BROOKLINE, Mass. – In a back and fourth contest through five innings, the Northeastern Huskies (29-11, 11-5 CAA) finally pulled away from the Elon Phoenix (17-24, 6-10 CAA) in the sixth inning to win game one of their weekend series by a final score of 11-5.
Every Husky in the final batting lineup earned a hit on the day, led by
Tyler MacGregor (3-for-4, 2 HR) and
Jimmy Sullivan (3-for-3, 2 RBI) as the Huskies pulled away in the sixth inning, tallying seven runs in the sixth through eighth innings.
- The Huskies notched the first run of the game early, after Mike Sirota reached on a single, moved to second on a single by Tyler MacGregor, to third on a steal, and scored on an RBI ground out by Alex Lane, his 63rd RBI of the year.
- After the Phoenix responded with a three-run homer in the second, the Huskies wasted no time tying the game up in the bottom of the frame. After a two-out single by Gregory Bozzo down the right field line, he took second on a failed pick-off attempt and third on a steal.
- Cam Maldonado reached on a two-out walk and stole second to put two runners in scoring position for Luke Beckstein, who ripped a single to shallow right field allowing both runners to score easily to tie the game at 3-3.
- Elon retook the lead in the fifth on a bases loaded walk, but it lasted just half an inning as the Huskies got another RBI ground-out, this time by Gregory Bozzo, to score Jack Goodman from third to tie up the game at 4-4.
- The Huskies took the lead in the sixth on a solo shot from Tyler MacGregor, his eighth of the year, to left field for the 5-4 lead.
- Northeastern added insurance with a four-run seventh inning. Carmelo Musacchia was hit by a pitch to start the inning, and stole second base. He was advanced to third by Jack Goodman on a single, and scored by Jimmy Sullivan on a single for the 6-4 lead.
- Two batters later, Cam Maldonado drove a three-run home run to deep center field, scoring Sullivan and Goodman to extend the lead to 9-4.
- In the eighth it was MacGregor hitting another opposite field solo shot, leading off the inning with the long ball to make it 10-4. Four batters later it was Sullivan adding another insurance run scoring Alex Lane from second on an RBI single.
- Left-handed pitcher Will Jones (2-1) got the win out of the bullpen working 2.1 near-perfect innings, allowing just one base runner on a walk, striking out four batters.
- The Huskies totaled 12 strikeouts with their first three pitchers, with opener Michael Gemma (2.0, 4H, 3R, 3K) and first out of the pen Jake Gigliotti (2.2, 5H, 1R, 5K) commanding the strike zone early in the contest.
- The Huskies are 21-0, 8-0 in conference play, when leading after six innings.
The two teams meet again on Saturday afternoon for Northeastern's Senior Day and Alumni Day – first pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. on FloBaseball.
