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ELON, N.C. – Nick Berger had allowed just two runs on five hits before an eighth-inning grand slam by Elon's Chris King did the senior co-captain in for three more runs as the Northeastern baseball team lost the series opener to the Phoenix on Friday night, 6-2.
 
Berger followed a 111-pitch, 8.0-inning outing last week against Delaware with another 7.1-inning performance against Elon, throwing five strikeouts while walking just one batter. Due to a defensive error by the Huskies in the eighth inning, only two of the three runners Berger was responsible for in the eighth were earned, inching his season ERA up just slightly to 3.73.
 
Joey Scambia registered multiple hits in a single game for the third time in four games and fourth time in seven games as the right fielder went two-for-three with a double.
 
Shortstop Michael Foster recorded one hit in three at-bats but was also hit by a pitch, ending the game with a season batting average of .400. Foster scored one of the Huskies' two runs that came in on a double by Cam Hanley belted during the top of the first.
 
NU outfielder Pat Madigan extended his reached-base streak to 23 consecutive games with a base-hit during the first inning. Both Madigan and Hanley finished the day going one-for-four from the plate.
 
First-year third baseman Nolan Lang made it to first base safely twice on the evening but was caught trying to steal an extra base in the sixth after hitting a two-out single.
 
Northeastern (10-17, 3-4 CAA) totaled just six hits against Elon (13-15, 5-2 CAA), the fewest the Huskies have produced since March 24 against Boston College. The Phoenix scored all six of their runs on homers, two of which came off King's bat.
 
Matt Harris tossed 8.0 innings for Elon and held NU scoreless from the second inning onward as the sophomore struck out seven while walking just two batters. Ryan Cooper homered in the bottom half of the first and wrapped up the game with a two-for-four performance in the batter's box. All six of the Phoenix' hits came off the bats of the first four hitters in their lineup.
 
Two batters after Foster was hit by a pitch during top of the first, Madigan hit a two-out single through the left side of the infield, keeping the Huskies alive at the plate. Hanley brought both Foster and Madigan into score on a two-RBI double to right field, putting Northeastern ahead, 2-0.
 
Elon would halve the Huskies' lead in the bottom of the frame, though, as Cooper sent a pitch from Berger over the outfield wall in left field, trimming the NU lead down to 2-1. After Burt lined into an inning-ending double play in the second, Treff and Burt responded with a 2-4 "strike 'em out, throw 'em out" play to keep the Phoenix off the bases.
 
Both offenses would ultimately take a back seat as Berger and Harris dominated the game, matching scoreless frames and keeping the game within one-run through five innings. Although Northeastern would turn a 4-6-3 double play to put two outs up on the scoreboard in the bottom of the sixth, King homered to left field during the very next at-bat, tying the game at 2-2.
 
Harris would deal back-to-back three-up, three-down innings to retire the NU seventh and eighth, but a single by Zammarelli sparked a one-out rally for the Phoenix in the bottom of the eighth. Berger would hit Jones with a pitch in the next at-bat before committing a throwing error that loaded the bases for Elon. Isaac Lippert worked an 0-2 count to King but the first baseman teed off on a 1-2 pitch that broke the game open for Elon, 6-2.
 
Madigan, Hanley, and Lang would go one-two-three in the top of the ninth as the Huskies managed to put just one runner on base during the final five innings of the game.
 
Northeastern will look to turn around a three-game losing skid on Saturday when Dustin Hunt (2-3, 5.35 ERA) takes the mound for the Huskies against Elon's Michael Elefante (2-0, 4.86 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m. at Latham Park in Elon, North Carolina.