Northeastern Whacks Six Home Runs to Beat UMass Lowell 15-2

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The best college baseball team in New England showed up at Lelacheur Park on Tuesday afternoon. The Northeastern Huskies (35-15) demonstrated why fans of the sport may think of them in that way. They can hit, pitch a little, and play defense. Are they a complete team? no they are not, however their RPI of 35 at least put them in the conversation for a spot in the field of 64 in June.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Huskies did some pitching and a lot of hitting. They hit six HRs, none of them cheap and four pitchers combined on a four-hitter as the Huskies took care of the UMass Lowell River Hawks (22-28) 15-2. Head coach Nick Barese of UMass Lowell called it a “Complete no show.” He did not like the way his team pitched, hit, or played defense (three errors). Basically there was nothing about the River Hawks performance that the coach viewed as acceptable. One of those good moments came in the second inning. Anthony Marcano, serving as the DH, stroked a two-run home run over 400 FT to center field, his first of the year. The blast would give the River Hawks their only lead of the day at 2-1 after two innings. The bomb came off of Huskies starting pitcher Will Jones, who other than that pitch, was very good on the day.

UMass Lowell trotted out Frankie Venezia (2-3) in a starting role. He would go three innings, allowing five hits, and three runs, two of which were earned, walked two and struck out four. He, like those that would follow him, was hurt by the home run ball. Up 2-1, Venezia gave up a 2-run shot to former River Hawks catcher Jimmy Sullivan to right field. The HR was the first of the year and at the time, it gave the Huskies a 3-2 lead in the third.

Northeastern added another run in the fifth on the first of two HR’s by Tyler MacGregor (4-for-6, 4 RS, 4 RBI). His blast off of Kevin Zarnoch found the trees behind the right field wall. That made it a 4-2 game. The Huskies busted the game wide open in the sixth with a four-spot that included two home runs off of LHP pitcher LJ Keevan. The first home run was belted by Matt Brinker, his fourth of the year, to left. Later, an RBI double by MacGregor down the right field line scored two more. Cam Maldonado also doubled to right field driving home two more. The Huskies batted around in the inning and scored four times to make the score 8-2 Northeastern.

While the Huskies were scoring runs, Jones was pitching very well. His line of six innings, two hits, two earned runs, zero walks and six strikeouts tell his story. He would finish his outing retiring the last 12 River Hawks batters he faced. He got the win and is now 3-2 on the year. Northeastern tacked on two more runs in the eighth. MacGregor went deep again this time to dead center field off the batting eye. He now has 19 home runs and 73 RBI on the season. The HR came from James Capellupo. A sac-fly added another run off Kevin Rourke to make it a 10-2 game. The Huskies added five more runs in the ninth just to make their point off Dylan Bedder. He would give up the final two home runs of the afternoon. The first was to Mike Sirota, a 2-run HR to right center that cleaned the top of the scoreboard. Then Sullivan (2-for-6, 2 RS, 5 RBI) ended the day in style with a 3-run bomb to right. The final score from Lelacheur Park was Northeastern 15 UMass Lowell 2.

The River Hawks have two more games left in the regular season. They will play a doubleheader on Thursday afternoon vs Marist.