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HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Tossing up two crooked numbers against a talented Southern Mississippi side, the Northeastern baseball team appeared to be in the driver's seat early during Sunday's series finale before subsiding to a late-game rally by the Golden Eagles that ended with the home team walking off, 8-7, during the bottom of the ninth.
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Nick Fanneron carried over his long-ball heroics from Saturday's game, driving a two-run homer to right field during the top of the third inning that provided Northeastern (0-3) with a seven-run lead. Fanneron, who played only two of the series' three games, closed out the weekend with three hits, two homers, and four RBIs, attaining one on Sunday courtesy of a sacrifice fly hit to left during the top of the second.
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Redshirt-freshman
Kyle Murphy opened his first career start with a pair of strong innings, benefitting from two double plays executed by the Huskies' infield. Murphy allowed four hits through three and two-thirds innings, surrendering five runs, four earned, while striking out one and walking three.
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Mason Koppens delivered two hits out of the ninth spot of Northeastern's lineup again, finishing the series with five hits and a .455 batting average.
Scott Holzwasser scored two runs and swiped his third bag of the season, while
Cam Walsh went two-for-four with a seventh-inning double.
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After an uneventful first inning by both sides, NU rallied for four runs during the top of the second.
Cam Hanley moved Holzwasser from first to third on a single through the right side, setting up Fanneron to drive in the Huskies' first run of the game on a sacrifice fly. Two batters later,
Michael Geaslen began a two-out rally for Northeastern by knocking an RBI single to left that plated Hanley.
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Without putting the ball in play, the Huskies doubled their 2-0 lead to 4-0 on two wild pitches and an errant throw by the Golden Eagles' catcher.
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After Northeastern had extended its lead to 5-0 during the third inning, Fanneron cleared the bases with a two-run jack to right field, leaving NU in front, 7-0.
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Southern Miss (3-0) made an immediate comeback on Murphy during the bottom of the third, scoring five runs on four hits and an NU error. Hunter Slater tightened the Huskies' lead to 7-5 upon hitting a two-run homer to right field.
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Dylan Burdeaux halved Northeastern's lead to 7-6 with a solo shot to lead off the bottom of the seventh before Southern Miss worked a two-out rally of its own that same inning, loading the bases against
Brian Christian. One wild pitch by
Tyler Robinson was enough for the Golden Eagles to level the game.
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Fanneron provided the only hit for NU during the eighth and ninth innings, while Storme Cooper belted the game-winning single for the Golden Eagles with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.
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UP NEXT
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Northeastern will return to Massachusetts briefly before playing its annual spring exhibition game against the Boston Red Sox on Thursday, Feb. 23, at Jet Blue Park in Fort Myers, Florida. First pitch between the Huskies and the Red Sox is set for 1:05 p.m.