Box Score
Box Score

Northeastern couldn't come back from a four-run deficit and fell to the Central Connecticut State Blue Devils 4-3 on Tuesday afternoon at Friedman Diamond.
 
Junior designated hitter Jon Leroux hit two solo home runs in the loss, his first long balls of the season.
 
Sophomore Matt Cook made his third start of 2012 for the Huskies, pitching six innings and allowing four runs to score, on six hits. All four of the runs came across in the second and only one was earned as the Huskies committed two errors in the inning. With the loss, Cook is now 1-1 on the season with a 2.50 ERA.
 
Nick Boyd picked up the win for the Blue Devils, finishing five innings and surrendering two runs on four hits with three walks and two strikeouts.
 
After Cook cruised through the first, the Blue Devils broke through in the second, scoring four runs on three hits and two errors.
 
Boyd kept Northeastern quiet until the bottom of the fourth when Ricky Salvucci hit a two-out RBI single to bring home Matt Miller, who had reached on an error by the left fielder.
 
The Huskies cut the lead to 4-2 when Leroux led off the bottom of the sixth inning with a solo home run over the left field wall.
 
Cook didn't allow any other damage and was replaced in the seventh by freshman relief pitcher Nick Berger who did not allow a hit, pitching his fifth scoreless inning of the season.
 
Sophomore shortstop Oliver Hart led off the bottom of the seventh with a single to left field. Connor Lyons bunted him over to second and was able to reach base when Mike Krukiel misplayed the ball. Next, Aaron Barbosa moved both runners up a base with a bunt of his own but the Huskies couldn't cash in on the opportunity as Puttress flied out to center and Miller grounded a ball back to the pitcher.
 
Sean Lyons came in to pitch for the Huskies in the top of the eighth and struck out the side.
 
In the bottom of the frame, Leroux hit the first pitch off Mike Krukiel over the left field wall and into the Northeastern bullpen to pull the Huskies within one run of the Blue Devils.
 
Sean Lyons got Mike Washburn to ground out to third base for the first out in the top of the ninth before being replaced by sophomore reliever Mike Hanlon who retired the next two batters in order.
 
In the bottom of the ninth, Connor Lyons worked a one-out walk to get on base and Barbosa drilled a double down the left field line, moving Lyons to third. Blue Devils relief pitcher Tom Coughlin issued an intentional walk to Puttress to load the bases, bringing up Matt Miller with the bases loaded. Miller lined a shot down the first base line, but Tyler McIntyre made a diving grab and tagged the first base bag for the game-ending double play.
 
Northeastern is back on the road this weekend for a three-game non-conference series with the Richmond Spiders in Virginia. The first game is Friday afternoon at 3 p.m.

A replay of this game is available at GoNU.com/xstream. GoNUxstream is free to all viewers and features live and on-demand video and audio broadcasts, as well as live game stats, and is accessible on PC and Mac computers, as well as on iPhones, iPads and Android phones.