BROOKLINE, MA — Northeastern entered this week’s series against the Kansas State Wildcats as the underdog. But after pulling out a 5-3 nailbiter on Wednesday afternoon to secure the two-game series sweep, the Huskies made it clear: there’s a new top dog in town. The victory against K-State gave Northeastern their sixth straight win, good for 15 in their last 16 games.
Coming off an 11-4 blowout victory the day prior, the Huskies got back to work straight away in the first inning. After a Cam Maldonado double, Kansas State pitcher Tazwell Butler threw an errant pickoff, advancing the runner to third. A Harrison Feinberg sac fly brought in Maldonado to end the first 1-0 Northeastern.
Errors continued to plague the K-State infield throughout Wednesday’s game. The Butler error in the first was the first of three committed by the Wildcats, all of which cost an eventual run.
Jack Doyle reached after getting hit by a pitch to start off the second. He quickly advanced to third on another throwing error, this time by Micah Dean, in an attempt to throw Doyle out at third on a Carmelo Musacchia single. Then, Justin Bosland’s bunt brought in Doyle for the Huskies’ second run. Later in the inning, a perfectly executed double steal by Bosland and Musacchia led to a rare stolen run to end the frame, with three Northeastern runs on the board.
In the third, Northeastern tacked on another with a Maldonado homer to right center field.
“Today’s game was our best of the season,” said head coach Mike Glavine. “We got small ball going. We got big time hits when we needed them from our big players. Everybody contributed and we got a great job in the bullpen and we had the look of a very good team.”
Even with Northeastern firing on all cylinders, K-State didn’t go down without a fight. In the top of the second, Huskies starter Max Gitlin plunked Keegan O’Connor. Back to back singles by Shintaro Inoue and David Bishop brought him home.
The third was more of the same. Seth Dardar drew a walk and was brought in by singles from Bear Madliak and AJ Evasco. An O’Connor grounder brought in Madliak for three runs in two innings. However, the three runs put up in the early frames would be all the Wildcats could muster. After three innings, the score stood 4-3 Northeastern, and it would remain razor close for the next four innings.
The Huskies’ lead was maintained through the middle innings by strong pitching performances from Gitlin through the first five, and Carson Walsh until the top of the ninth.
Gitlin was put to work, throwing 103 pitches and fanning seven hitters in only five innings of work. While his control looked shaky at times, allowing two rare walks, he was able to keep K-State to three runs. He was relieved by Walsh at the top of the sixth, who put up three no-hit innings, sitting down two.
The Huskies’ defense was similarly immaculate through all nine innings. Along with consistent routine plays, there were flashes of greatness in the top of the eighth.
Walsh opened the inning by hitting Madliak to bring him to first. However, the time on base was short lived. A line drive from Evasco flew directly into the glove of Bosland for a spectacular unassisted double play. The momentum kept up as Feinberg committed highway robbery, pulling back an O’Connor fly ball that was just inches from a home run.
“[Feinberg] made that exact same play yesterday in batting practice,” said Glavine. “Anyone can do it in batting practice, [but] to do it under that kind of pressure in the eighth inning of a one run game was incredible. The kid is playing off the charts baseball.”
Northeastern’s bats went quiet through innings four, five, six, and seven. It wasn’t until the bottom of the eighth that the Huskies turned it back on. The eighth saw a return to sloppy form for Kansas State, where another failed pickoff attempt on Maldonado brought him to second. A Jack Goodman double quickly brought him in to make it 5-3. In the top of the ninth, Brett Dunham closed the game out with a 1-2-3 inning, bringing a tight game to an end with the Huskies coming out on top.
The game secured the sweep against K-State, arguably their most difficult opponent of the season.
In the words of Glavine, “They’re really good. They’re a power four team. Let’s embrace that.”
The Huskies will be back home at Friedman Diamond on Friday. First pitch flies at 2:30 p.m. against the Charleston Cougars with Matty Wasserman, Andrew Fielding, and Dylan Black on the call.