing righty Dennis Colleran combined to keep the score at 3-2 into the bottom of the seventh, with Colleran stranding two inherited baserunners in the top half of the inning. Each pitcher had a strong showing, inspiring some belief that they’re capable of turnarounds after struggling mightily thus far this season.
The bottom of the seventh brought insurance for Northeastern. With one out, senior right-hander Ben Sieracki saw Luke Beckstein reach on an error before issuing a walk to Sirota, bringing up MacGregor. Despite the left-handed Liam Dabagian warming in the bullpen, head coach Mike Kennedy elected to stick with the righty Sieracki to face the lefty MacGregor.
Kennedy’s decision went about how you’d expect. On the third pitch of the at-bat, Sieracki threw MacGregor a fastball, which the first baseman deposited over the left-center field fence. The Huskies had the big hit they’d been waiting for, and they led, 6-2.
Dabagian entered, but it was too little, too late. A walk, single, and a balk allowed Alex Lane to score, as the lead ballooned to five before the inning ended.
From there, it was smooth sailing for the Huskies. Colleran allowed one hit, but dominated otherwise, recording the last eight outs with little to no difficulty. A high, hard fastball retired Phoenix outfielder Charlie Granatell, and Northeastern walked away with a 7-2 victory.
“Our pitching was the difference today,” said Northeastern head coach Mike Glavine. “Great game, great win, great to win on Senior Day.”
Seven different Huskies recorded hits on Saturday, the defense went errorless, and the pitching staff only issued three walks. All three numbers are excellent indicators of team success, and give Northeastern good reason for optimism going forward.
The win was important for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it meant a series victory for the Huskies – a needed result after losing four of the last five games entering the weekend. It also marked three straight games where the pitching staff, which has seen its fair share of inconsistencies, has been up to the challenge.
That’ll be a trend that’ll have to continue if Northeastern has any interest in a deep postseason run; so far, the Huskies have proven themselves as a dangerous group of hitters with a remarkable lack of bite on the mound. Saturday was yet another step in the right direction.
“We’ve had a lot of discussions this week about trying to play better, a little more fundamental, a little more sense of urgency,” Glavine said. ”We didn’t play perfectly early, [but] I thought we had that sense of urgency.”
Finally, the win was Glavine’s 300th, an impressive tally for a coach actively etching himself as a Husky legend. The former-player-turned-coach has been responsible for one of the best eras in Northeastern baseball history, leading them to perennial CAA contention as well as their first-ever national preseason ranking in 2024.
The Huskies will go for a series sweep when they take on Elon in Sunday’s matinee. Daisy Roberts and Matty Wasserman will have the call on WRBB Sports Plus, with first pitch tabbed for 1 p.m.