Coming off of a 1-1 series split at Charlotte, Northeastern traveled down to Fort Myers, Florida for the twenty-first annual exhibition game against the Boston Red Sox to kick off the big league club’s spring training.
Though the Red Sox showed some struggles in the start of the seven inning game, they quickly shook the rust off and kept the Huskies’ offense at bay, quieting the bats as they put up five runs to the Huskies’ two.
A big theme of this game was defense on both teams. In the bottom of the first, junior Carmelo Musacchia, who was slotted in at second base, dove for a ball hit by Triston Casas through the right side of the infield to save a run. The play then gave the Huskies their first error of the afternoon however, after Musacchia’s missed throw went past grad student Alex Lane at first.
The Huskies’ only runs of the afternoon also came on a defensive miscue by the Red Sox. With the bases loaded, junior left fielder Harrison Feinberg reached on an error by third baseman Nick Sogard, bringing in Jack Goodman and Matt Brinker to give the Huskies an early 2-0 lead.
That lead only lasted two innings, however. As the bottom of the fourth came around, Northeastern put in righty Andrew Basel to face the middle of the Red Sox order, but he quickly showed some struggles. The freshman quickly let up two hits and a walk to load the bases. Right field prospect Jhostynxon “The Password” Garcia drove two of those baserunners in on a line drive to Feinberg, and with the bases again loaded on a plunk taken by catcher Mark Kolozsvary, the Red Sox grabbed the lead on a sacrifice fly aired by left fielder Trayce Thompson.
The defensive rust then came back at the worst possible time for the Huskies with two outs left in the fourth. As Kolozsvary ran to steal second, Gregory Bozzo botched the throw, which sent the ball into center field, Garcia home, and the Red Sox to a 4-2 lead.
The rest of the game brought very little positive action for Northeastern. Freshman righty Brett Mulligan managed to send shortstop prospect Marcelo Meyer down in a 1-2-3 inning, while sophomore Nick Coniglio gave up a fifth run on a line drive single by catcher Nathan Hickey, who had swapped in for Kolozsvary after the fourth.
Even in light of the defensive struggles, the Huskies’ carousel of pitchers were able to keep the Red Sox offense to just five hits. However, command struggles throughout the game meant Northeastern combined for three walks and a plunk, and three of the five runners who ended up scoring got on base from those free passes.
On the other side, the Red Sox pitching kept the Huskies’ bats colder than the winds of the Boston winter. The only hit in the game, a leadoff single by Goodman, kicked off the two-run second inning, but the remainder of the game brought six strikeouts and zero free passes for the Huskies’ offense.
Northeastern will stay in Florida for their next series against Indiana State in the Snowbird Baseball Classic in Port Charlotte. The three-game series kicks off Saturday for a doubleheader at Centennial Park. First pitch for Game One is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.