Historic Huskies baseball season continues into the NCAA Tournament
This historic season marks the Huskies’ first ever back-to-back CAA Championships, and the first consecutive appearances in the NCAA Tournament since 1972 and 1973.
Photo by Alexa Tretola for Northeastern University
The Northeastern baseball team heads into the NCAA Tournament this weekend playing the best it has all season, having won 18 of its past 22 games.
The Huskies punched their ticket to the national tournament by winning the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Championships last weekend in Wilmington, N.C., running off four consecutive victories after losing their first game. This was just the fourth time in CAA conference history that a team won the tournament after losing its first game.
The NCAA Tournament appearance is a monumental milestone for the baseball program. This historic season marks the Huskies’ first ever back-to-back CAA Championships, and the first consecutive appearances in the NCAA Tournament since 1972 and 1973. It’s the 12th time in program’s history that Northeastern has made the NCAA Tournament.
Northeastern Head Coach Mike Glavine pointed to the team’s unbreakable resolve, built slowly and steadily throughout a season that started 0-5 with multiple double-digit losses.
“I’m really proud of this team,” Glavine said. “They’re a tough group. They’re resilient. They have grit. They never gave in.”
Northeastern (38-20) will now face the Kansas Jayhawks (42-16) in its first game of the NCAA Tournament on Friday. The game begins at 1 p.m. EST, on ESPN+.
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Kansas is hosting one of 16 regionals to open the NCAA Tournament. Each regional field features four teams, playing in a double-elimination format. Following Friday’s game, Northeastern will play again on Saturday in either the winners’ or elimination bracket in their regional. That game will be against either Arkansas or Missouri State, who are slated to play each on Friday.
The Huskies would advance to the regional’s championship round on Sunday night if they win twice between Friday afternoon and Sunday afternoon; if after Sunday’s championship game both teams remaining only have one loss each, they would play again on Monday to determine the winner of the regionals.
A historic season continues
Fittingly, the Huskies path in the CAA Championships mirrored their regular season—a challenging start, and a thrilling surge to finish. Despite only a handful of position players and starting pitchers returning to the Northeastern team this season, Glavine said there were plenty of positive signs amid early season struggles to find its footing.
Northeastern went 1-1 against defending national champions Louisiana State University during a stretch in February and March when the Huskies won nine of 11 games.
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Despite the win-loss record, Glavine said the players never wavered in their work ethic and attitude. He described the team as a “close-knit group,” hailing the Huskies’ seniors who guided the team as it worked to find its footing early on.
“We have a great leadership group, and we really needed it this year,” he said.
The Huskies’ season turned in mid-April, when some changes to the lineup and early-season experience sparked a torrid .818 win percentage down the stretch. In the CAA Championships, Northeastern got key contributions up and down the lineup and on the mound. Redshirt senior Harrison Feinberg, playing through injury, hit a huge game-tying home run. Senior Luc Rising struck out 11 batters in an elimination game. Junior Ryan Gerety hit the walk-off single to propel Northeastern into the NCAA Tournament.
“After that first loss (to Hofstra in the CAA Tournament), we knew we had what it took to win four in a row to take home the championship,” Feinberg told WBZ-TV’s Dan Roche earlier this week. “I think it was everyone coming together and just doing their part and just knowing that if we played the game we could, then we were going to win it.”
The Huskies will need continued strong play against the formidable Kansas Jayhawks, the No. 15 national seed. Kansas won its conference, the Big 12, title outright this season with 22 victories, a school record. The Jayhawks hit 102 home runs this season, ranked 16th nationally. By comparison, Northeastern hit 58.
“They’re an awesome team,” Glavine said. “Now it’s just about us. We can’t change who we are. We need to embrace the underdog role.”
