FORT MYERS, Fla. – In an all-around, well-played game, Northeastern went pitch-for-pitch with the Boston Red Sox, but the Huskies ultimately fell to the Major League ball club, 3-0, Thursday afternoon in front of 8,128 fans at JetBlue Park. The 3-0 loss in the first spring training game of 2013 marked the closest game between the two squads, who have played every year since 2004.
On the afternoon, NU got four hits of its own, while holding the Sox to just five.
Aaron Barbosa,
Connor Lyons,
Justin Kessler and
R.J. Roman all picked up base-knocks for the Huskies. Senior co-captain
Dylan Maki earned the start in the annual exhibition and threw with muster. Maki finished his one-inning afternoon throwing 18 pitches, 11 of which went for strikes -- three of those coming in a row to Dustin Pedroia.
Seemingly not phased by the challenge, now in his third go-around in the annual Boston-showdown, junior
Aaron Barbosa got things started on the right foot for the Huskies. Behind in the count, 0-2, Barbosa took the third pitch deep to left-center field, conveniently dropping the ball between Jacoby Ellsbury and Jarrod Saltalamacchia for a base hit.
After senior co-captain
John Puttress, earning the start behind the plate for the Huskies, went down swinging, Barbosa stole second, beating Ross' throw-down with time to spare.
Pete Castoldi then flew out to right field, followed by a hard swing and a miss by
Will Dougherty to end the inning.
Making his second appearance of the 2013 season, Maki's inning started out promising when he got Ellsbury to ground out to Husky second baseman,
Michael Foster. After Pedroia struck out, Shane Victorino recorded the Sox' first hit of the afternoon, with an infield dribbler. Maki beaned Gomes in the next at bat and then gave up another hit to Saltalamacchia, which scored Victorino. But there was no more damage done as Will Middlebrooks popped out to Barbosa in right to end the inning.
Connor Lyons gave the Huskies two consecutive innings with a hit, starting off the second frame with a blooper to center. After Lyons stole second on a 2-1 pitch to Castoldi, the side was retired with three straight strikeouts by Daniel Bard.
In the bottom of the second,
Nick Cubarney took the reigns and would hold the mound through the fourth inning. In three innings pitched, the freshman recorded three walks and a strikeout, while not allowing a single run. One of the more spectacular plays of the day, coming from either team, was from the efforts of Barbosa in right field. Red Sox catcher David Ross sent a screamer toward the right-center gap, but Barbosa hunted the ball down, extending horizontally to make the grab and save an extra-base hit.
In the following innings, the Huskies turned the first of two 6-4-3 double plays (three total on the day) and offensively, and Roman recorded NU's third hit in the top of the fourth, with a line drive down the third base chalk for a single.
Through four innings, the Red Sox were held to just a single run by the Huskies. When the Red and Black overhauled the field, the Red Sox struck. Even though they made changes at all but one position (C. Lyons in center), the Huskies still put up a fight against Boston. Stepping in right field,
Justin Kessler tallied NU's final hit with a broken-bat single into right. On the mound,
Isaac Lippert threw an inning for NU, walking just one batter and allowing just one run.
Matt Goreham ended up finishing the game for Northeastern, allowing one earned run himself, striking out one in the process.
The Huskies are on their way to Texas once again, ready to face UT Arlington for a three-game series, the first of which is Friday evening, 7:30 ET. Saturday will feature a double-header (1 p.m. and 4 p.m. ET), before NU heads back home for some rest.
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