The offensive onslaught started early for Northeastern during Friday’s contest against the Stony Brook Seawolves, the first of a three-game weekend series on Long Island.
Despite both sides recording hits in the first inning, it took until the top half of the second for the Huskies to open the game’s scoring. It started when Harrison Feinberg, batting out of the five hole, got under a low heater and belted a deep leadoff home run to straight-away center field. Will Fosberg doubled two batters later to give the Huskies another scoring chance, but Stony Brook right-hander Eddie Smink managed to end the inning without further damage. It was, however, the beginning of another long day for Smink — the leader of the Seawolves rotation last year with a 3.11 ERA — who has struggled thus far in his junior season.
A dropped third strike to lead off the home-half of the inning gave the Seawolves a baserunner to work with as they looked to answer. However, on the very next at-bat, Huskies second baseman Carmelo Musacchia made a spectacular play on a choppy ground ball from Stony Brook’s Brett Davino, and shortstop Jack Goodman completed the 4-6-3 double play. With the wind taken out of the Seawolves’ sails, Northeastern starter Aiven Cabral ended the inning two batters later. Building on strong recent outings against Harvard and Towson, Cabral found his rhythm, and did not allow another Stony Brook baserunner until the sixth inning.
The third and fourth innings passed without much fanfare on either side, with Northeastern recording singles in each frame but failing to put serious scoring pressure on the Seawolves’ defense. But with the top of the order coming to the plate for Northeastern in the fifth, the Huskies pounced.
Musacchia led off with a ground ball single into left field before centerfielder Cam Maldonado turned on a two-strike curve, yanking one far over the fence in left field. The two-run shot put the Huskies up by three with no outs, starting off the inning strong. Goodman was the next Husky to join the home run party, taking a high heater to the opposite field and extending Northeastern’s lead to 4-0. Feinberg flew out to tally Northeastern’s second out, but with Smink’s pitch count rising the Huskies kept their foot on the gas.
After taking strike one, third baseman Jack Doyle swung away and crushed a breaking ball over the fence in deep center field for Northeastern’s third home run of the inning. Having seen enough, head coach Matt Senk finally made a call to the bullpen and sophomore reliever Nicholas Rizzo recorded the final out on the next at-bat. Stony Brook’s bats, however, did not cooperate in the home half of the inning, and the Huskies headed into the sixth up 5-0.
With a new pitcher on the mound, Northeastern struggled to keep their momentum rolling, going three up and three down in the next inning. Despite an error allowing Seawolves shortstop Matt Miceli to reach base, another double play and Cabral’s sixth and final strikeout of the day ended the inning clean.
The Seawolves’ finally woke up out of the seventh inning stretch against a fading Cabral, starting the inning with a double, a walk, and another double which scored two for Stony Brook before head coach Mike Glavine decided his starter’s day was done. After a brilliant six innings that saw him give up just two hits and one walk, the bottom of the seventh added three earned runs to the box score on Cabral’s watch. Charlie Walker — who’s been a dazzling reliever for Northeastern in his junior campaign with no earned runs through 18.2 innings pitched — entered for the Huskies. The righty allowed two more singles — the latter of which drove in a run, breaking his spotless streak and cutting Northeastern’s advantage to a narrow 5-4 — before he was able to get out of the inning.
Any hopes for a momentum shift from the Stony Brook faithful were quickly dashed by Doyle’s leadoff homerun in the top of the eighth inning, his second of the day. After a walk and a single put runners on the corners for the Huskies, Senk went to the bullpen again for junior right-hander Jacob Pederson.
The closer walked the first batter he faced to load the bases, and a sacrifice fly from Maldonado allowed Northeastern to rebuild a 7-4 cushion. Stony Brook threatened briefly in the bottom of the inning after a walk and a Davino double put runners in scoring position, but Walker ultimately retired the side without incident.
Done playing games, Northeastern came to the plate in the top of the ninth ready to slam the door on the Seawolves after the seventh inning scare. Goodman started off the Huskies’ five-hit inning with a single before swiping second base, allowing Doyle to drive him in with a single of his own. That at-bat ended an excellent day for the senior third baseman, who finished 3-5 with two home runs and three RBI.
A Fosberg walk put two on for Alex Lane, who knocked in both baserunners with a double and blew the game open to a 10-4 Huskies advantage. Musacchia ultimately left two stranded after ending the inning with a strikeout, but the Huskies headed into the game’s last licks with confidence.
A one-out Miceli double gave the Seawolves a baserunner in the bottom of the ninth, but Stony Brook’s last gasp fell well short as Walker took care of business and recorded his third save of the year. Cabral got the win, boosting his season record above .500 to 3-2, as the Huskies went 15-39 at the plate — tying the mark for most hits in a game this season.
While the bats have been volatile for Northeastern so far in 2025, the stars came out Friday afternoon to show fans the type of offensive explosiveness they expected coming into the year.
With this win, the Huskies move to 16-8 overall and 3-1 in conference. With eight or more hits in three straight games and a resurgent Cabral rounding out what has been a strong starting rotation to begin the year for the Huskies, Northeastern heads into the rest of the weekend looking to notch its second-straight series victory to begin conference play.
The Huskies will be back in action at Stony Brook’s Joe Nathan Field on Saturday with a 1 p.m. first pitch against the Seawolves. The game is available to stream on FloSports, and written coverage of the contest will be available on our website following the contest.