Huntington News

Issue date: 4/11/07 Section: Sports

Media Credit: News Staff File Photo/Zach Virgilio

Four was the Huskies' magic number this past week. With a 9-2 win over Holy Cross yesterday at Friedman Diamond, the Huskies pushed their winning streak to four games.

Four was also the number of times senior catcher and tri-captain Dan Milano was retired this weekend in a sweep at James Madison, going 10-14 (.714) with two home runs, eight RBIs and five runs.

For the week, he hit .667 (12-18) with three home runs, 10 RBIs and six runs scored to earn Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Week honors. With a 2-4 showing yesterday, he now has a 15-game hitting streak, just three shy of the school record.

"He's having a terrific year," said manager Neil McPhee. "He's clearly the offensive catalyst for the team ... [he's getting] a lot of two-out RBIs, that's just senior leadership, [the] captain of the team picking everybody up during the game."

With the four-game winning streak, NU upped its record to 13-9 (8-6 CAA), which pushed them from sixth to third in the conference. The Huskies were voted second in New England behind Central Connecticut by the New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association poll.

After getting tagged for seven runs against Boston College last week in his first Northeastern start sophomore Dan Zehr bounced back strong against Holy Cross (6 innings, two earned runs, six strikeouts) yesterday as the Huskies knocked off the Crusaders, 9-2, at Friedman Diamond.

Zehr led a Husky pitching corps that was on top of its game in chilly conditions. After Zehr's exit, junior reliever Bobby Carrington pitched two scoreless innings. Freshman Ryan Quigley finished the job with a one-two-three ninth inning that included two strikeouts.

"The pitching has been pretty much that way the whole season," McPhee said. "We can actually go to our bullpen, match up righties and lefties, and bring them in at various times. ... It's really helping out every starter by getting them out of the game without throwing excessive pitch counts, so it's really working well right now."

Northeastern jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second when sophomore third baseman James Donaldson ripped a two-run double down the left field line, scoring Milano and junior shortstop Mike Lyon. After Holy Cross answered with a third-inning RBI single from junior catcher Brendan Akashian, the Huskies retaliated in the fourth with a triple from Donaldson. Donaldson, who fell a home run short of the cycle, came home after redshirt freshman second baseman Bryan Roberts hit a one-out fielder's choice to make it 3-1.

Continued...

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