AMHERST, Mass. – In the consolation round of the 32
nd Baseball Beanpot, Northeastern (26-6) defeated UMass (4-20) by a score of 18-11 at Earl Lorden Field on Tuesday afternoon.
Freshman right fielder
Cam Maldonado (5-for-6) had a day for the record book as he hit for the cycle with a bonus double, and a team-high six RBI. Both
Tyler MacGregor (4-for-6) and
Matt Brinker (1-for-3) added in three more RBI each. On the mound,
Jake Gigliotti (W, 5-0) rebounded from a four-run opening inning and kept UMass off the scoreboard for the rest of his appearance, as his offense supported him with a big third inning.
- The Huskies took the lead in the first inning on a two-out rally by Danny Crossen with a single, Alex Lane with a walk, a double steal to put them both in scoring position, and an RBI double down the left field line by Cam Maldonado.
- An RBI double from UMass in the bottom of the inning tied the game, and an immediate RBI single gave UMass its first lead of the contest, leading after one inning.
- Northeastern surged back in the top of the third with three straight hits to lead off the inning – Mike Sirota sent a single to left field, Tyler MacGregor sent him to third with a double, and Danny Crossen scored Sirota from third on a double.
- After a sac-fly from Alex Lane tied the game up at 4-4, Cam Maldonado hit an absolute no-doubter over the right field wall to take a 6-4 lead.
- The Huskies upped their lead with a sac-fly from Matt Brinker, scoring Carmelo Musacchia who had just stolen third base during the at-bat. Northeastern led 7-4 after five runs on five hits in the third.
- Maldonado recorded his fifth RBI of the afternoon as he hit a two-out RBI double in the fourth inning to score MacGregor for the 8-4 lead.
- Another two-out rally saw Tyler MacGregor belt his 10th homer of the season over the left center field hedges, scoring Matt Brinker and Sirota, both of whom walked earlier in the inning, to make it 11-4.
- After a six-run sixth inning for the Minutemen cut the lead down to two runs, Northeastern answered back in the top of the seventh with four more runs, capped off by a two-out two-RBI double from Matt Brinker.
- Two more runs came across in the top of the ninth, the first of which was Cam Maldonado, who completed his cycle with a leadoff triple. He was scored by Musacchia on an RBI double, and Musacchia was scored on a sac-fly by Spenser Smith.
- Gigliotti ended the day with four innings pitched, allowing just the four runs and four hits in the first inning – he walked two batters and struck out one.
- Griffin Young was solid out of the bullpen with 2.1 innings of relief. He allowed one unearned run on three hits, no walks, and struck out two batters.
- The win marks the second season in a row where Northeastern finished third in the Baseball Beanpot.
The Huskies head to Stony Brook this weekend for a three-game series with the Seawolves. The series begins Friday, April 14 at 3 p.m. on FloBaseball.
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