BROOKLINE, Mass. -- Despite a strong pitching performance from Luc Rising, the Northeastern Huskies (11-9, 6-2 CAA) fell to the Elon Phoenix (10-12, 3-5 CAA) by a score of 3-2 on Saturday afternoon at Friedman Diamond, as three Husky errors led to three unearned runs for the visitors. Elon evened the weekend series at one game apiece, holding the Huskies to just two runs on five hits.
Rising worked seven innings and did not allow an earned run, striking out six while scattering just three hits and a walk. All three Elon runs came on Northeastern miscues, as the Huskies committed errors in the third, fourth, and seventh innings.
- Northeastern struck first in the bottom of the first when Ryan Gerety singled to left and Harrison Feinberg walked. A double steal put both runners in scoring position, and Carmelo Musacchia laid down a sacrifice bunt to plate Gerety for the 1-0 lead.
- The Huskies extended the lead to 2-0 in the third after Chris Walsh walked on four pitches and Matt Brinker followed with a walk to put two on. Musacchia singled through the left side to drive in Walsh, though a pickoff ended the inning before more runs could come in.
- Elon tied it in the fourth on a pair of two-out singles after a fielding error by Walsh put the leadoff man on. A hit-by-pitch loaded the bases before back-to-back singles plated two unearned runs to knot the game at 2-2.
- Rising settled in after the fourth, retiring nine of the next 10 batters he faced through the fifth and sixth innings, striking out four in that stretch.
- Elon took the lead in the seventh when a leadoff single and a sacrifice bunt put a runner at third with one out. A throwing error on a grounder down the line allowed the go-ahead run to score, giving the Phoenix a 3-2 edge.
- Matthew Sapienza kept the Huskies in it with two scoreless innings of relief, allowing no hits while striking out three.
- Feinberg singled through the left side in the eighth and stole second to put the tying run in scoring position, but the Huskies could not bring him home.
- The Huskies went down in order in the ninth against the Elon closer, who earned his sixth save of the season.
- Rising (1-2) took the hard-luck loss despite not allowing an earned run across his seven innings. He threw 101 pitches, 66 for strikes, and induced seven groundouts.
- Musacchia drove in both Northeastern runs, finishing 1-for-3 with a sacrifice bunt and an RBI single. Feinberg swiped two bases to push his season total to 13.
- Northeastern committed three errors in the contest after committing just one in Friday's series opener -Â
The series concludes on Sunday, March 22nd at a new time of 11 a.m. at Friedman Diamond, with game three streaming on FloCollege.
