BROOKLINE — On a cold and windy St. Patrick’s Day, a ninth-inning, two-out rally — capped by Merrimack College graduate student Joe Frammartino’s two-run double — handed Northeastern its first home loss in 361 days. Entering Tuesday, the Huskies had won 22 consecutive games at Friedman Diamond, but that streak came to an end as consistent missed opportunities ultimately proved costly in a 4–3 defeat.
“They were the better team today,” said head coach Mike Glavine after the game. “No question about it. I think their offense is better than our offense.”
The afternoon began in Northeastern’s favor with a stellar outing from senior right-hander Ryan McCarroll, who tossed three scoreless frames on four punchouts.
The Huskies struck first in the bottom of the second after working deep counts against Merrimack freshman starter Chris Kiesner. Freshman Charlie Criscola drew a walk and stole second base with two outs, setting the table for sophomore Will Fosberg. Despite mustering just a .143 clip with runners in scoring position, Fosberg scorched a single up the middle on the seventh pitch of the at-bat to plate Criscola for the game’s first run.
Northeastern extended the lead to 2–0 in the third as senior Harrison Feinberg connected on his second round-tripper of the season, a frozen rope to left.
Yet Merrimack countered with a run in both the fourth and fifth innings, as Northeastern’s bullpen struggled to close out the frames.
Glavine called first to junior Joseph Hauser in relief, who cruised to two quick outs in the fourth. But back-to-back singles and a walk loaded the bases, and Merrimack cut the deficit in half on a wild pitch from Hauser.
Hauser began the fifth with a walk to speedy freshman Brett McKinnon, who stole second and third. He later came around to score and tie the game on sophomore Jack Andrews’ RBI single.
Northeastern retook the lead in the sixth inning after Merrimack’s Zach Broderick loaded the bases and junior Ryan Gerety drew the bases-loaded walk. However, despite star hitter Feinberg getting the next at-bat, the senior was unable to get anything else going for the Huskies, ending the frame.
Heading into the ninth with a 3–2 lead, Glavine called on graduate student flamethrower Andrew Wertz to try to close out the game. Wertz retired the first two Warriors with ease, but down to the final strike, sophomore Matt DeShiro knocked through a single. Then, Andrews reached on a Carmelo Musacchia throwing error, making it two aboard and putting DeShiro in scoring position. Again in a two-strike count, Frammartino, the team leader in batting average (.370) and OPS (1.113), came in clutch, depositing a go-ahead double to the right center field gap to give Merrimack the lead.
Although the Huskies were down 4–3 entering the bottom of the ninth, not all hope was gone. Gerety, the tying run, drew a one-out walk, but Northeastern’s chances were decimated — and their 22-game home win streak shattered — when Feinberg grounded into a 6-3 unassisted double play to end the game.
On the day, Northeastern left seven on base.
“We just make so many mistakes and make everything so challenging,” Glavine said. “It happened all weekend long [against Towson]. We got away with it [with the sweep], and we were bound to get bit here.”
Glavine said that the game is a “wake-up call” for the team with only a 24-hour turnaround before another midweek tilt Wednesday against Brown.
“When our offense is like this, you can’t make any mistakes defensively or on the mound until the offense wakes up.”
Northeastern travels to Providence, R.I., to face Brown on Wednesday. First pitch is at 2 p.m. with Daisy Roberts providing coverage on Sports+.
Max Schwartzberg is a junior at Northeastern and covers hockey, basketball, and baseball in print and on air. He is also a Cape Cod Baseball League announcer for the Hyannis Harbor Hawks. You can read his articles here and follow his Instagram here.