Box Score | Season Stats | Infographic

BROOKLINE, Mass. – James Mulry threw a season-high 13 strikeouts and reliever Mike Fitzgerald added five more on Sunday against NYIT despite the Northeastern baseball team suffering a 2-0 defeat at home courtesy of the Bears.
 
Mulry allowed just four hits during 5.1 innings on the mound for the Huskies, surrendering two runs, one earned, and walking two. Entering Sunday, only 19 other Division I pitchers in the nation had thrown more than 13 strikeouts in a single game this season (22 occasions), including College of Charleston's Taylor Clarke, who threw 18 against Radford on March 7.
 
Fitzgerald finished the game with 3.2 scoreless innings for Northeastern (16-22, 7-5 CAA), striking out five. In 12 relief appearances this season, the redshirt-sophomore from Holland, Pennsylvania, has achieved a team-low ERA of 1.16 to go along with 27 strikeouts, three walks, and 10 scoreless outings on the mound.
 
Right fielder Pat Madigan went two-for-four from the plate, knocking both of his base hits down the left-field line. First baseman Cam Hanley extended his hit streak to four consecutive games with a double coming during the bottom of the second. He also walked once and has reached base safely during each of his last nine games.
 
Infielder Keith Kelly made it to first base twice on the afternoon with a single and a hit-by-pich, but was caught stealing second base by Bears catcher Nick Sebastian. Michael Foster was kept off the bases during all four of his plate appearances, while designated hitter Rob Fonseca went hitless despite walking once.
 
NYIT (9-17) registered just four hits during the game, two of which were credited to Sebastian, including an RBI double in the top of the sixth. Gerson Sotolongo followed Sebastian's double with one of his own in the sixth, while Michael Iglesias went one-for-four with a single. David Plotkin threw a complete-game shutout for the Bears, allowing four hits and striking out seven.
 
Mulry demonstrated that he was in command of the strike zone during the first few innings of the game. The junior from West Roxbury, Massachusetts, struck out seven of the first nine batters he faced and walked just one before Joe Daru reached on a rare catcher's interference call in the top of the third.
 
Hanley led off the bottom of the second with a double blasted to right field and Gabe Levanti kept the inning alive with a two-out walk three batters later. Both NU runners would advance an extra base on a wild pitch, but Mason Koppens struck out before the Huskies could put a run up on the scoreboard.
 
Northeastern would put two runners on base again in the bottom of the third after Madigan singled and Fonseca walked, but Hanley poked a ground ball to second that ended the two-out rally.
 
After Mulry issued his eighth strikeout of the game to Louis Mele, Sebastian hammered a double to left field that put a runner in scoring position for NYIT. Mulry would heat up as the inning went on, striking out Robert Fiato and Sotolongo to retire the side.
 
Mulry would strike out three more Bears batters during the top of the fifth, raising his game total to an unprecedented 13. NYIT would finally break through in the top of the sixth as Sebastian and Sotolongo belted back-to-back doubles that scored two runs, leaving the Bears with a 2-0 advantage that proved to be the difference in the game.
 
Madigan would jumpstart the Huskies' offense in the bottom of the sixth, but Hanley would end up grounding into an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play that preserved the deficit. Josh Treff would walk to open the bottom of the seventh, but Maxwell Burt proceeded to ground into a 5-4-3 double play that cleared the bases for the Huskies.
 
Fitzgerald would strike out the side in the top of the eighth, but Northeastern was unable to move Kelly around the bases during the home half of the frame after the infielder had led off the inning with a single to right field. Hanley would reach in the ninth inning with a walk, but the Huskies were retired in order shortly after, giving the Bears a 2-0 victory.
 
Northeastern will play Harvard in the 2015 Beanpot consolation game on Wednesday, April 22, at Fenway Park. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m. All tickets are general admission and $10, with net ticket proceeds benefitting the Pete Frates No. 3 Fund.