BROOKLINE — Coming off a 12-3 victory the previous afternoon, Northeastern built on their momentum against Stony Brook, shutting the Seawolves out 15-0 via mercy-rule in an early-morning matchup. Six of the seven scoreless innings were pitched by senior right-hander Luc Rising, who ended his performance with five strikeouts, allowing only three hits and two walks.
Junior outfielder Ryan Gerety stood out for Northeastern in the batter’s box, coming through with four hits in five at-bats, including a leadoff home run and a two-RBI single in the fifth inning. He ended the day with four RBIs and scored three times himself.
“[Gerety’s] been awesome,” said Northeastern head coach Mike Glavine. “If he doesn’t get a hit, it’s a five [or] six pitch at bat, it seems. He gets his walks, he steals bases, he’s a leader. He’s been doing an awesome job.”
Gerety hit third in the lineup, right in the heart of the Huskies’ top four bats, including freshman third baseman Tyler Harmony, senior outfielder Harrison Feinberg, and graduate student designated hitter Matt Brinker. The typical top of the order combined for 12 hits on their 17 at-bats throughout the contest.
“They were great today,” said Glavine. “Really tough to pitch to, deep at-bats, a lot of pitches, they make you grind.”
The bottom half of the lineup did not see as much continuous success, but sophomore shortstop Henry DiGiorgio, filling in the nine-hole spot, did well in giving the Huskies’ offense a jolt before the hot-hitting leadoff bats stepped up.
In the third inning, he kicked off the first of Northeastern’s many hitting streaks with a leadoff single, bringing it back to Harmony at the top of the order. After five straight singles from DiGiorgio through Brinker in the cleanup spot, the Huskies ended the inning with their first four runs of the game.
Northeastern’s offense would blow open the floodgates in the fifth inning, tripling their score. Gerety led off the frame with a home run to left-center field to begin what would end up being a seven-run inning.
It took two pitching changes for the Seawolves to make it through the fifth, the first pull being their redshirt senior righty John Rizzo. Rizzo had recorded one out in the inning by striking out freshman first baseman AJ Aschettino, but was pulled after he walked the other Northeastern rookie, second baseman Charlie Criscola, leaving two runners on base.
Right-handed senior Matthew Canizares took over in relief, but his time was short-lived, unable to make it through the inning after surrendering four runs on three hits and two walks while only recording one out.
Freshman right-hander Luca Mannino took over for Canizares with the bases loaded, and he surrendered another two runs off a single from Brinker before finally escaping the inning. He would pitch the rest of the shortened game.
Northeastern scored an additional three runs in the sixth inning, all of which came off a double to left-center field by Feinberg.
Luc Rising would exit for the top of the seventh, Glavine bringing in freshman righty Tom Mahoney to close the game. Mahoney pitched an efficient seventh inning for the Huskies, recording three straight outs in just 10 pitches.
With the 10-run rule triggered and Northeastern leading 15-0 by the end of the seventh inning, the game was called, and the Huskies secured the eighth CAA series win of their nine total this season.
The contest marked another for the Huskies in which they grabbed a lead early and held to it tight. Even when Stony Brook had an opportunity to close the margin in the fourth inning, when they loaded the bases, Northeastern worked out of the jam to leave the runners stranded and secure the series win.
A sweep in the CAA North has eluded them, though; the two conference sweeps they have completed came against Towson and NC A&T — two CAA South opponents. The Huskies will look to finish their divisional slate strong and take three of three from the Seawolves Sunday afternoon.
Northeastern will be back for game three of the series on Sunday at 1 pm. Elli Einset and Mike Kaminsky will have your call live from Friedman Diamond on WRBB Sports+.
Kabir Singh is a second-year student at Northeastern University. He is a hockey writer and broadcaster for WRBB Sports. Read all his articles here.