On a breezy Brookline afternoon, the Northeastern Huskies closed the book on this weekend’s series against Harvard with an 8-4 win, led by solid showings from the top of the lineup and some hard-fought pitching performances throughout the game.
Toeing the rubber for Northeastern on Sunday was graduate southpaw Jordan Gottesman, who’d put up some strong starts for the Huskies in the first few weeks of the season, and on Sunday, he was nothing but dominant. Following a two-out walk in the first, Gottesman racked up outs like a machine, retiring 14 straight batters and keeping the Crimson hitless into the sixth inning on his way to a seven-strikeout afternoon.
Once he got to the sixth, however, Gottesman encountered some trouble. After giving up a pair of singles with one out, Crimson shortstop Jack Rickheim sent a runner home on a double play attempt, outrunning the throw to first to put the Crimson on the board.
Once Gottesman got himself out of the sixth, graduate righty Cooper McGrath came in for the Huskies, and from the start wasn’t at his best. With two Crimson runners on the corners thanks to two singles, third baseman Tyler Shulman sent a runner home on an error by Huskies second baseman Carmelo Musacchia. That run was followed up by a pair of walks allowed by McGrath, sending another baserunner home to give Harvard their third run of the game.
By this point, McGrath had been showing some signs of struggle with his pitching hand, visibly wiping blood onto his uniform. However, he came out for another inning of work, giving up a couple of baserunners but sending two Crimson batters down swinging in his final two at-bats before being taken out in the eighth inning.
Northeastern head coach Mike Glavine attributed some of that outing’s struggles to a blister on the back of McGrath’s finger, but was careful not to place all the blame on it. “He’s such a big guy, like when he’s off a little, he’s off, but we also didn’t help him. We had a mistake, there were two mistakes on defense and then he had a blister on his finger… so it was just a little bit of a messy performance overall.”
Graduate southpaw Max Gitlin came in to close the game for the Huskies, and had a bumpy ride to the save. With two runners in scoring position after a pair of singles, a routine 6-3 groundout to end the game turned into a run scored for the Crimson when a throw by third baseman Chris Walsh bounced up and hit freshman first baseman Eric Cha in the face. After a visit from trainers, Cha stayed in to finish the game (albeit with a bloody nose) and Gitlin closed the game without any more action from the Crimson bats.
On the other side, the Huskies’ bats fluctuated between hot and cold throughout the game, with most of the offensive action coming from the top of the lineup. The Huskies’ scoring started from the go in the bottom of the first, after Musacchia converted a plunk into a run on a single by sophomore Ryan Gerety.
After being held down by Crimson starter Brian Dowling for the next few innings, the Huskies managed to get another run on the board in the bottom of the fourth when senior utilityman Justin Bosland sent catcher Gregory Bozzo home on a single to left-center. Dowling was taken out in the fifth with two runners on, but senior righty Cole Cleary came in and gave up a pair of free passes to score a third run for the Huskies.
But the highlight of Sunday’s scoring wasn’t until the bottom of the sixth. With Bosland on base, Musacchia managed to get the sweet spot of a pitch and knocked it to deep left-center field, sending it over the fences to give the Huskies a 5-1 lead.
Some more small-ball followed from the Huskies, who scored thanks to the efforts of Goodman picking up a steal on the basepaths. He came around to score on an RBI groundout by Bozzo, adding to the Northeastern lead.
The bottom of the eighth brought with it some more good luck for the Huskies. After Cha got on base thanks to a plunk by junior righty Jack Smith, Musacchia sent him home on a triple to deep center field, giving the Huskies their seventh run of the afternoon. A single by left fielder Harrison Feinberg sent Musacchia home, and finished the scoring at 8-4 for the Huskies offense.
Musacchia’s strong performance in Sunday’s game, with a triple and a 2-run home run, caps off what has been a hot series for him at the plate, where he put up five hits – including three extra-base hits – and five steals against the Crimson pitching staff.
“He had a great weekend… put up some good at-bats, stole some bases, he was all over the field,” said head coach Mike Glavine. “I really liked his energy, just everything – like, he had a really good weekend, and obviously, he had a great day [today].”
Additionally, Coach Glavine was able to spare some details regarding graduate slugger Alex Lane’s absence from the lineup and top outfielder Cam Maldonado’s return after a pinch-hitting appearance in the bottom of the eighth. “Cam’s pretty good here, I didn’t want to push him too much with a day off tomorrow and then a game Tuesday, so I think he’ll be good to go for Tuesday”, he said. “Alex was just a day off, and he’s feeling good – we’re not gonna go anywhere without him, so we just wanted to give him a day off to reset today.”
The Huskies will be back at Friedman Diamond, with a 2:30 p.m. first pitch against the Merrimack Warriors this Tuesday. Samuel Glassman will have the call live on WRBB Sports+.