Box Score | Coach McPhee Interview

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. – Brad Burcroff homered and earned the win on the mound, Michael Foster also homered and scored the game-winning run in the eighth inning, and the Northeastern baseball team came away with a wild 12-11 win against Presbyterian on Wednesday evening.

The Huskies (4-6), playing as the designated "home" team, entered the seventh inning trailing, 11-7, but Northeastern began to chip away at the deficit when Foster (3-for-4, 4R, HR, 2RBI, 2SB) reached base on an infield single to short. Jason Vosler (1-for-3, R) followed with a single up the middle and Gabe Levanti (0-for-4, RBI) moved both runners over with a groundout. Nick Fanneron (1-for-1, RBI) stepped into the box as a pinch-hitter and smacked an RBI single to score Foster. Joey Scambia (1-for-3, RBI) followed suit and hit an RBI single that scored Vosler and cut the Presbyterian (5-6-1) advantage to 11-9.

After moving from first base to the mound in the top of the eighth inning, Burcroff (2-for-4, R, HR, 2B, 4RBI) stepped to the plate in the bottom of the eighth with Connor Lyons (3-for-3, 3R) on base by way of a single. Burcroff belted his second home run of the season to left-center field, tying the game, 11-11. And the Huskies weren't done there.  

Foster, hitting behind Burcroff, drew a walk and stole second base. Levanti popped up to the pitcher, but Paul Sanders dropped the ball. Foster remained on second during the error, but he then stole third base as Levanti advanced on the throw to third. With first base open, the Blue Hose decided to intentionally walk Pat Madigan, but Sanders' toss got by the catcher and Foster sprinted home to score what stood to be the game-winning run.

Burcroff got the Blue Hose down in order in the ninth to seal the win.

The Huskies got on the board first when Lyons led off the home half of the first inning with an infield single to second base, and Burcroff followed with a sac bunt. Foster's infield single to short put runners on the corners, and Vosler drew a walk to load the bases. Levanti's sac fly to left field advanced all runners and put NU in front, 1-0. Foster then scored a wild pitch to give the Huskies a 2-0 cushion after the first stanza.

The Blue Hose claimed the lead in the third inning when Vosler bobbled a groundball with runners on first and second and two outs, allowing Cam McRae to follow with a grand slam that put Presbyterian ahead, 4-2.

Foster's first home run of the year evened the score, 4-4, in the bottom of the third when he cleared the leftfield wall. Lyons came around to score on the long ball after he reached base by getting hit by a pitch.

Presbyterian regained the lead, 5-4, in the fourth inning with the help of an NU error and a wild pitch, but the Huskies struck back with three runs in the bottom of the frame. Shane Allen (1-for-2, R) led off with a single and moved into scoring position on Scambia's sac bunt. Josh Treff (1-for-4, R) hit an infield single to the shortstop to put runners on the corners for Sean Lyons (1-for-3, R, RBI), who singled to right field to score Allen and knot the game, 5-5. The tie was short-lived when Burcroff stepped to the plate and doubled to left-center field, scoring both Treff and Lyons to give the Huskies a 7-5 lead.  

Presbyterian rallied again to load the bases with nobody out in the sixth inning, leading to a four-run frame highlighted by Brad Zebedis' two-run single, as the Blue Hose claimed a 9-7 lead. Two more runs in the top of the seventh inning pushed the Blue Hose lead to 11-7, but the Huskies assembled five runs in two innings to claim their third Snowbird Baseball Classic win in four games.

The Huskies are off on Thursday and return to the field Friday, March 7, for a 10:30 a.m. game against Western Michigan.

Notables
• Northeastern hit two home runs for the first time this year. The Huskies had three multi-home run games in 2013.
• Brad Burcroff's multi-hit streak is at six games.
• Connor Lyons is 7-for-8 over the past two games.
• Michael Foster had his second multi-steal game of the season and the fourth of his career.
• The Huskies have totaled 13 or more hits in four consecutive games and are hitting .372 during that stretch.


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