Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

BOSTON – The Northeastern baseball team lost both ends of a doubleheader at Houston Baptist on Saturday, 8-5 and 7-0. Northeastern held a brief 3-1 lead in the first game, but defensive miscues yielded a pair of unearned runs as HBU held on for the win. Curtis Jones tossed a complete-game shutout in the second contest while HBU outhit Northeastern, 17-5.

"It was a disappointing day," said Northeastern assistant coach Mike Glavine. "We have a lot of work ahead of us, but we will get there."

Game 1

Zach Nehrir put HBU (6-1) on the board in the first inning with an RBI single, but NU rallied for three runs in the top of the second to take a 3-1 lead. Northeastern (1-5) loaded the bases when Brad Burcroff (2-for-5, R) led off with a bunt single, Gabe Levanti (1-for-4, 2R) reached on a fielder's choice, and Josh Treff (1-for-3, 2R, 2B, RBI, BB) drew a walk. Shane Allen (2-for-4, RBI) put the ball in play to the third base side, and a pair of HBU throwing errors allowed both Burcroff and Levanti to score. Sean Lyons (1-for-4, RBI, BB) capped off the rally with an RBI groundout to score Treff.

Houston Baptist wasted little time in responding when it tallied three runs in the bottom of the second. Samm Wiggins began the frame by getting hit by a James Mulry offering and consecutive singles by Jordan McCoy and Josh Martinez loaded the bases. A fielder's choice off the bat of Thomas Clay scored Wiggins, and a wild pitch allowed McCoy to score and even the game, 3-3. Jones hit an RBI single later in the inning to give HBU a 4-3 lead.

Levanti ignited a two-run fourth inning when he singled up the middle with one out, and Treff followed with an RBI double to left field to tie the game, 4-4. Allen quickly gave Northeastern a 5-4 lead when his base hit scored Treff from second.

Northeastern's defensive miscues proved to be costly down the stretch. NU relief pitcher Isaac Lippert's throwing error in the fifth inning allowed Mike Chamberlain to get into scoring position after he laid down a bunt. Chamberlain came around to score the tying run on a single by McCoy.

The other Huskies opened the home half of the sixth inning with consecutive base-hit bunts by Clay and C.J. Jarvis, and a throwing error by Burcroff allowed both runners to score to put HBU ahead for good. Nehrir added a sac fly in the stanza to make the score 8-5.


Notables
• Shane Allen posted the first multi-hit game of his career.


Game Two

Houston Baptist starting pitcher Curtis Jones stifled the Northeastern bats by tossing a complete-game shutout as HBU tallied five runs in the eighth inning en route to a 7-0 win.

HBU got on the board in the fifth inning by stringing together three consecutive two-out singles. Bradley Brown hit the first of three singles and moved into scoring position after Nehirir's base hit. Samm Wiggins singled to left field to score Brown and give HBU a 1-0 lead. An RBI single by Jordan McCoy in the seventh inning pushed the lead to 2-0, and HBU exploded for five runs in an eighth inning highlighted by Mike Chamberlain's bases-loaded triple.

Northeastern threatened to get on the board in the second inning when both Brad Burcroff (2-for-3) and Connor Lyons (1-for-4) reached base on bunt singles, but Jones got both Gabe Levanti (0-for-3) and Josh Treff (0-for-2, BB) to fly out to end the inning.

NU threatened again in the seventh inning as Treff led off with a walk and Michael Foster (1-for-4) singled, but Jason Vosler (0-for-4) made the third out by lining out to second base.

Northeastern starting pitcher Chris Carmain allowed only two earned runs through 6.1 innings while striking out three and walking one.

Northeastern heads to Fort Myers, Fla. for its 11th annual exhibition against the Boston Red Sox on Thursday, Feb. 27, at 1:05 p.m. The Huskies then head to Port Charlotte for six games in the Snowbird Baseball Classic. 


Notables
• HBU finished with 17 hits, 15 of which were singles.
• Last year, the most hits Northeastern allowed in a game was 16 (William & Mary).
• Northeastern has allowed 11 unearned runs through its first six games.
• Brad Burcroff collected two hits in each game for his first multi-hit games of the season. He had 12 such games last year.





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