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BROOKLINE, Mass. – Catcher Josh Treff threw out five runners stealing and sent a three-run home run towering above the Friedman Diamond scoreboard in left center as the Northeastern baseball team breezed by UNCW, 9-4, during Friday's series opener.
 
Treff patrolled the base paths like a hawk, nailing four opposing runners at second base during the first three innings while nabbing the Seahawks' Steven Linkous at third to end the eighth. With a bat in his hands, the redshirt-senior and co-captain went two-for-three and collected four RBIs, walking once in addition to his sixth-inning heroics.
 
Zach Perry landed three extra-base hits for Northeastern (12-12, 2-2 CAA) out of the clean-up spot, doubling in both the third and the sixth before rocketing a two-run homer over the right-field bleachers in the eighth. By game's end, seven of the Huskies' nine runs had come off the bat of Treff or Perry.
 
Aaron Civale pitched brilliantly against a UNCW (15-8, 2-1 CAA) lineup that featured seven hitters with batting averages above .300. Civale allowed one earned run during 8.0 innings on the mound for the Huskies, striking out five and walking two. NU closer Mike Fitzgerald picked up a strikeout in the ninth as well. 
 
Sophomore shortstop Max Burt went three-for-five, smoking an RBI double down the left-field line that broke a 1-1 tie in the sixth. Keith Kelly doubled in the third and scored the first run of the game on Perry's two-bagger, while Pat Madigan singled twice to extend his hit streak to eight straight games.
 
Northeastern went after UNCW ace Ryan Foster immediately during the first, working up the 5-0 starter's pitch count with a series of long at-bats, including two walks. Foster walked Cam Walsh on four pitches to load the bases and lucked out when Burt's liner to short was pulled down by the Seahawks' McDowell.
 
Treff's arm helped Civale navigate a pair of walks in the second, an inning before Kelly and Perry matched doubles to put Northeastern ahead, 1-0. UNCW earned the run back in the fifth after an obstruction call on Jake Farrell followed a bad throw by Charlie McConnell. Three groundouts later, the Seahawks had tied the game up at 1-1.
 
Perry led off the bottom of the sixth with a ground-rule double to deep right center and reached third on a well-placed fielder's choice bunt by Walsh. Burt gave Northeastern a 2-1 lead when his double dropped down the left-field line, two batters before Treff's three-run homer bumped up the Huskies' advantage to 5-1.
 
Despite surrendering two triples in the seventh, Civale racked up back-to-back strikeouts against UNCW's Casey Golden and Daniel Stack to close the frame with NU leading, 5-2. The Huskies widened the margin to 7-2 during the bottom half of the inning as a result of Treff's RBI infield single and dropped ball by the Seahawks' first baseman.
 
Perry rounded out Northeastern's nine-run day with a two-run blast in the bottom of the eighth.
 
Due to snow being forecasted at Friedman Diamond on Sunday, Northeastern and UNCW will now play a doubleheader on Saturday, April 2, beginning at 11 a.m. Game two will begin 30 minutes following the conclusion of game one.