BROOKLINE, Mass. – On Thursday, the Northeastern Huskies used an eight-run inning to pull away from the North Carolina A&T baseball team in a lopsided Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) win.
On Friday, they used a six-run sixth inning to hold off a late charge from the Aggies in a close CAA contest that the Huskies won 8-6 at Friedman Diamond. The win gives the Huskies, the 2025 CAA regular-season champions, their 23rd straight win. They improved to 44-9 overall and 24-2 in league play.
The Aggies got another home run from another one of their outstanding freshmen, this time it was Bruce Wyche, but they dropped to 15-36 overall and 9-17 in the CAA. Junior Andrew Tinsley went 3-for-4, scored a run and drove in another. In addition to Wyche's home run, the Aggies received three additional base hits, all doubles, as freshmen JT Taylor, Tyler Smith and Tinsley performed the feats.
Before Northeastern's sixth inning, the Aggies were able to tie the game 2-2 in the visitors' fifth with a two-out rally. With one out, junior Nick DiCarlo singled and stole second base before a ground out gave the Aggies a runner in scoring position with two outs for sophomore Jason Campo. Campo brought DiCarlo home on an 0-1 pitch that he singled down the right field line.
Wyche followed with a single off Northeastern's right-handed starter Aiven Cabral (W, 10-2), but Cabral got Smith to hit a groundball back to the mound, which led to the inning's third out. A&T RHP Diego Barrett, who entered the game in the Northeastern first with one out, was still on the mound in the fifth.
Barrett gave up a one-out double but escaped the inning without further damage. A&T senior RHP Carter Daniels (L, 1-3) went to the bump to open the Huskie sixth and walked the first two batters he faced, leading to junior RHP Matt Murtagh taking over. Murtagh got Carmelo Musacchia to pop out for the first out of the inning. But Harrison Feinberg stole third and Matt Binker followed with an RBI single to score Feinberg and give the Huskies the lead back at 3-2.
However, a fly out to right by Jack Doyle put the Aggies closer to getting out of the inning, trailing by only one run. A four pitch walk to Alex Lane to load the bases and Gregory Bozzo's two-run single on a 3-2 pitch ended those hopes for the Aggies as the Huskies took a 5-2 lead.
Another walk loaded the bases again, and the Aggies paid a steep price this time. Cam Maldonado hit a three-run double to left field to give the Huskies a six-run lead. Murtagh struck out Feinberg to end the inning.
Despite the deficit, the Aggies did not give up against the No. 1 team in the CAA. Northeastern replaced Cabral with RHP Jack Beauchesne to open the A&T seventh. Senior Kristian Amaro and DiCarlo greeted Beauchesne with back-to-back singles. Senior Enrique Wood replaced DiCarlo on the base paths after Wood hit into a force play that forced out DiCarlo.
Amaro advanced to third on the play. That led to Campo grounding out to shortstop, allowing Amaro to score to cut Northeastern's advantage to 8-3. Wyche cut into that lead even further when he blasted his ninth home run of the season. His ninth homer of the season landed over the right-field wall to bring the Aggies to within three, 8-5.
RHP Cooper McGarth replaced Beauchesne and gave up a double to Smith before Taylor popped out to end the frame. It didn't stop the Aggies from kickstarting another rally in the visitors' eighth. Tinsley led off with a double and moved to third on a groundout by freshman Savoi Edwards. Amaro brought Tinsley home on an RBI sacrifice fly to cut the Huskies lead to 8-6.
After RHP Mekai Griffin retired the Huskies in order in the eighth, the Huskies coaching staff turned to RHP Brett Dunham (S, 3) to close out the Aggies. Dunham struck out the first two batters he faced and got Wyche to fly out to center to end the game.
The Aggies had a fight-back mentality throughout the game. After Maldonado homered in the first, the Aggies tied the game in the fourth with an RBI single from Tinsley. Musacchia homered in the bottom half of the fourth, leading to Campo tying the game in the fifth.
Saturday's series finale starts at 1 p.m. from Friedman Diamond.
