TAMPA, Fla. – The Northeastern Huskies (7-1) once again took down the South Florida Bulls (3-8) on Saturday afternoon at the USF Baseball Stadium, winning game two by a score of 13-8, clinching their third straight series win to start the season.
Another 10+ run performance was highlighted by rookie outfielder
Cam Maldonado who notched his first career home run and first career triple, accounting for four of the teams runs batted in.
Alex Lane (5) added in another home run, his third of the weekend, and
Mike Sirota (4) got himself a four-bagger to help the Huskies to another big offensive day.
- Northeastern got off to an early lead in game two, scoring two runs in the opening frame. A leadoff single from Mike Sirota and a hit-by-pitch to Alex Lane put two of the first three runners on base.
- After both runners moved into scoring position on a wild pitch, Danny Crossen hit a bouncing RBI single up the middle, clearing Sirota and Lane for a 2-0 lead.
- After shutting down the Bulls in the bottom of the frame, the Huskies extended the lead with a four-run top of the second. A leadoff walk from Spenser Smith turned into a prime scoring opportunity when he stole second, and advanced to third on the overthrow.
- With Smith on third, Luke Beckstein singled up the middle, scoring him easily to extend the lead to 3-0.
- After another Sirota single, Lane hit his third three-run home run of the weekend, sending one opposite field over the right field wall, to open up a 6-0 lead.
- USF answered back in the bottom of the frame with back-to-back two-out RBI doubles, to trail 6-2.
- In the top of the fourth, Sirota tallied his first homer of the weekend with Beckstein on base after his leadoff double, extending the lead to 8-2.
- The Bulls attempted a rally in the bottom of the fourth, pulling back to within two after three straight singles loaded the bases and a grand slam brought them all home.
- The teams traded runs in the fifth frame – the Huskies struck first when Maldonado hit his first career homer off the scoreboard in right-center field, a solo shot with one out. A bases loaded walk in the bottom of the inning got the run back for the Bulls with the score at 9-7.
- Northeastern was able to post another crooked number in the sixth with another career first for Maldonado – he belted his first career triple to center field with the bases loaded, scoring Jimmy Sullivan, Lane, and Tyler MacGregor to make it 12-7.
- In the top of the seventh the Huskies scored for the fourth straight inning when Sirota was hit home by MacGregor on a one-out RBI single. Sirota was moved into scoring position on his second steal of the afternoon after he was hit by a pitch to begin the inning.
- The Northeastern bullpen was able to settle in after the fifth inning, allowing just one run in the final four frames of pitching. Leading the way out of the pen was Griffin Young, who picked up his second relief win of the season and is now 2-0. He pitched 2.2 scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and one walk, ringing up four batters. He took over for Brett Dunham, who went 1.1 innings with one run allowed on three hits.
- In the eighth, the Bulls looked to rally again but were held to just one run by Patrick Harrington. Moving to the bottom of the ninth up by five runs, Charlie Walker shut the door, posting a 1-2-3 inning to secure the victory. It was his second appearance of the weekend.
- Northeastern has tallied 10 or more runs in five of its eight games this season, and have a scoring margin of +5 runs per game.
- The Huskies are still off to their best start since 2009 – that NU team started the season dropping the season opener but then stacking up seven straight wins to also start 7-1 on the season.
The final game of the weekend is scheduled for a 1 p.m. first pitch on Sunday, March 5 on ESPN+.
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