Huntington News

Issue date: 5/23/07 Section: Sports

Out of Left Field

It was only fitting that in his last at-bat as a member of the Northeastern baseball team, senior captain Dan Milano hit a home run off the scoreboard to send the game into extra innings.

The Huskies lost the second game of Saturday's double header in the 10th inning, but Milano did his best to give the Huskies the win, just as he has all season.

He set personal bests in home runs (13), RBI (48), triples (two), runs (39), total bases (111) and batting average (.337) this season and is likely to be the 30th Husky in school history to be drafted by the major leagues June 7-8.

Despite not making the playoffs this season, the Huskies made a good showing, finishing the season 24-22 (12-17 Colonial Athletic Association) in eighth place in the conference. Head coach Neil McPhee pulled together a winning season with just three seniors (Milano, pitcher Tristan Besse and infielder Garrett Chin) and a very young pitching staff after juniors Adam Ottavino and Dave Pellegrine were drafted last year.

Junior Kris Dabrowiecki emerged as the staff ace with a 7-4 record and 3.60 ERA, but was followed by a band of youngsters who showed flashes of brilliance throughout the season, led by sophomore Jeff Thomson and freshmen Ryan Quigley and Sheldon McDonald. Thomson earned CAA Co-Pitcher of the Week honors in both the opening and closing weeks of the season.

The Huskies were solid in the playoff race until a five-game slide in May crippled the season. They were out of the playoff race before they even took the field for Saturday's double header.

With the season now over, Husky fans are left without any Northeastern sports to follow. It will be a long summer until the fall sports are back in full swing. Here are some baseball moments to remember:

• The Huskies brought a Beanpot trophy to Huntington Avenue when Northeastern topped Boston College 2-0 on a rainy day at Fenway Park. NU last won the baseball Beanpot in 2002 and have captured the title four times since its inception in 1990. McDonald, Bobby Carrington, Dan Zehr and Quigley combined for the shut out, with Carrington picking up his first Husky win and Quigley notching his fifth save of the season.

• Milano set the school record for longest hitting streak, doing so in dramatic fashion with a first inning grand slam against Massachusetts in the Beanpot opener, giving him a 19-game hitting streak, which broke the mark held by former teammate Chris Emanuele.

• After two decent seasons, junior shortstop Mike Lyon showed a better eye at the plate this year and it paid off, as he posted a .321-10-33 line, all career bests.

• Chin was argubably the feel-good story of the year. After starting just one game in his first three seasons, he emerged as a regular in the lineup at second and third base down the stretch, starting 23 games and posting an impressive .416 on base percentage.

• The Huskies went on a nine-game winning streak in April, which included the Beanpot win and sweeps of Winthrop and James Madison.

• Assistant coach Greg DiCenzo resigned Monday after the season ended. His departure is a huge loss to the program as he is not only an exceptional pitching coach who has gotten the best out of stars like Ottavino and Pellegrine, but a coach the players truly connected with. It is a shame the Huskies lost a truly effective coach because he had a different coaching style than McPhee. Best of luck, Greg.

It wasn't a great season and it didn't draw much attention from Husky fans, but Northeastern always seems to pull together solid baseball teams with very little resources and this season was more of the same.

Now get out your calendars, because the football team's first game is in exactly 100 days.

- Erika Carrubba can be reached at sports@nu-news.com.

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