Box Score | Season Stats

BROOKLINE, Mass. – Pitted against one of the nation's top starting pitchers in redshirt-junior Taylor Clarke, the Northeastern baseball team managed to hold its own ground against No. 15 College of Charleston on Friday afternoon, despite being handed a 12-6 loss by the Cougars.
 
With the defeat, Northeastern's 11-game home CAA winning streak at Friedman Diamond dating back to 2014 came to an unfortunate end. Prior to Friday's loss, the Huskies were one of just five teams in Division I this season to have remained undefeated through their first 10 home conference games (Grand Canyon, Illinois, Norfolk State, UNCW).
 
Redshirt-junior Michael Foster drove in four of Northeastern's six runs courtesy of a two-for-four day at the plate. The NU outfielder belted an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh and hammered a three-run home run to left during the a four-run, ninth-inning rally. Foster's two hits raised his career total to 207 base-knocks, bringing him to within eight hits of tying Kevin Kim (215 career hits) for fifth-place on the Huskies' all-time hit list.
 
After powering the game-winning, walk-off home run during Thursday's game, first baseman Rob Fonseca teed off on a 1-1 fastball from Clarke in the first inning, giving NU an early 1-0 lead. In his last 10 games, Fonseca has smacked an impressive nine home runs while collecting 19 of his 38 season RBIs (50 percent).
 
Right fielder Pat Madigan notched his third double of the series and fourth during his last four games, upping his season total to 12. Keith Kelly, Josh Treff, and Joey Scambia each picked up a double as well as Northeastern (24-27, 14-9 CAA) matched its 2015 single-game high of six extra-base hits against the Cougars.
 
James Mulry was charged with six earned runs during 5.1 innings of work for NU, surrendering six hits while walking six batters and striking out two. Redshirt-sophomore Mike Fitzgerald limited College of Charleston (40-11, 20-3 CAA) to two hits during 2.2 innings of relief, allowing just his fifth earned run of the season. Freshman Tyler Robinson was on the hill for the entirety of the Cougars' five-run ninth, but was only credited with three earned runs to go along with two strikeouts.
 
Northeastern's nine hits are tied for the most the Huskies have produced during five all-time games against Charleston (March 30, 2014). Nick Pappas pounded out three of the Cougars' 12 hits, including two doubles, while Alex Pastorius recorded three RBIs with the help of a triple and a home run.
 
Clarke stuck out nine NU batters and conceded just four hits, all for extra bases (three doubles, one home run). With his NCAA-leading 12th victory of the season, the Charleston hurler tied the program's single-season record for wins.
 
A day after Nick Berger began Thursday's game with two consecutive strikeouts, Mulry opened Friday's matinee by ringing up Ryan Brown and Pastorius, back-to-back. Clarke had similar success in the bottom of the first after fanning Foster on strikes to lead off the frame, but his 1-1 pitch to Fonseca found the sweet spot of the NU slugger's bat as it traveled over the outfield netting, putting the Huskies in front, 1-0.
 
Charleston would load the bases in the top of the second but Cam Hanley helped save a run by beating Devon Reed to the bag at third on the unassisted infield putout. With two runners on base again in the third, Blake Butler took a pitch from Mulry beyond the left-field fence, giving the Cougars a 3-1 advantage.
 
After Madigan's double failed to turn into a scoring play, Pappas answered with a double in the fifth that put two runners in scoring position for Charleston. The Cougars would soon take a 4-1 lead on an RBI ground out by Butler before cashing in for two more runs in the sixth on a two-RBI double by Carl Wise.
 
NU had difficulty stringing hits together following lead-off doubles by Scambia in the fifth and Kelly in the bottom of the sixth. The Huskies would fight for a run back in the seventh after Maxwell Burt and Foster registered back-to-back singles that scored Mason Koppens, trimming the Charleston lead to 6-2.
 
The Cougars reclaimed a five-run lead in the eighth as Pastorius opened the inning with a triple and later scored on an RBI single by Pappas. Pastorius would come through again with a three-run homer in the ninth inning that propelled the Cougars to a five-run rally.
 
Trailing, 12-2, in the ninth, Treff doubled to the wall in left center before a walk to Gabe Levanti and a hit-by-pitch issued to Matt Cook loaded the bases for the Huskies. Treff scored on an RBI fielder's choice by Burt to third base, while NU came back to within six runs of Charleston as a result of a three-run home run to left field by Foster.
 
Northeastern will close out the 2015 regular season against No. 15 College of Charleston on Saturday, May 16, at 11 a.m. Prior to the game, the Huskies will be dedicating the new John "Tinker" Connelly Pavilion in conjunction with their annual Senior Day festivities. The pre-game dedication ceremony will begin at 10:30 a.m.