BROOKLINE, Mass. – In the final two games of the weekend series, the Northeastern Huskies (32-7, 13-5 CAA) collected a double header sweep of the Hofstra Pride (17-22, 9-12 CAA) on Saturday at Friedman Diamond. The two wins gave Northeastern a weekend sweep of their CAA opponent, and their fourth and fifth wins in a row.
Northeastern tallied eight home runs on the day, three in game one, and five in game two. Homers in game one came from
Alex Lane,
Danny Crossen, and
Gregory Bozzo, and in game two Crossen and Lane repeated their performances while
Mike Sirota added one and
Cam Maldonado hit two. Starting pitchers
Eric Yost (GM 1, W, 4-0) and
Jake Gigliotti (W, 7-0) both worked deep into their outings, while
Jordy Allard (0.2, 2K) and
Patrick Harrington (3.0, 3H, R, 1BB, 2K, SV) closed the games.
GM 1 – Hofstra 5, Northeastern 14
- The Pride were the first to score in game two of the series, game one of the day, when three consecutive two-out hits scored a runner.
- Northeastern tied the game on its second batter of the game, Danny Crossen, with a shot to the left field bullpen.
- Later in the inning, an infield RBI single for Carmelo Musacchia scored Tyler MacGregor, and Spenser Smith cleared the bases with an RBI single, scoring Musacchia and Cam Maldonado to take a 4-1 lead after one.
- Hofstra would put up a tally in each of the opening three innings, cutting the lead to 4-3 by the fourth inning.
- The Husky defense held Hofstra scoreless in the fourth with a 1-2-3 inning of flyouts, and a hit-and-run from Gregory Bozzo and Luke Beckstein tallied another run in the bottom of the frame to extend the lead back to two runs, 5-3.
- After the Pride tallied another run in the sixth, Northeastern exploded for a six-run bottom of the sixth inning.
- An infield hit from Sirota, and doubles down the left side from Danny Crossen and Tyler MacGregor made way for a two-run shot from Alex Lane to center field to lead 11-4.
- Starting pitcher Eric Yost exited the game with a one-run lead that was added on to by his offense, giving him his fourth win of the season. He allowed just four runs, 11 hits, and no walks. He struck out three batters en route to the victory.
- Coming out of the bullpen was Jack Beauchesne who worked two innings, allowing just one run on three hits. He posted one walk and one strikeout.
- Crossen scored again in the eighth when he ran home on a passed ball to make it 12-4.
- The last runs of the game came in the eighth – Hofstra scored on an infield ground-out RBI to attempt to start a rally, but the Husky defense made sure that was the only run to come across.
- In the bottom of the inning, catcher Gregory Bozzo hit his first career home run, a deep line drive to left center, scoring Spenser Smith to give the final score of 14-5.
- Taking the mound in the top of the ninth was Michael Gemma, and recorded the first out of the inning. With the bases loaded, Jordy Allard made his first appearance since opening weekend and recorded the final two outs via strike out.
GM 2 – Hofstra 1, Northeastern 8
- Northeastern got on the board first with a little bit of small ball as Mike Sirota led off with a single, and made it to third on a stolen base and throwing error. He was scored by Alex Lane who beat out an infield single, to lead 1-0.
- Sirota was at it again in the third inning, belting a home run to dead center in his second at bat of the game to make it 2-0.
- In the fourth, another solo shot made it 3-0, this time it was rookie Cam Maldonado, hitting his eighth of the year and tying a rookie record for the program.
- Crossen notched his second homer of the day with a home run in the fifth, hitting a long ball in both games of the double header. He scored Mike Sirota on the play, who reached on a walk.
- In the sixth, Maldonado broke the record he tied in his previous at bat with his ninth home run as a rookie. That record beats out Rob Fonseca, who hit eight homers in his rookie season of 2012. After his two-run shot, Northeastern led 7-0.
- Starting pitcher Jake Gigliotti held Hofstra scoreless through is six innings of work – he allowed just two hits, one in the fifth and one in the sixth, and recorded a career high eight punchouts.
- After a solo home run in the eighth spoiled the shutout, Alex Lane responded in the bottom of the inning with his second of the day and 13th of the season.
- In relief, Patrick Harrington pitched the final three innings for his first save as a Husky – he allowed one earned run on three hits, one walk, and two strike outs.
The Huskies are now outscoring opponents 54-26 in the sixth inning after this weekend's series – it's the Huskies second CAA sweep of the season and fifth straight CAA series win. Northeastern improves to 14-3 at home, outscoring opponents 150-49.
Northeastern has the week off and will host Towson next weekend for a three-game series next Friday through Sunday, April 28-30. Sunday the 30
th is scheduled as the team's Senior Day.
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