BROOKLINE — In the middle of the fourth inning, most viewers of Northeastern’s Friday afternoon matchup with Merrimack would have turned the TV off.
After a complete collapse on the pitcher’s mound, the Huskies found themselves trailing the visiting Warriors by seven. But in a resilient comeback effort that pushed the game into extra innings, Northeastern came out on top, squeaking out an 11-10 victory in the first of a four-game weekend set.
The Huskies got off to a hot start in the bottom of the first on Merrimack’s right-handed redshirt sophomore starter Nick Hunkele, with junior outfielder Ryan Gerety doubling and being brought home immediately after on an RBI single off the bat of senior outfielder Harrison Feinberg.
But the Warriors responded right away, facing off against Northeastern’s typical Friday starter, redshirt junior lefty Robbie O’Connor. After plunking the first batter he faced for his 22nd hit-by-pitch of the season and allowing a single to put two runners on, freshman catcher Garrett McGovern chopped a grounder to third base. Freshman Tyler Harmony, playing in just his fourth career game, was able to field it cleanly, but spiked the throw in front of fellow rookie AJ Aschettino, the first baseman unable to field it cleanly, allowing Merrimack to tie the game.
Aschettino would bobble a much easier pick in the next at-bat for the Huskies’ second consecutive error to load the bases and bring the top of Merrimack’s lineup to the plate. O’Connor continued to struggle with command, throwing a wild pitch to bring home the runner on third and give the Warriors the lead.
O’Connor finally escaped the second-inning jam and cruised his way through to the fourth, where he started the frame just as he did the second, hitting Merrimack’s leadoff man. He was still able to work a pair of outs, one on the strikeout and one through a fielder’s choice, to set himself up well for the close of the inning. But senior center fielder Chris Goode fought through a 10-pitch at bat to work a walk, with O’Connor issuing a few wild pitches in the mix to allow the lead runner to advance to third.
The wild pitches wouldn’t matter anyway, though, as the Warriors’ lineup circled back to the top, led by sophomore second baseman Matt DeShiro.
It took just one pitch from O’Connor for DeShiro to turn on it and launch it deep into straightaway center, the three-run bomb extending Merrimack’s lead to 5-1.
Merrimack’s two-out rally would continue, with O’Connor allowing a double to junior shortstop Brooks Craigue, throwing his fourth wild pitch of the game to advance the runner to third, and following it up with an RBI single from graduate student outfielder Joey Frammartino.
The back-to-back-to-back hits brought the score to 6-1 and ended O’Connor’s day, pitching 3.2 innings, with five earned runs on five hits, a walk, two hit batters, and the aforementioned four wild pitches. It was a wild day for the righty, who now sits six hit batters away from breaking the NCAA record.
The pitching would not get any less wild for Northeastern, though, bringing out junior righty Nick Coniglio from the bullpen. He allowed a base hit to the first batter he faced to add a second runner on the basepaths, then issued three consecutive walks to bring in two more runs for the Warriors, the score sitting at a whopping 8-1 in favor of the visitors.
Northeastern head coach Mike Glavine had seen enough, making yet another call to the bullpen to end Coniglio’s infinite ERA outing.
He opted for a southpaw in 6’5” redshirt sophomore David McSweeney. The big lefty struck out his first batter faced to finally end the top of the fourth inning, and it was lights out from there. McSweeney would carry the Huskies all the way into the eighth inning, Glavine getting some much-needed length out of his pen with Northeastern in the midst of a block of seven days with six games between them.
Before McSweeney’s day would end, though, he received a bit more run support behind him. Hunkele’s day ended in the fourth inning after walking in a run and surrendering a two-RBI double to Gerety, bringing the score to 8-4.
He was relieved by right-handed senior James Nichols, who finished the half-inning and pitched a one-two-three fifth to follow. The sixth saw a new arm for the Warriors out of the bullpen, with junior righty Michael Bradshaw taking the mound. Bradshaw faced no issues in his first inning of work, but got into a bit more trouble in the seventh, losing control of a breaking ball and hitting Feinberg in the helmet to start the frame.
The star outfielder turned out to be just fine, though, proving as such by stealing both second and third base.
Aschettino stepped up to bat for Northeastern and laced the ball into the right-center field gap, hustling his way to third for an RBI triple to further cut into the Warriors’ lead. Sophomore catcher Cooper Tarantino grounded into a sacrifice fielder’s choice to score Aschettino and bring Northeastern’s deficit to just two runs, the Huskies trailing 8-6.
Two-way junior righty Cole Yennaco entered to close the inning and halt Northeastern’s progress, and he received a bit of insurance when Merrimack stepped up to hit in the top of the eighth.
McSweeney gave up a double to DeShiro to lead off the inning, the second baseman advancing to third after tagging up on Craigue’s flyout to center. The top of the Warriors’ lineup continued to produce runs, with Frammartino singling through the middle of the infield to bring DeShiro home and push Merrimack’s ninth run across the plate.
McSweeney was replaced for the last out of the frame, but his outing cannot be understated in its importance for the Huskies. He pitched a very impressive 3.2 innings, only allowing three hits, one run, zero walks, and striking out four.
“David McSweeney really changed this game around today,” Glavine said. “I thought [he] was the player of the game… [he] got us some momentum back and did an awesome job.”
Yennaco remained on the bump for Merrimack and put a few ducks on the pond for Feinberg, allowing a hit to Harmony and walking Gerety shortly after.
If there was anyone Huskies fans would have wanted up to bat as the potential tying run, it was Feinberg.
He, of course, lived up to the expectations.
After waiting on the first two balls he saw, the star left fielder cranked a long fly ball to deep center field, coming up clutch with a huge three-run homer to tie the game at nine apiece.
The long ball marked Feinberg’s sixth of the year, the redshirt senior leading the Huskies in that regard.
“[Feinberg] is the guy that every team circles,” Glavine said. “To step up there in that moment, hit that three-run bomb, just took the weight off the team… Everybody just kind of exhaled with that. I always want him up, no matter what. He’s one of the best players I’ve ever coached. He was clutch today, and I expect him to keep doing it.”
Glavine looked to sophomore right-hander Andrew Rogovic for the ninth inning, and despite a few messy outings earlier in the season, Rogovic truly brought his best stuff, pitching seven straight strikes to start the frame and striking out all three batters he faced. He would stay on the mound for the tenth with the Huskies unable to walk the game off in the bottom of the ninth, and continued his blistering outing, striking out another three in a row to make it six straight batters sat down.
While Northeastern put a few runners on in the tenth, right-handed senior Oliver Barkal stepped up in relief to end the frame unscathed.
Rogovic’s eleventh was a bit trickier than the prior two perfect innings he pitched, allowing a base knock to Craigue and walking Frammartino, both runners advancing to scoring position on a wild pitch. Sophomore third baseman Jayden Hamilton sent a fly ball to right for the sacrifice to bring Craigue home, taking a 10-9 lead over Northeastern and putting the Huskies in a must-score spot in the bottom of the frame.
Aschettino was Northeastern’s leadoff bat, and he started the inning off with a bang, sneaking a double down the left field line. He advanced to third on a single off the bat of freshman infielder Charlie Criscola, and a perfect sacrifice squeeze bunt from sophomore outfielder Carter Bentley once again tied the score.
The Huskies were unable to clutch up, sending the game to the twelfth. Rogovic continued to deal for the hosts, giving Northeastern yet another chance to walk it off in the bottom of the inning. His 4.0 innings of work tied his longest outing of the year, only allowing one hit, walking just two, and striking out eight in a true masterclass of late-game pitching.
“It’s not ideal for a Friday when you have a four-game weekend to go into the bullpen as early as we had to, and then go to extra innings,” Glavine said. “What McSweeney did today and what Rogovic did today was just enormous. It gave our offense a chance to get back into that game. Those guys were awesome.”
Gerety, who had been on fire all game, led off the twelfth with a double, and not wanting to risk letting Feinberg have another sniff at glory, the Warriors opted to intentionally walk the star outfielder. After Yennaco drilled senior designated hitter Matt Brinker to load the bases, Aschettino stepped up in yet another big moment.
The lights could not have been brighter for the freshman, who was a home run away from completing the cycle.
And while the perfect storybook grand slam didn’t end up happening, Aschettino did just enough with a sacrifice fly to left field, Gerety fittingly scoring the game-winning run to walk off a long, enduring, 12-inning fight that lasted nearly four and a half hours.
“[Aschettino] had a couple tough at-bats early and stayed with it,” Glavine said. “You can’t go down on yourself, you can’t go ‘Woe is me,’ you’ve just got to keep punching, keep fighting. Even though it wasn’t going his way, all of a sudden, from the back end of that game on, he was huge.”
The game was a true testament to the Huskies’ will, grinding out their third-straight win and building momentum for the upcoming four games in the four days to come. Especially with the volume of innings to come, the length Northeastern got out of McSweeney and Rogovic out of the bullpen was crucial, setting the Huskies up to have a lot more freedom in the upcoming slate.
Every member of Northeastern’s starting lineup reached base, the complete top-to-bottom effort a show of resilience.
From seven runs down to coming all the way back to win in 12 innings, Northeastern will need to treat a moral boost as big as Friday’s as a springboard. If they can keep capturing the magic they’ve made in the last three games, there might just be a lot of good to come.
Northeastern continues Saturday, April 11, with a doubleheader, facing Merrimack at 11 a.m. and Maine at 2 p.m. Jacob Phillips and Webb Constable will have the call for Game 1, and Max Schwartzberg and Chase Alexander will be on the mic for Game 2, both on WRBB Sports+.
Daisy Roberts is a hockey, basketball, and baseball broadcaster and writer for WRBB Sports. She has been covering Northeastern Athletics for five years. You can read her content here and follow her on X here.