PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. – In their series finale, the Northeastern Huskies (5-1) took down the Indiana State Sycamores (2-5) in extra innings by a score of 8-7 on Sunday afternoon at Centennial Park.
The Huskies rallied from an early deficit, and were able to overcome the Sycamores tying the game up in the eighth inning. A clutch pitching performance from bullpen arm
Patrick Harrington (W, 1-0), and a go-ahead RBI triple in the 11th inning by
Danny Crossen helped the Huskies to a series sweep.
- Despite the Husky defense stranding runners early in the contest, Indiana State got on the board first after a three-run bottom of the third, on two RBI base hits and sac-fly.
- Northeastern responded in the next inning with a run of their own on an RBI single by Harrison Feinberg, scoring Alex Lane from third.
- The Sycamores plated another in the bottom of the fourth, on an RBI single to right-center field.
- Northeastern had a big five-run inning rally in the fifth, starting with a Gregory Bozzo leadoff single. With one out, Mike Sirota hit his third home run of the weekend over the center field wall, cutting the lead to one run, 3-4.
- After Lane and Tyler MacGregor were both hit by pitches, Danny Crossen hit a 0-2 count over the left field wall for his second homer of the weekend, giving the Huskies the lead, 6-4.
- ISU plated a run in the seventh on an RBI single, and a game-tying home run and go-ahead RBI triple in the eighth gave the Sycamores a 7-6 lead.
- Leading off the top of the ninth was Spenser Smith, who hit a solo shot over the right-center field wall for his first four-bagger of the year, tying the game at 7-7
- A shutdown inning from Patrick Harrington in the bottom of the ninth sent the game to extras.
- No one crossed the plate until the top of the 11th when Lane reached base on a hit-by-pitch, and the next hitter was Crossen, who belted an RBI triple to right-center field to retake the lead, 8-7.
- Harrington was faced with a two-runners-on situation with no outs, on first and third. He tallied the first out via strikeout, and got a 6-4-3 double play to end the game in the bottom of the 11th.
- The Northeastern pitching staff combined for another 14 strikeouts on the afternoon – Harrington led the way with five, getting his first D1 win (3.0 IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB).
- Other huge bullpen arms were Brett Dunham (2.0, 2H, 0R, 1BB, 1K), Nick Davis (1.1, 1H, 1R, 1BB, 2K) and Griffin Young (1.2, 3H 2R, 1BB, 3K).
- The Huskies have now won four games in a row, winning back to back series' to open the season.
- At 5-1, the Huskies are in their best start to a season under Mike Glavine, winning five of their first six games.
Northeastern heads back to Florida this coming weekend, with a three-game series against the University of South Florida starting this Friday, March 3, 2023 at 6:30 p.m.
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