BROOKLINE – Six scoreless innings from redshirt junior Jason Krieger made all the difference Saturday afternoon, powering Maine to a 5-0 victory at Friedman Diamond.
Freshman first baseman Hunter St. Denis drove in four runs across three hits, interrupting a pitchers’ duel between Krieger and Northeastern’s senior right-hander Luc Rising. Both teams struggled to generate offense, with the two teams combining for just nine hits.
“It’s a disappointing loss,” said Northeastern head coach Mike Glavine. “[We] just couldn’t really get anything going offensively. [We] had some chances there, and had the right guys up, [but] it didn’t happen.”
Rising started the afternoon hot, looking to return to his early-season form on the heels of two consecutive outings allowing five or more earned runs. The senior transfer nearly put together an immaculate inning when he sat down the first two batters with three-pitch punchouts before finishing off freshman third baseman Troy Carpenter to complete a 1-2-3 first inning.
Krieger, who missed all of 2025 due to injury, had most recently turned in eight innings of two-run ball in conference play the week prior. Although he occasionally fell behind hitters, his ability to battle back and thrive in deep counts fueled a dominant performance. He scattered just two hits across his six innings of work, averaging just north of 16 pitches per inning and drawing soft contact for most of his outs.
Rising pounded the zone as he toggled between his fastball and breaking pitch for the entire afternoon. However, most of his work came amid a 1-0 deficit; the product of St. Denis lifting a sacrifice fly to center field to score graduate student transfer Juju Stevens in the second inning. Stevens, who entered Saturday’s contest with the third-most hits among America East players, notched the contest’s first hit when he laced a double down the right-field line to start off the frame.
Rising settled in, allowing just one baserunner until the seventh inning. Nearly flawless to that point, he plunked senior infielder Chris Bear at the start of the third inning. With one out away in the top of the seventh and a 1-0 deficit still looming, Rising lost his command once again.
Stevens, the offensive engine who had already crossed home plate once, was the beneficiary this time around.
Not to be derailed, Rising quickly drew soft contact up the middle for what should have been an inning-ending double play. Instead, sophomore shortstop Henry DiGiorgio’s throw to second spilled into the outfield, allowing Stevens to advance to third.
DiGiorgio found himself filling in at shortstop for senior Carmelo Musacchia, who was involved in a skirmish with Merrimack sophomore infielder Matt DeShiro following a collision in the two teams’ Saturday morning contest. While DiGiorgio entered that game as a defensive substitution and earned the start for Northeastern in the afternoon fixture, Glavine declined to comment on the incident.
In a mirror image of prior events, St. Denis plated Stevens once again, this time by way of an RBI single. Rising closed out the inning with a strikeout and a flyout to center field, exiting to the tune of seven innings pitched, one earned run, no walks and six strikeouts.
“I thought he really just had one or two bad innings there, not even… all in all, he did what he needed to do,” Glavine said. “He gave us a chance to win. He gave us some energy and we just couldn’t get it going.”
Maine added three runs in the top of the ninth inning, sparked by a Carpenter single and Stevens’ second hit-by-pitch of the day. With Northeastern surrendering the second-most sacrifice bunts in the CAA, junior catcher Shane Andrus took advantage and laid one down to shift both runners in scoring position. With the stars aligned, it was only right for St. Denis to punch another two runs over the plate with another single.
St. Denis crossed the plate moments later when Bear worked an RBI single of his own, extending the Maine lead to 5-0.
Despite struggling to put the ball in play, Northeastern had its fair share of chances. Junior center fielder Ryan Gerety accounted for three of the Huskies’ four hits, all singles.
“He did everything he could, he competed,” Glavine said. “[He] stepped it up and did everything we could have asked from him.”
Northeastern’s best chance came during the eighth inning, when Gerety reached after DiGiorgio drew a leadoff hit-by-pitch. With one out, the power-hitting senior left fielder Harrison Feinberg stepped to the plate, fresh off launching a two-run roundtripper in the early game against Merrimack. Only trailing 2-0 at this point, Feinberg jumped on the first pitch and grounded into his second inning-ending double play of the afternoon.
Meeting the Black Bears for the first time since 2014, the Huskies’ fate was sealed when senior right-hander Pierce Friedman finished off his three innings of relief. Carpenter made an impressive throw across the diamond, ranging to his right and hurling the ball just in time to record the final out. The loss snaps Northeastern’s four-game winning streak, while Maine has now won five of its last seven.
Northeastern closes out the weekend with one more game against Maine at Friedman Diamond on Sunday. Zeno Minotti and Daisy Roberts will have the call, with first pitch scheduled for 2:30 p.m.
Chase Alexander is a writer and broadcaster with WRBB Sports. Check out his personal portfolio here and feel free to follow him on LinkedIn and X (Twitter).