BROOKLINE — An ice-cold offense notched just five hits on Friday as Northeastern fell to Towson 3-2 in 11 innings to open conference play.
The Huskies entered the matchup with the odds in their favor, leading the Coastal Athletic Association in four separate pitching categories, including four shutouts, tying for the national high. The team sat near the cellar, however, in extra-base hits, ranking second-to-last in both doubles and triples among CAA teams this season through out-of-conference play. This dynamic of pristine pitching and wallowing offense was well-documented Friday as Northeastern surrendered their first conference matchup of the season.
“Offensively we’re just not getting it done, that’s just the bottom line,” said head Coach Mike Glavine. “We just don’t get enough guys on to be able to run, and bunt, and steal and hit.”
Friday’s game endured as a pitcher’s duel, with junior right-hander Charlie Walker earning his first career start for the Huskies and senior Andrew Luczak kicking things off for the Tigers.
Walker followed up last week’s four scoreless innings of relief with a season-high five innings pitched, allowing six hits and an unearned run while striking out six and walking none en route to maintaining a 0.00 ERA on the season.
“He did exactly what I thought he was going to do,” Glavine said. “Charlie gave us that start that we look for, which is [a] competitive, bulldog Friday start.”
Luczak’s performance produced much of the same, ending with a final line of three hits, two earned runs, two walks and eight strikeouts across six complete frames.
However, the difference was that Northeastern was able to break through on Luczak to start the afternoon. Although he managed to go the distance for his first quality start of the year, Luczak’s stint on the mound began less confidently, to command a slew of front door breaking balls.
In the second inning, Luczak managed to plunk junior second baseman Carmelo Musacchia in the numbers on a 3-0 offering before walking redshirt freshman Will Fosberg to set the table for junior shortstop Jack Goodman to drive in the first run of the game. Drilling a wormburner through the hole and into left field, Goodman sent Musacchia home from second and broke the 0-0 deadlock with an RBI single.
The Huskies would add a second run later in the inning when graduate student catcher Gregory Bozzo laid a sacrifice bunt down the first base line to score Fosberg from third. Keen to slow the momentum, Luczak responded by retiring nine straight Husky hitters into the fifth inning.
“Early in the game, we had it going on. We scored a couple runs, we got some bunts down and stole some bases and things were going well,” Glavine said. “All of a sudden, we just get completely away from it, so we’re still a work in progress on the offensive side and when we learn how to do it, we’re going to be really good. It’s just taking a little bit longer than we’d all like but we’re getting there.”
Despite carrying a 2-0 lead from the second, Northeastern failed to add insurance runs for the rest of the afternoon.
The Tigers began to claw back in the fourth frame, with Walker surrendering rare hard contact in the inning. Redshirt sophomore outfielder Taye Robinson got things started when he belted a ball to center field which got better of sophomore Ryan Gerety, allowing Robinson to cruise into third. Junior catcher Brian Heckelman wasted little time getting Towson on the board, singling to left field to drive in the unearned run.
Walker was relieved by senior Brett Dunham to begin the sixth inning, who surrendered just two hits and punched out a pair of batters while conceding an unearned run in five innings characterized by soft infield contact.
Unfortunately for Dunham, soft contact was all Towson needed to equalize. Tapping a roller toward sophomore third baseman Chris Walsh, junior outfielder Max D’Alessandro reached first on an error that allowed freshman pinch runner AJ Kolb to wheel home from second and tie the game.
Locked in a 2-2 stalemate, neither team managed to capitalize until the top of the eleventh in an extra-innings showdown. Senior reliever Jack Beauchesne entered the game on the heels of two consecutive scoreless outings, earning a quick groundout to third before being pitted against D’Alessandro. Entering Friday’s contest, D’Alessandro sat atop CAA leaderboards with a 1.332 OPS and a .839 SLG%, alongside a CAA fourth-best 21 RBI alongside seven home runs that rang good for second in the conference.
D’Alessandro stood tall in the batter’s box, his bat wagging behind his head in cadence. Unsuccessful in his first four trips to the plate, he waited patiently for a pitch to break the trend. When it came, he took full advantage.
D’Alessandro belted a ball to left-center field, clearing the wall. He trotted the circuit path as the go-ahead — and, to the disappointment of Glavine’s Huskies — winning run.
Junior outfielder Cam Maldonado offered a last glimmer of hope for Northeastern after working a single to left field from a full count, but was the last Husky to reach base.
“We can’t hang our heads or feel sorry for ourselves,” said Glavine. “We got to be ready to go tomorrow.”
Northeastern will be back in action Saturday for game two against Towson. First pitch is tabbed for 1 p.m. with Jacob Phillips and Andrew Fielding on the call.