BROOKLINE — After commanding 6-1 and 9-0 victories in the first two games of the series against the Hofstra Pride, Northeastern turned to Jordan Gottesman to complete the series sweep.
He did not disappoint.
The lefty threw seven scoreless innings while striking out a career high nine batters, as the Huskies offense did just enough to secure a 4-0 victory.
Neither team could get a runner on base through the first two periods of the game. Hofstra’s starting pitcher, Tristan Nemjo, despite entering the game with a 6.20 ERA, was strong both early and late in the contest. He ultimately pitched all eight innings for the Pride, surrendering just four hits.
In the bottom of the third, it was an unlikely player who got the first Huskies hit, as junior Matt Brinker launched a line drive home run over the left-center field wall. It was Brinker’s second home run of the year.
“He’s a guy we need to rely on. He was a guy coming out of the winter that we thought was going to really help us, [then he] breaks a finger and misses a bunch of time,” said Northeastern head coach Mike Glavine. “Now we’re getting him back in there and that’s huge. He gives us some power as you saw today, but he also gives us some toughness as well.”
The Huskies finally found some base runners in the bottom of the fourth. Junior Cam Maldonado led off the inning with a single, followed up by a walk from fellow outfielder Harrison Feinberg. After a Jack Goodman strikeout, second baseman Carmelo Musacchia drove in Maldonado on an RBI single. Following a double steal, a wild pitch allowed Feinberg to score.
Catcher Will Fosberg then walked, which was followed up by a Gregory Bozzo sacrifice fly to bring home Musacchia. After an Alex Lane walk and a Brinker hit by pitch, senior third baseman Jack Doyle came to the plate with the bases juiced, but was unable to convert as he flew out to shortstop to end the inning.
The Huskies offense mustered just one hit the rest of the way (a Maldonado single in which he was thrown out trying to extend it to a double). They did finish the game with five walks, two of which were drawn by Lane. Northeastern also managed to steal four bases, although they were thrown out on two such attempts as well.
“[The] offense wasn’t very sharp,” Glavine said. “We did enough to score some runs, but Jordan [Gottesman] was the difference today.”
Gottesman was superb for the Huskies, as he dominated his seven innings. He allowed six hits (five of which were singles), while giving up zero walks, and striking out the aforementioned nine batters.
“Jordan was awesome…he’s got a starter makeup, a starter mentality, [and] starter stuff. He pitched really great [and] gave us an opportunity to win,” Glavine said. “He was ready to go from the first pitch.”
The starter was relieved by senior Jack Bowery in the eighth inning. Bowery, regularly a starter for the Huskies, did not have his best stuff out of the bullpen. The lefty allowed two hits in the eighth and then two hits again in the ninth. Fortunately, none of those runners were able to score.
That was largely thanks to a phenomenal throw from left field from Feinberg, as he gunned down Hofstra’s Mike Sweeney who tried to score from third on a potential sacrifice fly in the ninth inning. Senior right hander Brett Dunham was the pitcher at the time for the Huskies, as he came in in the ninth for Bowery, and ultimately recorded all three outs of the inning.
The win capped off a series sweep of Hofstra, yet Glavine felt Northeastern could still be better.
“We really didn’t play well all weekend if I’m being honest,” he said. “I’m really happy with the results, don’t get me wrong, but we’ve been playing a lot better than this [and] kind of flatlined it this weekend.”
Northeastern currently holds a commanding lead in the CAA conference with their 10-2 record. Charleston, William & Mary, and N.C. A&T are all tied for second place at 7-5. Hofstra on the other hand sits in last place, now with a 3-9 record.
The Huskies will host Kansas State, who are currently third in the Big12 for two games this coming week. WRBB will have full coverage of both games, first provided by Chase Alexander, Sammy Glassman, and Patrick O’Neal on WRBBSports for a 2 p.m. first pitch on Tuesday.