Box Score Box Score

The Northeastern University baseball team completed a three-game sweep of the Old Dominon Monarchs on Sunday afternoon at Friedman Diamond, putting up a 14-1 blowout victory.

Rookie Rob Fonseca's first inning grand slam was one of four Northeastern home runs on the day as the Huskies posted their highest run total in a CAA game this season and second highest overall total in the laugher. The previous high in a league game was 13, set on Friday vs. Old Dominion and Mar. 18 at Georgia State.

Kevin Ferguson started for the Huskies and was brilliant, picking up the win after going eight innings and allowing one run on four hits, striking out nine and not surrendering a walk. Greg Tomchick picked up the loss for the Monarchs, allowing five runs in just one inning of work.

In total on the day, Northeastern smacked 13 hits and capitalized on four Old Dominion errors. John Puttress set the table for NU from the 2-hole with a 3-for-3 day, and Fonseca and junior backstop Jon Leroux combined to go 4-for-8 with three home runs, five runs scored and nine RBIs. Aaron Barbosa, Jason Vosler and Oliver Hart all added multi-hit days as well.

The Huskies wasted no time getting the offense started. After a perfect first inning from Ferguson, Barbosa slapped a single up the middle to lead off for Northeastern, and Puttress followed with a base hit of his own. Matt Miller then hit into what looked to be a fielder's choice, but a throwing error by first baseman by Josh Burney allowed Miller to reach safely and scored Barbosa.

After a walk by Leroux loaded the bases,Fonseca came up with the bases loaded and one out. The Madison, N.J. native cracked his seventh home run of the year into the ODU bullpen, a grand slam which gave Northeastern a 5-0 lead.

Northeastern tacked onto the lead in the second. Following a leadoff single by Conor Lyons, Barbosa laid down a sacrifice bunt. ODU catcher Michael Perez fielded the ball cleanly, but his throw to first sailed into right field, allowing the speedy Lyons to sail around the bases and score from first. Barbosa moved to third on the throw and scored on a Puttress double, sending the Huskies to the third up 7-0.

The Monarchs got on the board in the fourth after a
ground-rule double by Chris Baker and an infield hit from Josh Tutwiler. Leroux gunned down Tutwiler attempting to take second, but Perez slapped another double into the gap to score Baker for ODU's first run.

Old Dominion's hope was short-lived, as Northeastern responded in the bottom of the fourth with a three run home run by Leroux, hit off the scoreboard in left-center field. The blast was the Auburn, Mass. native's team-high ninth of the year. Vosler followed that with a triple and came home to score on a Fonseca single.

After three staight walks, including an RBI base on balls by Lyons, Northeastern took a 12-1 lead to the top of the fifth. All five runs scored in the fourth came with two outs.

Another Leroux blast in the fifth gave Northeastern its lucky 13th run of the day, sending them to the sixth leading 13-1. A solo shot from Hart pushed the NU lead to 13 in the bottom of the sixth, and Ferguson cruised through the seventh with only one earned run.

The Huskies began to sub liberally late in the contest, with Justin Kessler, Pete Castoldi, Colby Mattheson and Ricky Salvucci all joining the lineup. Ferguson capped his day in the eighth with a swinging strikeout of Brandon Shelton. Sean Lyons came on the ninth to finish out the victory, pitchng a scoreless frame.

With the win, Northeastern moves to 21-26 on the year, with an 11-16 mark in CAA play. The Huskies close out the 2012 home slate tomorrow afternoon when the Rhode Island Rams visit Friedman Diamond. First pitch in Brookline is set for 2 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.