BROOKLINE — Friday afternoon, the Huskies hosted Towson for their first home game of the season at Friedman Diamond and earned a decisive 6-3 win in the first of a three-game set. Junior righty Robbie O’Connor picked up the win, powered by Eric Cha scoring two runs late to lift the Huskies over the Tigers.
Towson opened the scoring in the top of the second when junior Yariel Rodriguez hit an infield single to senior shortstop Carmelo Musacchia, who was unable to make the throw to first. The error allowed two runs to score for the Tigers. Sophomore Nich Francuzenko added a sacrifice fly later in the inning to bring home another run and give Towson a 3-0 lead heading into the bottom of the second.
Northeastern responded immediately by taking advantage of shaky pitching from Towson starter Joey Tuttoilmondo, who walked five Huskies in the inning. With the bases loaded, Tuttoilmondo issued a walk to redshirt freshman AJ Aschettino that brought redshirt freshman Anthony Ruggiero home to put Northeastern on the board. Junior Chris Walsh then lifted a sacrifice fly to deep right field to score Musacchia and redshirt senior Harrison Feinberg followed with an RBI infield single, tying the game at 3-3. With the bases loaded, Tuttoilmondo finally found some control on the mound, striking out senior Matt Brinker to end the inning and halt Northeastern’s scoring threat.
However, after allowing two hits in the bottom of the thirdTuttoilmondo was replaced by righty Aden Knowles.. The redshirt freshman inherited two runners and walked the first batter he faced in sophomore Cooper Tarantino to load the bases, but picked up a pair of K’s on the next two Huskies to escape the jam.
In the bottom of the fifth, Knowles walked Cha on five pitches. Cha moved to second on a wild pitch and stole third before Aschettino drove him in with an RBI single to left field, giving Northeastern a 4-3 lead at the halfway point. The hit was the only one Knowles allowed in his two innings of work.
Heading into the top of the sixth, sophomore Andrew Basel replaced O’Connor on the mound. O’Connor’s afternoon ended after five innings, 90 pitches, finishing with five hits allowed, three earned runs, two walks, three hit batters, and two strikeouts.
“When he’s in the zone, he’s hard to hit, the numbers show that,” said head coach Mike Glavine. “All three runs came from walks, hit batters, and an error. That’s kind of been the MO for us this year. But he settled in. I gave him an ultimatum after the third that if he hit another guy he’d be done, but he stepped up and did a really good job. It’s all in there, he just needs to trust his stuff.”
Basel shut down Towson offensively the rest of the way. After walking two runners in the top of the sixth inning, the sophomore escaped the frame on a savvy fielder’s choice by Carmelo Musacchia. From there, Basel did not allow another baserunner, retiring Towson in order in the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings.
Meanwhile, Northeastern’s bats went quiet in the sixth and seventh innings asKnowles he went six-up, six-down through the frames.
Still holding on to a narrow 4-3 lead, the Huskies added insurance in the bottom of the eighth. Cha led off the inning with a home run to left-center field, capping off a strong offensive performance in which he went2-for-3 with two runs scored, one RBI, two stolen bases, and a walk.
“We need Cha; Eric is a really good player and had a huge day today,” Glavine said. “The stolen bases, he can run for a big guy, and he obviously has some power. He’s a really good player, and it was a huge day for us today.”
Two batters later, Aschettino launched a solo shot of his own to right field to make it 6-3. Towson then turned to freshman Matt Russell, who recorded the final two outs of the inning.
“We came from behind today, which is good at home, and then extended the lead a little bit,” Glavine said. “We played in a tight game and there were a lot of really good things that we did today. We got better and hopefully we can keep competing. Eventually the performance piece and talent will take over, but until that does we are just imperfect right now. It is challenging, but we will get there.”
Northeastern’s home-opener 6-3 victory over Towson moves the Huskies to 7-7 on the season. The series continues Saturday, March 14 at 1 p.m. at Friedman Diamond with Chase Alexander and Max Schwartzberg on the call.
CJ Maz is a graduate student at Northeastern University and in his first year with WRBB. He is thrilled to be a part of the broadcast team, and is eager to continue to cover Northeastern sports as the season progresses. You can read more about Northeastern sports here.