MT. PLEASANT, S.C. – In the loser's bracket final of the 2023 CAA Tournament, the Northeastern Huskies (44-13) defeated the Elon Phoenix (33-22) by a score of 14-8 on Sunday afternoon at Patriots Point.
Heroic playoff performances from senior third baseman
Danny Crossen (4-for-6, HR, 5 RBI), senior shortstop
Spenser Smith (3-for-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI) and pitcher
Jake Gigliotti (W, 8-0) gave the Huskies a 12 run lead through seven innings, putting the Huskies back into the CAA Championship game.
- The Huskies struck first in the top of the first after a leadoff walk to Mike Sirota, a single from Danny Crossen, and an RBI ground out by Alex Lane to score Sirota from third.
- The Phoenix jumped on to scoreboard in the bottom frame, getting four straight hits and scoring one run, but an inning-ending double play kept the game tied at 1-1.
- After 1.2 innings, Aiven Cabral was subbed out for Jake Gigliotti – Cabral allowed four hits, one walk, and just the game-tying run, with a punch-out in 42 pitches.
- Northeastern retook the lead in the fourth inning on a leadoff, solo shot to left field by Danny Crossen, making it 2-1.
- The Huskies tallied four more hits in the inning to load the bases, ending with a one-out bunt single by Luke Beckstein.
- With two outs, Spenser Smith hit a line drive through the right side to score Beckstein and Harrison Feinberg, giving NU a 4-1 lead.
- The Huskies added another run in the fifth with a two-out RBI single by Beckstein, scoring Cam Maldonado who reached on a walk and advanced to second on a ground-out.
- Northeastern tallied another big inning in the sixth, scoring five more runs on five hits – the first came from Danny Crossen who added two more RBIs to his line with a single to right center field, scoring Tyler MacGregor and Sirota.
- After an Alex Lane single to right, Cam Maldonado rocketed a three-run home run to left center field hitting off of the video board, for the 10-run lead, 12-2.
- Crossen would add two more RBI to his line with a single through the left side in the top of the seventh, scoring Gregory Bozzo who reached on a single, and MacGregor who walked.
- The Phoenix got another run back in the eighth with a solo home run to center field, sandwiched between two strike outs from Jake Gigliotti, as he struck out three batters in the inning for a grand total of six on the day.
- Gigliotti finished his day with a career-high 6.1 innings of relief work, four hits allowed, two runs on two solo home runs, and the six strikeouts.
- The Phoenix tallied five runs in the final frame, with three homers.
- Sirota finished the day 0-for-2 but walked and scored three times each.
- The Huskies have made the CAA Championship game in four of the last five CAA tournaments.
- Fourteen runs is the most by the Huskies since April 11, 2023 when they tallied 18 against UMass.
The Huskies advance to a winner-take-all Game 10 in a rematch against the #1 seed, UNCW, at Patriots Point on Sunday evening, starting at 5 p.m. on FloBaseball and WRBB.
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