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BROOKLINE, Mass. – Bats came to life for the Northeastern baseball team during the Huskies' second home game of the year on Wednesday afternoon despite NU coming up short during a ninth-inning rally against UMass Lowell, dropping an 11-9 decision to the River Hawks.
 
Six different NU players combined to produce each of Huskies' 10 hits, led by a three-for-five outing by right fielder Pat Madigan. The sophomore from Freeport, New York, finished the game with two RBIs and two runs scored while improving his reached-base streak to a team-high 17 straight contests.
 
Redshirt-junior Josh Treff notched his team-leading sixth double of the season during a four-run third-inning rally that put Northeastern (7-14, 0-3 CAA) ahead, 7-3. Joey Scambia, Nolan Lang, Gabe Levanti, and Maxwell Burt forced UMass Lowell pitchers Max Frawley and Chaz Kaps to throw four consecutive walks, helping the Huskies bat around and bring 10 hitters to the plate.
 
Center fielder Michael Foster followed a hitless game on Tuesday against Boston College with a two-for-five day in the batter's box. The redshirt-junior ended the game with three RBIs and a run scored, hammering a two-run home run to left field during the fifth inning that gave NU a 9-8 lead heading into the final four frames.
 
Burt reached base safely two times, both on walks, while Lang went one-for-three with a run scored. Freshman Brian Christian allowed five earned runs on four hits in 3.0 innings pitched while striking out two during his second career start for Northeastern.
 
Relief ace Aaron Civale threw a season-high six strikeouts against UMass Lowell (4-10, 0-0 America East), but was credited with a loss after the River Hawks scored two unearned runs in the top of the eighth.
 
Ian Strom came up big for UMass Lowell and finished the game going three-for-five with two RBIs and two runs scored. Strom also took the mound at the start of the ninth inning, earning a save for the River Hawks, after playing the previous eight frames in right field. Matthew Sanchez, Jimmy Ricoy, and Kelly Rooney each ended the game with two hits apiece.
 
UMass Lowell struck first against Northeastern in the top the first after third baseman Danny Mendick stole second base and Sanchez brought him home on an RBI single to left field. NU responded with three runs in the bottom half of the frame courtesy of back-to-back doubles by Madigan and Scambia. Madigan hit a one-hopper to center field that bounced over the center-field fence for a ground-rule double, scoring Fonseca from second.
 
The River Hawks tied the game up at 3-3 in the second inning after designated hitter Zack Tower hit a two-run blast to left field. Christian would soon recover, and retired four straight hitters after surrendering back-to-back walks.
 
Treff smoked a one-out double down the left-field line to begin the Huskies' third-inning rally, and Madigan brought the NU designated hitter around to score on an RBI single that found a hole through the left side of the infield. Northeastern would take a 6-3 lead after four consecutive walks moved the Huskies around the bases and Foster delivered an RBI single to center that made the score 7-3.
 
Two straight fielder's choices cut Northeastern's lead to 7-5 in the top of the fourth and a three-hit, three-run rally in the fifth inning put the River Hawks on top, 8-7. Refusing to go away easily, Foster took a pitch from Kaps deep to left field in the bottom of the fifth to send NU back in front, 9-8.
 
After UMass Lowell had put runners on the corners with no outs in the sixth, Civale struck out the first three batters he faced to preserve Northeastern's lead. However, the River Hawks would tie up the game again on an RBI single by Ricoy in the seventh, knotting the score at 9-9.
 
Two defensive miscues by the Huskies in the eighth inning awarded UMass Lowell extra base runners, and the River Hawks capitalized to score two runs to build an 11-9 edge.
 
A lead-off walk issued to Treff in the ninth inning fueled comeback hopes for NU as Madigan moved Treff over to second on a base-hit. Levanti was hit by a pitch to load the bases with two outs, but Burt flied out to center field on a full count to end the game.
 
Northeastern will host conference-foe Delaware for a three-game series this weekend at Friedman Diamond. The Huskies will open up the series against the Blue Hens on Friday, March 27, at 3 p.m.