Photo Courtesy of Mark Campbell

Boxscore

BROOKLINE, Mass. – Senior Jeff Thomson fired a complete game effort to shut down the Blue Hens and help lead Northeastern to a three-game sweep over the University of Delaware baseball team with a 3-1 victory on Sunday afternoon at the Friedman Diamond.

Thomson finished the game with 11 strikeouts and scattered five hits to guide Northeastern (26-20, 11-10 CAA) to its first conference sweep of the season. It also marked the first time Delaware has been swept since dropping three straight to James Madison last year.

Carlos Alonso (at right) was the bright spot for Delaware (23-18, 8-10) as the team’s star third baseman went 2-for-3 and scored the Hens’ lone run. He has now reached base safely in all 41 games this season.

Northeastern struck early as Matt Miller, the team’s lead-off hitter, tripled to right center to open the bottom half of the first. Two batters later, Mike Tamsin poked a ground ball to short that chased in the first run of the game.

In the third, the Huskies padded their early lead as Miller and Tamsin once again spearheaded the rally. After Miller beat out an infield single, he quickly moved to third on a hit by Frank Compagnone and came around on a sacrifice fly by Tamsin.

The very next inning, Northeastern added an insurance run when Frank Pesanello led off the fourth with a solo shot to right. The home run marked the 38th of his career, which set a new school record.

With the Husky offense doing its job early, Thomson continued to look sharp against the Blue Hen lineup. Through the first five innings of play, the senior right-hander kept the visitors quiet, limiting them to just three hits during that span. He also struck out five straight batters at one point before Delaware finally got on the board in the sixth.

After Alonso was hit by a pitch to snap the strikeout streak, Ryan Cuneo slammed a ground rule double to right. Chris Nehl followed with an RBI single to center that plated Alonso. Unfortunately, that was all the team could muster as Thomson struck out the final two batters of the frame to end the threat.

From then on, Thomson cruised. He eventually retired the side in order during each of the final three innings to earn his sixth win of the season.

Rich O’Donald (4-3) took the loss despite having another strong outing. The freshman ace tossed his team-leading third complete game of the season, striking out six over eight innings of work. He also scattered seven hits and walked one.

Despite the setback, the Blue Hens still have life in their quest to reach the Colonial Athletic Association tournament. The team will wrap up its non-conference slate on Tuesday with a 3 p.m. showdown against Maryland before kicking off a crucial series with VCU on Thursday to cap the regular season slate.