Box Score

Game 24
Final Score	Northeastern 12, James Madison 5 (W, Cubarney 3-1)
Records	NU 13-11 (3-7 CAA), JMU (14-10, 6-3 CAA)
Next Game	Saturday vs. James Madison (Brookline, Mass.), 1 p.m.

BROOKLINE, Mass. – Northeastern pounded out a season-best 19 hits on its way to a dominating 12-5 win over conference foe James Madison on Friday at Friedman Diamond. The Huskies (13-11, 3-7 CAA) turned the tables on the Dukes (14-10, 6-3 CAA), who themselves are a top-5 offensive team nationally, as every batter in the NU lineup recorded at least one hit. Junior left fielder Brad Burcroff led the cavalcade and was a perfect 3-for-3 with a home run, a triple and a game-high five RBI for the Huskies in the win.

Freshman hurler Nick Cubarney picked up the victory after tossing 5.0 innings and change, giving up just six hits allowing a meager three earned runs to a potent JMU offense that came in averaging 12 runs per game in its last three contests. Cubarney moves to 3-1 on the season after his third start and boasts a team-best 1.66 ERA. Patrick Toohers picked up the loss to the Huskies, going 4.2 innings allowing nine of NU's 19 hits and seven earned runs.

JMU got on the board first, setting the high-offensive tempo for the rest of the game. Cubarney walked the first batter he saw, but settled in and induced two consecutive groundouts. But Bladel advanced a bag with each out and was eventually sent home on a McFarland infield single, but NU's freshman righty got Brown to fly out to end the inning.

Knowing they needed to produce runs to stay with the Dukes, the Huskies found themselves in a two-out hole in the home half of the first after two consecutive grounders to second. But Jason Vosler (2-for-4, 2R, 1RBI) drew a walk and Rob Fonseca (2-for-5, 2R) followed that up with a dribbler up the middle to place two runners on. Burcroff made his first impact next with a booming triple to right center field which cleared the bases and put NU up, 2-0, early.

The Dukes tied it a half inning later, however, when Bladel added another run, singling through the right side to score Goss to knot things up in the early going. Both pitchers simmered down over the next two innings, each retiring the side in order through the top of the fourth frame.

The Huskies wasted no more time, though, when Burcroff drove his third run of the day home by way of a towering home run to left field. Junior's moonshot, which hit the top of the netting behind the bullpens in the outfield -- some 350 feet away -- kickstarted the Huskies' roll. Up a run, Justin Kessler (3-for-5, 1R, 3RBI) added to his big day at the plate with a single to left. The designated hitter would eventually come home after singles from Pete Castoldi (2-for-4) and Aaron Barbosa (2-for-5, 1R, 1RBI), giving Northeastern a 4-2 lead after four.

Madison was unable to get a run back to start the fifth stanza, but Northeastern added to its lead with a sacrifice fly from Michael Foster (2-for-4, 1R, 2RBI), sending Vosler home, and a Kessler double which plated both John Puttress (2-for-5, 1R), who had just singled, and Burcroff to quickly make it 7-2.

Brown started sent a home run to left to open up the sixth inning and end Cubarney's day, but classmate Brad McLean (3.0IP, 6H, 2ER, 3BB, 2K) came on to finish the task. The freshman allowed JMU to load the bases, but got Carroll to fly out to Connor Lyons in center to end the inning unscathed.

The Huskies added two more in the bottom of the sixth, thanks to a Vosler single which scored Barbosa and a sacrifice fly from Burcroff to score Lyons (1-for-5, 1R) from third. After JMU made it 9-4 with a run in the visiting half of the seventh, Kessler dove in his third RBI of the afternoon with a blooping single to center following a Michael Foster triple, the sophomore's second of the season.

Not done on its quest for a series-opening win, Northeastern tacked on an additional two runs in the bottom of the eighth. Burcroff drove in Fonseca, who struck out swinging with two outs, but reached safely on a wild pitch. After a single from Puttress, Foster tallied NU's 12th run on the day, sending Burcroff across the plate to make it 12-4.

Madison added one in the top half of the final frame, but it was too little, too late as Mike Fitzgerald (1.0IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 0K), who came on in the ninth, held on to get the final two Dukes to fly out to end the game with the Huskies ahead, 12-5.

The two teams are back in action on Saturday for game two, slated for a 1 p.m. first-pitch start time.