Northeastern lost to UNC-Wilmington, 12-6, on the second day of the NCAA Championship in Baton Rouge, La. on Saturday. With the loss, the Huskies have been knocked out of the double-elimination tournament and finish their season with a 27-24 mark. The Seahawk bats came alive early as UNC-Wilmington scored three runs in both the second and third innings and never looked on their way to pounding out 17 hits.
Down 8-0, NU scored six runs in the sixth inning to make it a two-run game, but the Seahawks responded with four unanswered runs to put the game away.
The Husky offensive was stifled early on by UNC-Wilmington starter Jake Mullins, who didn't allow a hit until the top of the fifth when freshman Chris Emanuele led off the inning with an infield single.
Northeastern had a good chance to jump on the board in the top of the second inning as Jeff Heriot and Omar Pena both reached on walks, but Arman Sidhu hit into an inning-ending double play to end the threat. UNC-Wilmington took command in the bottom half of the inning with two outs to take a 3-0 lead. Neal Eichhorn singled up the middle and moved to third on a soft single by Brad Denson. Chip Grawey then hit a ball down the right field line that landed right on the chalk of the foul line. Grawey ended up at third with a standup triple that scored Eichhorn and Denson. Matt Wright brought Grawey home with a single to right before getting caught stealing to end the inning.
Jamie Hemingway led off the third with a single for the Seahawks. He then stole second and wound up at third after catcher Matt Morizio's throw ended up in centerfield. Matt Sutton brought Hemingway in with an RBI single to right. Jason Schindler followed with a single to left, putting runners on first and second with no outs. Russ Simmerman advanced both runners with a sacrifice bunt and Aaron Smith knocked both Sutton and Schindler home with a single up the middle to make it 6-0.
A Grawey walk and a single by Wright chased NU starting pitcher Brendan Ryan in the top of the fourth. He was replaced by Jordan Thomson. Hemingway grounded into a fielder's choice, leaving runners on first and third. Sutton then hit a sacrifice fly to deep center, scoring Grawey and giving UNC-Wilmington a 7-0 lead.
The Huskies couldn't take advantage of another great opportunity in the top of the fifth when Emanuele led off the inning with NU's first hit of the game, an infield single. With two outs, Miguel Paquette hit a bloop-single just over the head of Smith at shortstop. Morizio walked to load the bases. Mike Steinberg then looked to put the Huskies right back in the game with a deep shot to rightfield, but it came up just short of the wall and was hauled in on the warning track.
UNC-Wilmington made it 8-0 in the bottom of the fifth as Eichhorn tripled off the wall in left-centerfield and came home on a single by Denson that was just out of reach of a diving Emanuele.
The Huskies got on the board in the sixth, finally cracking Mullins and mounting a comeback just as they did the previous day when they trailed LSU 10-1. Brad Czarnowski reached on a walk and moved to third as Tim Bush rapped a single up the middle. With one out, Emanuele once again ignited the Husky offense, blasting a three-run homer over the wall in left-centerfield. With two outs Sidhu earned a free pass and went to second on a single to left by Paquette. Morizio platted both runners with a lined double to the gap in right-center that sent Mullins to the showers. Steinberg kept the rally alive, hitting a single to right that scored Morizio and the Huskies again proved to be resilient as they cut the deficit to 8-6. A walk to Czarnowski ended the afternoon for Seahawk reliever Thomas Benton, who only pitched to two batters. UNC-Wilmington then brought in their closer, Blake Cross, who leads the team in saves with 12. Cross got Bush to pop up in foul territory and end the inning.
A pair of Seahawk home runs in the seventh and eighth gave UNC-Wilmington some breathing room. Sutton hit a solo blast off Thomson over the wall in centerfield in the seventh and Wright connected on a three-run shot in the eighth to make it 12-6 and wrap up the scoring.
Ryan took the loss on the mound for NU, falling to 4-4 on the year.
Northeastern's Chris Emanuele was named to the Regional All-Tournament team after connecting on six hits in seven at bats over the two games, with two home runs and four RBI. His batting average of .857 led all hitters.
UNC-Wilmington fell to Tulane 8-3 on Friday night (after going into the the bottom half of the eighth tied at three), but now advances to play the loser of the LSU/Tulane contest Saturday night. The winner of the game will advance to Sunday's final round.