BUIES CREEK, NC — Northeastern came into game two of the weekend series against Campbell Saturday afternoon looking to continue the momentum from their 14-8 victory in game one and take the series. The Huskies delivered on both counts.
There was no point in this game where Northeastern seemed to stumble. The first inning opened up with immediate scoring. In the second at bat of the game, Cam Maldonado roped a single to right field and was eventually brought in by a Harrison Feinberg single to put the Huskies up early, 1-0.
While the second inning was quiet, Northeastern broke out again in the third. The Huskies’ offense on Saturday was a game of small ball. With no runs on the board for Campbell, Northeastern proceeded to unleash a frenzy on Campbell starting pitcher Mason Smith.
It started with a Carmelo Musacchia double to left field and two straight outs – a fielder’s choice by Maldonado to put out Musacchia and a ground out by Jack Gerety to advance Maldonado to second.
Feinberg kept the movement around the bases going with a single, putting runners on the corners with two outs. Finally, Maldonado was brought in by Jack Doyle with yet another single, advancing Feinberg to second.
Will Fosberg struck with Northeastern’s fourth hit, loading the bases in time for Gregory Bozzo to score, bringing in Doyle and Feinberg with a two-RBI single. When the smoke cleared, the Huskies had turned a 1-0 lead into a 4-0 lead with an impressive five-hit inning.
The Huskies kept the engines on in the fourth. Henry DiGiorgio drew a walk that would lead to yet another run for Northeastern after a Musacchia single and a Maldonado fielder’s choice.
“They just did a lot of things really well offensively,” said head coach Mike Glavine. “It feels like we’re always on the attack here and we’ve got nine guys doing it, so I thought the offense did a really good job of controlling the game today.”
The sixth saw Northeastern take advantage of some sloppy pitching by Smith and his eventual reliever, Evans Hendricks. Despite getting only one hit in the inning — a single from Alex Lane — the Huskies managed to score two runs. A throwing error on a not-so-sacrificial bunt by DiGiorgio put runners on the corners and an intentional walk for an already 3 for 3 Maldonado loaded the bases. From here, two straight walks for Gerety and Feinberg, one by Smith and one by Hendricks, put the Huskies up 7-0 and further entrench Campbell in a nightmare scenario.
Northeastern sealed their win in the ninth when Jack Doyle launched a solo shot over the left field wall, capping the Huskies’ eight-run outburst.
Meanwhile, the Huskies’ offensive campaign was backed by a stellar pitching performance by Northeastern junior Aiven Cabral. While the Huskies put up seven runs in the first seven innings, Cabral allowed only five hits — three of them coming in the seventh inning. Cabral kept a clean slate through the first six before getting into some trouble in the seventh, finishing with just one earned run across 6.2 frames of work.
“He’s always in control out there,” said Glavine. “We didn’t walk anyone on the day, you know, you got to land your secondary stuff against this team … he did a really good job of landing the secondary stuff when he needed to early in counts even when he was behind and then executing fastballs when he needed to … he pitched great.”
The Fighting Camels’ bats began to fight back in the seventh, but it wasn’t enough to dig themselves out of a seven-run deficit. A Jack Morton single was followed up by a Jett Music fielder’s choice and a Charlie Meglio base hit to put runners in scoring position. Seth Farni put the home team on the board with a single to left field to get Music home. Unfortunately for Campbell, the harmony ended flat, as Music’s run would be the only one scored.
After two outs were registered in the seventh, Cooper McGrath came in from the bullpen to retire Cabral. McGrath picked up right where Cabral left off, shutting down Campbell with just one hit over the final two frames. The Huskies capped things off with a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth to close out the game and secure the series.
Northeastern will be back to finish the series against Campbell on Sunday. First pitch is at 12 p.m. with Amelia Ballingall and Dylan Black on the call.