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PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. – Warm weather under the Florida sun helped keep the Northeastern baseball team's offense hot on Saturday morning during the Huskies' first game at the 2015 Snowbird Classic. NU had its hands full squaring off against its first Big 12 opponent since 2010, but managed to swing 10 hits as the Huskies were edged out, 6-4, by Kansas.
 
Josh Treff hit two-for-four and registered one RBI out of the leadoff spot for Northeastern (2-5) in its first game of the day against Kansas (5-3), smoking a double on the very first pitch he saw in the first at-bat of the game. Pat Madigan, who went one-for-four with a walk against the Jayhawks, extended his hit streak to three straight games and has safely reached base in each of his first seven starts of 2015.
 
Third baseman Mike Piscopo picked up his first multi-hit game of the year with a two-for-four outing, while teammate Cam Hanley went two-for-four with one RBI.
 
Senior Nick Berger threw 5.0 innings for NU, allowing six runs, three earned, on eight hits while walking three and striking out four. Nick Cubarney kept KU scoreless in three innings of relief work, striking out two and allowing just one hit.
 
Two three-run rallies by Kansas in the third and fifth innings proved to be the difference in the game as Jayhawks starter Ben Krauth threw five strikeouts and allowed three runs, one earned, on eight hits.
 
Northeastern broke through in the first inning during a two-out rally following a lead-off double by Treff. Madigan walked to put two runners aboard, and Hanley drove in Treff with a base-hit through the left side of the infield. Center fielder Michael Foster preserved a 1-0 lead for the Huskies in the bottom half of the frame when he dove out to make an inning-ending catch, stranding three Jayhawks runners.
 
NU kept its offense in first gear during the second inning when Piscopo singled up the middle, advancing to second on a sacrifice bunt by Gabe Levanti. However, Kansas retired both Maxwell Burt and Treff to keep the Huskies scoreless.
 
An RBI-double by Kansas' Michael Tinsley tied the game up at 1-1 during the bottom of the third, and back-to-back singles by Connor McKay and Blair Beck scored two more runs as the Jayhawks took a 3-1 edge.
 
Treff helped Northeastern steal a run back in the fourth when he converted on an RBI-single to left field. Burt had kept the inning alive on the previous play when he out ran a potential inning-ending infield double-play attempt.
 
Berger and Fonseca had perfect timing on a pick-off play that ended the Kansas fourth, but the Jayhawks would score two runs when Piscopo's throw to the plate went wide. Fonseca had a chance to drive in the game's tying run in the sixth, but his long, fly ball to left field was caught at the wall for the final out of the frame.
 
Trailing, 6-2, Foster brought Levanti in to score on a sacrifice fly in the sixth, and the Huskies would add one more run in the eighth when Kelly scored while Treff was caught in a run-down between first and second base.
 
After a Saturday afternoon game against Kentucky, Northeastern will take on Chicago State next in the Snowbird Classic on Sunday, March 1, at 1:30 p.m.