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PHILADELPHIA – Senior co-captain Nick Berger allowed just two hits in 7.0 innings on the mound while redshirt-junior Rob Fonseca smacked his second home run of the season as the Northeastern baseball team notched its first shutout of the season, 7-0, against La Salle on Friday.
 
Berger recorded his 200th career strikeout when he fanned Derek Prucnal in the bottom of the sixth, and struck out a total of seven Explorers hitters en route to picking up his second win of the season (2-2). Isaac Lippert relieved Berger in the bottom of the eighth and finished the game strong, striking out three of the eight batters he faced during the game's final two innings.
 
Third baseman Nolan Lang reached base three times on the afternoon, going two-for-three with a double, a walk, and two runs scored. Cam Hanley walked twice and scored on an RBI single by Michael Foster in the fifth before belting a base-hit of his own in the seventh, extending his hitting streak to nine straight games.
 
Northeastern (7-7) had seven different players record at least one hit for the seventh time in nine games. Pat Madigan reached safely in his 10th consecutive contest after singling in the top half of the fifth.
 
Josh Savakinus went two-for-four for La Salle (6-10), while teammates Justin Korenblatt and Collin McGowan were the only other Explorers players that registered a hit. Jordan Meyer lasted 4.2 innings on the hill for La Salle, allowing four runs on two hits while walking three and striking out three.
 
Both teams' offenses started the game off slowly as neither side was able to produce a base runner until the third inning when Meyer surrendered a lead-off walk to Lang. Berger retired the first 10 La Salle hitters he faced before giving up a one-out double to Savakinus in the fourth, and despite a failed pickoff attempt, recovered nicely to keep the Explorers scoreless through four.
 
Northeastern came through in the top half of the fifth inning during a two-out rally that began after Maxwell Burt was hit by a pitch, awarding NU runners on first and second. Treff singled up the middle to put the Huskies ahead, 1-0, and Meyer walked Hanley to load the bases. Foster tallied two more RBIs on a single up the middle that provided NU with a 3-0 advantage, and Fonseca followed suit with a three-run shot over the left field wall that gave the Huskies a commanding, 6-0 edge.
 
Berger went on to retire another seven straight La Salle hitters before his day was done, forcing the Explorers to strand two more runners during the home half of the seventh.
 
Lang hammered a double in the top of the eighth for the Huskies, and came into score on an RBI single by Burt that found a hole through the left side of the infield.
 
Lippert struck out Michael Flax and Savakinus in back-to-back at-bats to end the eighth inning, and received a little defensive help from his infield in the ninth as Burt and Fonseca turned a double play that preserved the Huskies' first shutout of the season.
 
Northeastern returns to the diamond on Saturday, March 14, at 3 p.m. against Saint Joseph's at Smithson Field in Merion Station, Pa.