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PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. – Sophomore sensations Sean Mellen and David Stiehl combined to strike out 16 Villanova batters on Sunday afternoon at the 2018 Snowbird Classic as the Northeastern baseball team snuck by the Wildcats, 1-0, during a 10-hit pitcher's duel to claim its fourth straight victory.
 
Two starts after delivering 11 strikeouts against Creighton (Feb. 18), Mellen incremented his career-high tally to 13 strikeouts across seven shutout innings, surrendering four hits to the Wildcats while walking two. The six-foot-five left-hander retired seven consecutive leadoff batters and allowed only two runners to reach scoring position, of which neither advanced farther than second base.
 
Stiehl picked up where Mellen had left off during the top of the eighth inning, striking out three in a row after Villanova's David Gulati had reached safely on an infield error. Murphy completed the Huskies' first shutout of the year during the ninth inning, closing the game with back-to-back outs after conceding a one-out walk.
 
Northeastern (7-3) received its lone, winning run off the bat of Scott Holzwasser, who breezed an RBI triple through the left-center gap during the bottom of the fifth inning, scoring Nolan Lang from first base. Charlie McConnell recorded two of the Huskies' six hits, notching his team leading, fifth double of the season during his first-inning, leadoff at-bat.
 
NU left nine runners on base during Sunday's contest, including five during the first three innings. The Huskies placed runners on the corners with one out during the bottom of the first inning and put two runners in scoring position during the bottom of the second inning, despite being unable to break through with the game's first runs during either occasion.
 
Villanova (3-5) received seven innings of work from Ryan Doty, who allowed five hits while registering four strikeouts and three walks. Offensively, the Wildcats' best inning took place during the seventh, when Pat O'Neill's one-out single moved Josh Kim into scoring position. However, Mellen successfully closed the door by ringing up both Chris Rotondo and JP Radvany with back-to-back strikeouts.
 
Mellen's 13 strikeouts are the most by a Northeastern pitcher since April 19, 2015, when James Mulry struck out 13 batters against NYIT at Friedman Diamond (NU lost, 2-0). Combined with Stiehl's three strikeouts, the Huskies' 16 strikeouts on Sunday against Villanova are also the most that an NU staff has recorded during a nine-inning game since April 19, 2015, against NYIT (18). Northeastern's pitchers did combine to throw 23 strikeouts during the team's 19-inning affair against James Madison on March 25, 2016.

With Sunday's victory, the Huskies are off to their best 10-game, regular-season start since the 2009 season, when Northeastern won also won seven of its first 10 games.
 
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Northeastern will play for perfection at the 2018 Snowbird Classic on Tuesday, March 6, against Georgetown. First pitch between the Huskies and the Hoyas is scheduled for 4 p.m.