PORTLAND, Maine — Northeastern head coach Mike Glavine knew that Wednesday night’s game in Portland would be a chilly one.
Maybe that’s why he warmed up so many pitchers.
And after the Huskies’ bats got hot early, the torridity spread to the bullpen, arm after arm launching fireballs at the plate, leaving the Maine Black Bears in the box wondering if Northeastern would ever cool down to match the conditions outside.
The effort was a top-to-bottom one for the visitors from Boston, the Huskies completing a 5-1 win over Maine to secure the season series win.
Playing at Hadlock Field, home of the Portland Sea Dogs, the Double-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, the 44-degree temperatures were felt early, with just one hit coming between both sides over the first two frames, a base hit to right off the bat of Northeastern freshman first baseman AJ Aschettino, before he was caught stealing two batters later to end the top of the second.
It would not be the last time Aschettino was caught on the bases, but before his next turn at the plate, the entire rest of the Huskies’ lineup got a chance at the plate in a batter-friendly third inning.
Facing off against big right-hander freshman Thomas Stabley, who had seen the Northeastern lineup already in the second game of the season series a few weeks prior, redshirt sophomore catcher Will Fosberg worked a one-out walk, then proceeded to score after back-to-back singles from sophomore shortstop Henry DiGiorgio and freshman third baseman Tyler Harmony.
The Huskies would double their lead after DiGiorgio advanced to third on a fielder’s choice off the bat of senior outfielder Harrison Feinberg, then scored on an errant throw towards second base, the Bears trying and failing to catch the speedy Feinberg stealing a bag.
Feinberg later scored on an RBI base hit to right field from junior outfielder Ryan Gerety to give Northeastern a 3-0 lead in the third inning.
With Aschettino leading off the fourth, the freshman got a chance at redemption on the basepaths after getting plunked by a new arm for Maine, rookie righty Erik Swenson. After successfully swiping second, fellow freshman second baseman Charlie Criscola filled the empty first base on a walk. He and Aschettino then attempted a double steal, but Aschettino would end up getting caught on his way to third for his second caught stealing of the game.
“Stupid coach had the guys running,” Glavine said. “It got us thrown out, [we] could have had a couple more runs there.”
The Huskies got a chance to avenge themselves in the fifth, with Harmony and Feinberg taking the basepaths on a couple of consecutive walks issued by Swenson. After Gerety went down swinging, graduate student designated hitter Matt Brinker stepped into the box.
Brinker battled through an eight-pitch at-bat before lacing a ball down the left-field line. With his stand-up double, Brinker brought both baserunners home to give Northeastern a 5-0 lead.
“[Brinker’s] clutch, he gets a lot of big hits, and that was a really good at bat,” Glavine said. “He’s been doing it all year, and we’re gonna need him for the last three, four weeks.”
If you’re wondering why the Maine offense hasn’t been mentioned much, it’s because for six innings of play, they were rendered hitless by six different Northeastern arms: redshirt senior righty Ryan McCarroll, freshmen lefty Scott Longo, right-hander Tom Mahoney, and southpaw Cam Keaveny (who made his first career NCAA appearance), and seniors right-handed reliever James Morice and left-hander David McSweeney.
The plan from Glavine for the day was always to use a merry-go-round of bullpen arms, especially with the upcoming weekend set against Monmouth, who currently sit tied with the Huskies for first place in the CAA North.
“Big weekend coming up,” Glavine said. “We need to get everybody else in. They’ve earned it. A little bit of bulk, make sure our guys that we’ve been using are ready to battle for first place, and make sure the other guys that have earned time to get in there got in.”
McSweeney allowed Maine’s first hits in the seventh, his second inning of work, in a couple of back-to-back base knocks from graduate student outfielder Juju Stevens and freshman first baseman Hunter St. Denis. The only Huskies arm to pitch longer than one frame, McSweeney worked his way out of trouble to keep the Black Bears off the scoreboard and continue the stream of new pitchers.
After Swenson exited, the rest of Maine’s bullpen held fast, holding Northeastern scoreless for the remainder of the game.
As Northeastern cooled down a bit, Maine began to heat up and launch a comeback in the bottom of the ninth.
After redshirt sophomore righty Jack Cropper pitched a scoreless eighth inning, Northeastern turned to its eighth pitcher of the day, redshirt junior right-hander Joseph Hauser, for the ninth.
Still down by a 5-0 score, freshman infielder Troy Carpenter led the inning off for the Black Bears with a double down the left field line, then was advanced to third on a fielder’s choice from Stevens. St. Denis followed with a single to left, scoring Carpenter for Maine’s first run of the day.
Senior outfielder Brody Rasmussen was next in line to bat, and he joined the party with a single of his own to right field, but sharp defense from senior outfielder Carmelo Musacchia held St. Denis to second base.
Not wanting to risk unraveling at the seams late in the contest, Glavine brought in sophomore righty Andrew Rogovic, whose numbers are inflated this year due to a couple shaky outings early in the season, but since March, he’s pitched to a 3.08 ERA over 23.1 innings pitched.
The intention was to save Rogovic for the weekend, but with the game on the line, Glavine called upon the sophomore to seal it shut.
After generating a lineout to center for the second out of the inning, Rogovic walked senior catcher Nolan DeAndrade to load the bases for nine-hole hitter, senior shortstop Chris Bear.
But Rogovic remained unfazed on the bump, needing only three pitches to strike out Bear swinging and hold on to Northeastern’s 5-1 win.
All nine batters in Northeastern’s lineup reached base, the bullpen pitched a clean one-run game, and after allowing three errors in one disastrous 11-run inning last Sunday against Hofstra, the Huskies remained mistake-free defensively, a tough task on a fast field like Hadlock in conditions as bitter as they were. After getting mercy-ruled last Sunday, Wednesday’s victory was a much needed reset for the Huskies as they look ahead to a make-or-break weekend.
To Glavine, though, everything is make-or-break from here on out.
“We’re playing for a playoff spot right now, we’re playing for first place, we’re playing for a bye, so to me, everything is now playoff baseball,” Glavine said. “We’re tied for first place with [Monmouth], with a tiebreaker, but that doesn’t matter going into this weekend. Someone’s gonna win this series. It’s playoff baseball.”
Northeastern travels to West Long Branch, N.J. to face the Monmouth Hawks in a three-game series beginning Friday, May 1 at 3 p.m. Stay tuned for coverage of the series from 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.