NEWARK, DE -- The Northeastern University baseball team once again used outstanding pitching and just enough offense to down the University of Delaware, 5-2, in a Colonial Athletic Association matchup on Saturday at Bob Hannah Stadium.

The Huskies (8-7, 3-2 CAA) received eight strong innings from their starting pitcher for the second consecutive day. Dave Pellegrine allowed six hits and one earned run over eight innings to lead the Huskies to the win. Pellegrine faced only one batter over the minimum through the first five innings. Alex Buchholz and Brandon Menchaca (right) each had two hits for the Blue Hens.

During those first five innings, Northeastern took a 2-0 lead on Delaware starter Todd Ozog. The Huskies got on the board first in the second inning when Josh Porter’s single with two on brought home the first run of the game. Northeastern added a run on Brian Nutter’s solo home run to lead off the third.

Despite the efforts of Pellegrine, the Blue Hens (10-9, 0-5 CAA) were held in the game by Ozog and outstanding defense. Ozog battled his way through 6.1 innings, allowing four earned runs and striking out five before yielding way to Evan Bowen, who appeared in his 10th game out of the Hens’ last 12. Ozog and Bowen also combined to induce five double plays from the Huskies, three on ground balls, one on a line drive and one on a flyout to right in which rightfielder Dan Richardson gunned down Husky centerfielder Chris Emanuele attempting to tag up and advance to third base.

The Blue Hens best chance to climb back into the game was in the sixth when, trailing 5-0 and after recording two outs, the Hens loaded the bases on a hit batsmen, a walk and an infield single. However, Pellegrine was able to force Bryan Hagerich to fly out to left field to get out of the inning unscathed.

The Hens ended a string of 16 consecutive scoreless innings aginst Northeastern in the eighth when Buchholz drove home Richardson on a two out single to center. The Hens loaded the bases in the ninth off of Northeastern reliever Trevor Smith, but were only trim the lead by one run.

Pellegrine pitched eight strong innings to get the win and even his record at 2-2, while Ozog took the loss for Delaware to fall to 3-2. The 0-5 start to conference play for the Blue Hens ties the school record for worst conference start, matching the 2004 team that eventually advanced to the CAA championship game.

The two teams will meet again tomorrow at 1 p.m. for the series finale of the three game set when Kris Dabrowiecki will take the mound for Northeastern against Chad Kerfoot for the Blue Hens.

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