BROOKLINE — The party began before the first pitch was thrown on a May scorcher at Friedman Diamond, as Northeastern kicked off the afternoon’s contest against the Delaware Blue Hens with Senior Day festivities. The emotional ceremonies saw family, friends, teammates, coaches, and fans honor the contributions of all the Huskies’ seniors and grad students, including two who would go on to be instrumental in recording a 10-2 Northeastern victory nine innings later: first baseman Alex Lane and southpaw reliever Jack Bowery. The outcome made it 15 straight wins for the Huskies, the longest active streak in the NCAA.
Starter Aiven Cabral toed the rubber to begin the afternoon for Northeastern, and would go on to record his eighth win of the season. Cabral tossed six strong innings, allowing just two hits, one run, and a walk while recording four strikeouts on 66 pitches.
Buoyed by the pre-game celebrations and seeking to avoid a slow start after the bats were quiet early in the series opener the day before, the Huskies came to the plate hot in the bottom of the first. Sophomore southpaw Elias Conway started the day on the mound for the Hens, and immediately hit Huskies leadoff man Ryan Gerety.
Gerety quickly swiped second on a passed ball before a Cam Maldonado double to left scored the sophomore right fielder. After a Harrison Feinberg groundout, Maldonado advanced to third on a wild pickoff attempt, and a single through the gap by Jack Doyle brought Maldonado in to score. Doyle stole second, but came up in pain after a headfirst slide led to a jammed pinky finger. Doyle stayed in the game long enough to get thrown out trying to steal third shortly thereafter, but would not return to the game afterwards. A Carmelo Musacchia flyout retired the side, but not before Northeastern opened up a 2-0 lead they would not relinquish.
For a Huskies team already missing star shortstop Jack Goodman due to injury, Doyle’s exit was a rare cloud on a sunny Saturday. Head coach Mike Glavine sought to put the minds of the Huskies faithful at ease, characterizing Doyle as “day-to-day” with a jammed left pinky and noting with a chuckle that “The pinky… you know, I don’t know how much you need it on the glove side,” suggesting the senior will be back in action sooner rather than later.
The second and third innings passed without incident, with Delaware and Northeastern each going six up, six down before Delaware finally found a bit of offensive production in the top half of the fourth inning. Hens second baseman Aidan Stewart reached base on an error and Cabral walked the DH Andrew Amato to bring a runner into scoring position for the first time. An infield single by shortstop Brett Lesher loaded the bases for Delaware, but Cabral worked his way out of the jam with no blood.
With their two run lead feeling a bit more tenuous, the Huskies came back to the plate looking to build on their advantage. Feinberg led off with a flyout and senior utility man Justin Bosland — covering third base for the injured Doyle — followed with a groundout, bringing Carmelo Musacchia to the plate with two outs. A routine Musacchia single turned wild after two Delaware errors allowed him to advance all the way to third. He was quickly batted in by a double from DH Matt Brinker, extending the Huskies lead to 3-0, before Lane struck out to end the inning.
A quiet fifth gave way to fireworks in the sixth, beginning with a leadoff solo shot for Delaware’s Cockrill in the top half of the inning that cut Northeastern’s advantage to 3-1. Three quick outs followed the blast, which turned out to be a mere aberration on an otherwise near-flawless day for Cabral. The Huskies, meanwhile, quickly found traction. Maldonado started the party with a six-pitch walk, advancing to second on a wild pitch, before Feinberg walked and Bosland was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Delaware head coach Greg Mamula made a call to the bullpen for left-handed reliever Carter Welch, who looked like he might pull the Blue Hens back from the brink and get out of the jam after notching two quick strikeouts against Musacchia and Brinker.
Alex Lane, however, had other ideas. The grad student made his mark on Senior Day, blasting a bases-clearing three-run double to deep left field. Bozzo grounded out to end the inning, but the damage was done and the game had blown open to a 6-1 Huskies advantage.
“Lane had the biggest swing of the day,” said Glavine with a big smile as he recounted the at-bat postgame.
After dealing for the first six innings, Cabral stepped aside for the senior Bowery. He would allow a leadoff Lesher double which turned into a run after a pair of groundouts advanced Lesher all the way around the basepaths. A third groundout retired the side, and Bowery would not allow another run to cross the plate on his way to recording his third save of the season.
Unfortunately for Delaware, Northeastern wasn’t quite done scoring themselves. Chris Walsh doubled to left center to start things off for the Huskies in the bottom half of the inning. A couple hit batsmen and a walk gave Northeastern baserunners to work with, but a groundout and a successful pickoff also created two outs. With two on and two outs, Mamula went to the bullpen again, but rarely-used freshman right hander Brady Blum never looked comfortable on the mound. A wild pitch and three walks brought in two more runs and loaded the bases before Mamula reversed course and called in junior right hander Aiden Murphy. Murphy quickly forced Bozzo into a flyout, but Northeastern had already extended its advantage to 9-2.
NU struck again in the bottom of the eighth, as Maldonado closed out a stellar 3-4, three-RBI day with a two-out solo dinger, his 12th home run of the year. In what could be one of his last games at Friedman, the highly-touted draft prospect Maldonado put the cherry on top for the Huskies with a hard-hit ball that fought through a strong wind and banged high off the foul pole in left field. The Blue Hens went quietly in the top of the ninth, closing out a game that felt meant-to-be for the Huskies and clinching Northeastern’s 7th straight CAA series win.
Despite the win, Glavine noted that the team has more work to do as many eyes begin to turn to postseason play. “Good win, but sloppy… we’re a little messy right now, but good teams win games even when they’re not playing great,” said Glavine. The Northeastern faithful will certainly take 15 straight, as the Huskies head into the final tilt in this series against the Blue Hens looking to record their fifth straight series sweep.
The Huskies will be back in action at Friedman Diamond on Sunday, with another 1 p.m. first pitch against the Blue Hens. Luke Graham and Andrew Fielding will be on your call on WRBB Sports+.