BROOKLINE — Northeastern completed the sweep of their weekend series versus Stony Brook Sunday afternoon, clinching a 7-4 victory after defeating the Seawolves on Friday and Saturday, 12-3 and 15-0, respectively.
After gaining a 5-2 lead early, the Huskies maintained the gap in the score after Stony Brook came within one run of the home team in the bottom of the third.
“[Stony Brook is] fighting for their lives over there,” said Northeastern’s head coach Mike Glavine. “They threw punches at us all day long, and scored first, and scored again, and scored again, but we kept coming back and throwing the next punch.”
Senior righty Ryan Griffin normally gets the nod for the Huskies’ Sunday starts, but redshirt senior right-hander Ryan McCarroll instead got the start, the pitching decision in limbo until close to game time. In his two innings pitched, the New York native let up eight hits and four runs.
After initially being down by a run in the bottom of the first, the Huskies took the lead and kept it for the rest of the game.
Redshirt senior left fielder Harrison Feinberg walked to first before advancing to second on a catcher’s interference on junior center fielder Ryan Gerety. The two runners advanced bases on a balk before Feinberg found home on a fielder’s choice from senior designated hitter Matt Brinker’s. Redshirt freshman AJ Aschettino singled to bring home Gerety.
Senior second baseman Carmelo Musacchia worked a walk before stealing second base. And in typical Huskies fashion — always gritty on the basepaths — Brinker came home from third on a passed ball to bring the scoreboard to 3-1.
Stony Brook added one run in the top of the second. Junior designated hitter Andrew Jackson singled before stealing second and was brought home on a single by sophomore left fielder Nick Zampieron.
In the bottom of the inning, Harmony walked before advancing to third on a single from Feinberg. Gerety singled to center field, bringing Harmony home and Feinberg to second.
“[Harmony] knows who he is as a player, as a freshman, that is really rare,” said Glavine. “He knows who he is, he’s not trying to hit home runs, he’s not trying to swing in the first pitch. I haven’t seen too many freshmen like him … that actually 100% knows who he is, and executes it every single day he’s been in the lineup.”
Brinker reached first on a fielder’s choice, with Feinberg advancing to third but Gerety getting forced out at second. Off a wild pitch with Aschettino at bat, Feinberg added the fourth Husky run of the day.
Freshman right-handed Cooper Maher replaced McCarroll in the top of the third after the starter gave up a home run on one pitch to senior right fielder Chanz Doughty and junior first baseman Chris Carson followed him up with a triple. Maher would pitch for five innings, only allowing one hit, two walks, and striking out two Seawolves.
“We got [Maher] in way earlier than I wanted to bring him in,” said Glavine. “We weren’t expecting [McCarroll] to go too deep … But Cooper came in early, was ready to go, he was rested, and pitched really, really well. Changed the momentum, gave us an extra inning.”
The Huskies added to their lead again in the fifth inning. Aschettino singled before advancing to second on a sacrifice bunt from Musacchia. Sophomore shortstop Henry Digiorio followed him up with a single through center field to bring Aschettino to home plate for a 6-4 lead.
The final run of the game came in the sixth. After getting plunked, Feinberg stole second base, his team-leading 39th stolen bag of the season. Gerety singled to advance Feinberg to third before a sacrifice fly by Aschettino brought Feinberg home.
After Maher’s five scoreless innings, Northeastern replaced the rookie with graduate student righty Andrew Wertz in the eighth. The Salve Regina transfer held the Seawolves stagnant at four runs in his two innings pitched. He only allowed one hit and two walks while striking out two batters.
“I think our lineup right now is really, really tough,” said Glavine. “There’s very few easy outs or easy innings.”
The win marks Northeastern’s third conference sweep of the season but just their first in the CAA North division. The Huskies hold first in the North, but rank second overall behind Campbell University. With one conference series to go — an away series at Towson, who Northeastern swept their last time meeting back in early March — the Huskies will look to maintain their winning ways in a midweek matchup against the University of Connecticut coming up Tuesday.
Northeastern travels to Storrs, Conn., for their final non-conference regular-season game of the year. Mike Kaminsky will have the call LIVE from the 6:05 p.m. first pitch on WRBB Sports+.
Elli Einset is a third-year Journalism student at Northeastern. She is a writer and broadcaster for WRBB. Read her articles here.