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BROOKLINE, Mass. – Although 10 strikeouts highlighted a tremendous day on the mound for Aaron Civale, an unearned run in the eighth handed the junior ace an unlucky losing decision as the Northeastern baseball team fell to William & Mary, 2-0, during Friday's series opener at Friedman Diamond.
 
Civale began his 10th outing of the season by retiring each of the first eight batters he faced, posting seven straight scoreless innings out of the gates. The East Windsor, Connecticut, native opened the eighth with back-to-back strikeouts as well, but consecutive singles and a passed ball allowed the Tribe to score the eventual winning run on the right-hander's watch.
 
Josh Smith's ninth-inning homer off Tyler Robinson provided William & Mary (18-20, 7-5 CAA) with an extra run of insurance before the Tribe's closer, Joseph Gaouette, struck out the NU side to earn his seventh save.
 
Cam Walsh went two-for-four for Northeastern (19-17, 7-5 CAA), reaching during the fifth and eighth innings off William & Mary starter Nick Brown, who struck out eight. Charlie McConnell and Pat Madigan registered the remaining two hits of the day for the Huskies, while Keith Kelly's reached-base streak came to an end at a season long, 18 games.
 
Northeastern's best scoring opportunity came during the bottom of the second inning. Madigan managed to reach on a dropped throw from third and moved up two bases on successive groundouts by Jake Farrell and Nick Fanneron. Josh Treff had a chance to bring Madigan home with two outs and a 3-1 count, but Treff's shallow fly to left was caught by a diving Ryan Hall.
 
Civale surrendered his lone extra-base hit of the game, a double, to Ryder Miconi in the top of the fourth and despite putting a second runner on-base courtesy of a hit batsman, forced J. Smith to ground out to third. William & Mary placed two runners aboard again in the fifth with no outs, but a timely 4-3 double play initiated by Kelly helped Civale and the Huskies out of the jam.
 
Nifty footwork on a steal by NU shortstop Max Burt in the sixth allowed the sophomore to avoid the tag and collect his seventh stolen base of the year. However, Burt was unable to advance any further as both teams remained tied at 0-0.
 
Mason Koppens moved Walsh into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt in the bottom of the eighth. Despite McConnell walking behind Koppens that inning, Brown kept the Huskies off the scoreboard with two strikeouts that stifled the NU rally.
 
Northeastern and William & Mary will return to action on Saturday, April 23, at 1 p.m. The Huskies will be wearing special wristbands as they participate in Band Together to Strike Out ALS, an event started by Boston College baseball captain Pete Frates and his family to raise funding for ALS research and awareness.