By Jake Fischer

On Monday, the Northeastern Huskies baseball team descended on Fenway Park in search of the school’s sixth baseball Beanpot championship. Standing in their way was the University of Massachusetts Minutemen, also searching for their sixth Beanpot banner, but the Huskies were able to overcome a two-run deficit and take home the 2013 title, 6-3.

“It was a very emotional win in the sense of everything collectively,” head coach Neil McPhee said. “It’s Boston, it’s Fenway and given the moment of what occurred a couple of weeks ago at the Marathon, then you top it off with a win. It can’t get any better than that.”

Dawning special red jerseys with the number 617 on the back, Northeastern took the storied Boston diamond looking to make history. The jerseys were worn in support of the “Boston Strong” movement and will be auctioned off at a later time to support the Boston Marathon.

“Coach [Mike] Glavine made it work and the players got their jerseys today at noon. Their reaction was just incredible,” McPhee said.

Sophomore Isaac Lippert started the championship game on the hill for the Huskies, but allowed two runs on four hits in the three innings of work. Fortunately for Northeastern, junior Matt Cook took the mound at the top of the fourth inning and the boys from Huntington Avenue took control of the contest.

“It’s nice to, especially get the win, but just to play in Fenway Park, you know, a beloved park of New England,” Cook, a product of Hamilton, Mass., said. “I just wanted to throw strikes and get some quick outs so the guys could go in there and do what they did behind the plate.”

Cook threw four scoreless innings after he relieved Lippert and earned the win thanks to an eruption from the Huskies lineup in the bottom of the fourth. That combination ultimately propelled the Huskies to their championship.

Down 2-0, Rob Fonseca belted a homer over the green monster to put the Huskies on the board, but the team wasn’t finished.  Pete Castoldi doubled off of the monster to drive in Michael Foster. Sean Lyons flied out to right and drove in John Puttress. Castoldi then scored on a wild pitch to cap of the scoring spree.

“It was an awesome feeling, you know? A feeling I will never forget,” Fonseca said. “My first at bat I had a little anxiety in me, but once I calmed down a little, I had a 2-0 count and I was just looking for a fastball and I got it.”

Second baseman Michael Foster, who has seen a lot of action on the mound as of late, picked up his first save of the season. The sophomore struck out five in the final two innings of the contest.

With the Beanpot championship now back where it belongs, the Huskies can refocus their attention towards securing the sixth and final spot in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) tournament.

“We have a big weekend coming up against UNC Wilmington and we definitely want to take two out of three at least from them,” Fonseca said. “They’re a team that’s Top 30 in the nation so it would be huge to be able to do that.

This article can also be found in The Huntington News.

WRBB Sports The Dog Pound

On the last show of the year Ben, Jack, Ryan and Joe do a postmortem examination of sorts on Northeastern’s 2012-13 season and get into their NCAA picks in the second half of the show.

(Note: Please excuse the little skip in the audio towards the end of the show. There was a problem with the recording at about 47 minutes.)

WRBB Sports Audio

WRBB Sports Audio, Hockey

While the Huskies missed out on the NCAA tournament, the season is not over as Northeastern will tip-off N.I.T. action tonight against Alabama. It is just the second time the Huskies take on the Crimson Tide in program history and the third time the Huskies play in the N.I.T.

Just like the Huskies, Alabama is well rounded when it comes to their scoring. They’re led by a high-scoring backcourt made up of Trevor Releford (15.4 ppg) and Trevor Lacey (11.7 ppg) so it can be expected that coach Bill Coen will be relying on his co-captains to keep constant pressure on the two Trevor’s by looking for their shot.

Aside from Jon Lee and Joel Smith, sophomore Reggie Spencer will also have a good match-up in this one as he goes up against a fellow Alabama native, Rodney Cooper.

Cooper leads the Roll Tide in rebounds per game with five and while he lacks height (similar to Spencer), the sophomore makes up for it in his 215 pounds worth of strength.

However, Alabama doesn’t rely on Cooper to do all the dirty work inside; just like Northeastern they rebound as a team.

Five players on the Roll Tide average four or more rebounds, so the Huskies will have to make sure they can match Alabama body for body, especially when in their zone defense.

Lastly, the Huskies will have to make sure they prevent turnovers against Alabama, something that plagued them in their first half against James Madison.

The Roll Tide average 8.4 steals a game and force 14 turnovers a game, so if the Huskies have hopes of getting an actual flow in their offense and not finding themselves down by 20 with 4 minutes to go in the first, they’ll have to start with protecting the ball.

Should be a good one and if sophomore Quincy Ford can make up for his 0-point performance in the CAA championship with a big night, an upset alert may be warranted.

Zolan Kanno-Youngs The Dog Pound

WRBB will not be providing coverage of Northeastern vs. Alabama in the NIT. Please see the following note from WRBB’s Sports Director.

At WRBB, we take great pride in the fact that we are the flagship station for Northeastern men’s basketball. I believe that our commitment to bringing you the high-quality coverage you deserve is unmatched among student media outlets. Over the past few seasons, this steadfast commitment has lead us to places such as Mexico, Hawaii, Alaska and Louisiana to bring you Huskies basketball.

We are very fortunate to have the opportunity and means to be able to provide such extensive coverage. Unfortunately, that coverage will not extend to Northeastern’s first-round NIT match-up against Alabama. Our commitment may be never-ending, but WRBB’s budget is not, and last-minute flights to Tuscaloosa was just a bridge too far.  We hope to be able to provide coverage of additional rounds, should Northeastern advance.

Thank you for your continued support of WRBB Sports and Northeastern Athletics. As always, Go NU.

- Ben Horner

The game can be seen on ESPN2 at 9 p.m. on Tuesday, March 19

WRBB Sports Basketball

On this week’s HETW, Ben and Ryan discuss Jack Parker’s decision to retire as well as their lasting impressions of the man, before breaking down this weekend’s Hockey East Quarterfinals.

WRBB Sports The Dog Pound

Northeastern’s Bill Coen and Jonathan Lee

James Madison

Zolan Kanno-Youngs Audio, Basketball, Press Pass

Belief, that is what in the end, helped the Huskies come back from the biggest deficit they had faced all year. Trailing 30-7 with 3:36 left to go in the first half, it looked as if the Huskies just didn’t have it in what was their most important game of the year. Plenty of people will say that by having eight days off they would come out rusty, but in the first half they just looked outclassed, by a George Mason team that clearly remembered the two losses they suffered at the hands of these Huskies. The last one, a twenty point manhandling in Matthews.

The Patriots started off with 13 straight points, but Northeastern was taking shots that were within their offense, they just wouldn’t fall. Reggie Spencer had some open layups he would normally hit and Joel Smith, the leading scorer for this team started 0-5 from the field. Northeastern has relied on their defensive pressure to start their offense up, but the Patriots did a great job of finishing their plays and getting back on defense. They clearly believed that they were the better team and deserved to win in front of a crowd that was decidedly pro-George Mason, probably because the school is over 400 miles closer to Richmond. Even with the crowd cheering for GMU, the N-Zone did a fantastic job making their voices heard.

The real turning point had to have been a questionable technical foul call on the team after a clear shot clock violation on George Mason that the referee’s did not call. That technical seemed to band the Huskies together and light the fire that was missing in the first 16+ minutes. After that technical the Huskies went on a 26-2 run between the two halves. The bench got so pumped up that the referees had to go over and remind them to remain calm.

However, the Patriots continued to work and did not allow the Huskies a lead until Joel Smith hit a three with 8:29 left to go to make it 52-51. The Huskies would only see the lead one more time until Jon Lee scored the game-winning basket with three seconds left to go. Jon was able to use a hesitation move to drive right by Bryon Allen on the right side and hit the scoop layup that sent the Husky faithful into a frenzy. Allen had been doing the same thing to Lee all game, but was unable to stay in front of the senior co-captain, and got zero help from his big men down low.

It was a game that proved once and for all that this Northeastern team trusts their system and coach to lead them out of any deficit. Jon and Joel did their parts leading the way by each scoring 14 points and Demetrius Pollard came off the bench and scored 13, including a huge three that gave the Huskies 7 points with 4:19 left to go in the first half.  Qunicy Ford also finished in double figures with 10 points. Last but not least Reggie Spencer finished with eight points, and struggled from the line, nonetheless he was invaluable at the top of the press, a change from David Walker who usually is the focal point. He ran more than I have ever seen and was the epitomized hustle points.

Meanwhile for George Mason it was junior Bryon Allen who led the way with 20 points and kept the Patriots in it with some clutch points. Four other players had double figures for Paul Hewitt’s club. Jonathon Arledge, Sherrod Wright, and Vertrail Vaughns all had ten, and Marko Gujanicic finished with 12 off the bench.

Northeastern will play in the Championship match tonight at 7:00 pm against James Madison.

b.challener The Dog Pound

Northeastern’s home slate sputtered to a close with a 4-2 loss to Boston University on Senior Night at Matthews Arena. Cody Ferriero and Adam Reid were the Husky goal-scorers.

WRBB Sports Audio, Hockey, QuickCast