Five games in six days is no easy feat, especially when it caps off a month on the road.
After a series sweep at San Diego State, Northeastern returned to the east coast for some more local competition. However, the weeks of travel and hard gameplay finally caught up to the Huskies when they headed to Bryant University for a mid-week contest Wednesday afternoon.
After seven difficult innings, the Huskies found themselves on the wrong side of a mercy-rule ending, dropping the match 13-3.
The Bulldogs bared their teeth early. In the first inning, they put up as many runs as they’d seen in their entire last game against Northeastern — a contest they dropped 5-4 to the Huskies last spring. And that was just the beginning.
By the fourth inning, the Bulldogs had accumulated seven runs. Redshirt sophomore Gavin Greger led the way for Bryant with four RBI in his first two at bats. However, there was plenty of wealth to go around with three hits from junior Brandyn Durand and four runs from redshirt junior Zac Zyons through the game.
The Huskies slowed the Bulldogs to a halt momentarily, trying to claw their way back with three runs in the sixth, but Bryant sensed danger and collected themselves quickly. Through the sixth and seventh innings, the reigning America East champions put up six more runs, backed by four doubles, to close the game early.
In the Huskies’ defense, they were running out of arms. They had already sent out all of their starting pitchers for lengthy stints against SDSU over the weekend, and had to reach deep into the bullpen for the mid-week game. Wednesday’s rotation of senior righty Ryan McCarroll (in his first career start), Andrew Basel, Jack Cropper, Ryan Griffin, and Andrew Rogovic own a collective ERA of 13.61, and four of the five are new to the Huskies’ mound — with Basel and Rogovic being freshman, McCarroll a transfer, and Cropper redshirting last season — so it’s not especially surprising that they struggled against a lineup of strong Bryant bats.
The Huskies were quieter at the plate than Bryant, with eight hits to the Bulldogs’ 13. They still got runners on, but couldn’t bring them home, with nine left on base through the seven innings of play. Junior Carmelo Musacchia and redshirt freshman Will Fosberg did the most for Northeastern with two hits and one RBI a piece, the only Huskies with earned runs in the game.
Credit to Bryant’s pitching staff, who tampered down the Northeastern lineup despite also playing in their fifth game in six days. Freshman righty Ty Davis was the only pitcher to have any real trouble against the Huskies, giving up three hits and one run in 1.2 innings. But he was pulled at the first sign of struggle, and Northeastern’s other two runs came through unearned.
The loss drops Northeastern’s record to 8-6 as they travel to Friedman Diamond for the first time this season Friday afternoon. WRBB Sports+ will have full coverage of the Huskies’ home-opener when the first pitch is thrown at 2:30 p.m.