Baseball Downed by Northeastern Tuesday

Links: Box Score

BROOKLINE, Mass. – Playing one of the top programs in New England on Tuesday, the Merrimack College baseball program jumped out to a 5-0 lead over Northeastern University at Friedman Diamond in Brookline, Mass. The host Huskies recovered, however, to overcome their deficit and win the non-conference matchup by a 12-5 final.

Merrimack dropped to 12-15 while Northeastern improved to 15-6. The Warriors took a 5-0 lead into the bottom of the fourth inning, but the Huskies scored nine runs in the fourth and fifth frames to turn the game in their favor. Graduate student Stephen Fleury started for the visitors, allowing three earned runs in four innings of work.

The Basics
Score: Northeastern 12, Merrimack 5
Records: Merrimack (12-15) | Northeastern (15-6)
Location: Brookline, Mass. | Friedman Diamond

Rapid Recap

• Graduate student Joey Porricelli led the game off with a double, advanced to third on a ground out and scored on a wild pitch to stake the Warriors to a 1-0 lead. Merrimack then scored a pair of two-out runs in the third inning. Porricelli touched home for the second time on a single by sophomore Alex Haba. Haba then scored all the way from first on the next batter. Graduate student Nick Shumski singled into right field, and an error in the outfield allowed Haba to score from first to make it a 3-0 game
• Doubles from junior Kurtis Stadnicki and senior Thomas Crowley netted Merrimack its fourth run of the game. Later in the fourth inning, Crowley raced home after a RBI groundout by classmate Michael Jamele to increase Merrimack's lead to 5-0
• After throwing three scoreless innings, Fleury ran into trouble in the fourth. Northeastern totaled four hits in the inning, and benefited from a Merrimack error to score four times. Fleury limited the damage there, keeping Merrimack's lead at 5-4
• Northeastern's bats kept hitting in the fifth, however, sending 10 hitters to the plate as part of a five-run frame. The hosts tacked on three more runs over the remainder of the game, finishing with a dozen runs on the afternoon

Top Performers // Notes

• WP: Quinlivan (1-0) | LP: Collins (0-2)  
• Porricelli and Crowley tied for the team lead with two hits each
• Stadnicki joined Porricelli and Crolwey with doubles on the day. Three of Merrimack's seven hits went for two bases
• Graduate student Thomas Joyce drew one walk, tying the program record with the 88^th free pass of his career

Up Next:
Merrimack returns to conference play this weekend with three games at Fairleigh Dickinson.