BROOKLINE, Mass. -- The Northeastern Huskies (19-15) split a home doubleheader on Saturday at Friedman Diamond, taking down the Merrimack Warriors (13-18) by a score of 9-2 in the morning before falling to the Maine Black Bears (8-22) in a 5-0 loss in the afternoon. Ryan Griffin tossed six scoreless innings to earn his fifth win in the opener, while Maine's Jason Krieger dueled with Northeastern starter Luc Rising in what was a pitcher's duel up until the later innings.
Game 1 -- Northeastern 9, Merrimack 2
- The game remained scoreless through five innings as Griffin and Merrimack starter Colby Barker matched zeroes, with the Huskies managing just one hit over the first five frames.
- Northeastern broke through in the sixth when Ryan Gerety drew a lead-off walk and Harrison Feinberg followed with a two-run home run to deep left field, his seventh of the season. Matt Brinker then launched a two-out solo shot to left to make it 3-0.
- Merrimack answered in the top of the seventh on a pair of unearned runs to cut the deficit to 3-2.
- Northeastern responded immediately in the bottom of the seventh with a five-run frame. After Anthony Ruggiero singled and was replaced by pinch runner Carter Bentley, the Huskies loaded the bases and Henry DiGiorgio drew a walk to plate Bentley for the 4-2 lead.
- Ryan Gerety followed with an RBI single to left center to score Will Fosberg, and Feinberg added a sacrifice fly to plate Tyler Harmony. Matt Brinker drew a bases-loaded walk to score DiGiorgio, and Charlie Criscola capped the inning with a sacrifice fly to center to bring home Gerety for the 8-2 advantage.
- Feinberg added a sacrifice fly in the eighth to plate Harmony again, closing out the scoring at 9-2.
- Griffin (5-0) was dominant over his six innings, allowing just three hits and no runs while striking out seven on 99 pitches. Cooper Maher covered the final three frames for his second save, surrendering one hit and striking out three.
- Feinberg finished with a homer, a sacrifice fly, and four RBI. Brinker went deep and added two RBI. Northeastern drew 10 walks and swiped three bases in the contest.
Game 2 -- Maine 5, Northeastern 0
- Maine took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on a sacrifice fly.
- Northeastern put runners in scoring position in three separate innings but was unable to cash in, going 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position. Feinberg walked twice and swiped second in the first, while Gerety singled and advanced on wild pitches in both the sixth and eighth without coming around to score.
- Luc Rising (1-4) allowed just one earned run through six innings, but a throwing error in the seventh led to an unearned run to make it 2-0.
- Maine added three more in the ninth to close out the scoring at 5-0, taking advantage of a pair of singles and a walk after a sacrifice bunt put runners on second and third.
- Rising allowed just two hits over seven innings. The shutout was the team's first scoreless game since a 10-0 loss at Grand Canyon on February 13th, the first game of the year.
- Gerety led the Northeastern offense with three singles but was stranded each time.
Maine and Merrimack will meet in a neutral-site game Sunday morning at 11:30 a.m. at Friedman Diamond before the Huskies close out the weekend with a rematch against the Black Bears at approximately 2:30 p.m.
