By Nate Owen, News Staff

‘ It’s the middle of a new season for the baseball team, but some things haven’t changed.
The Huskies had’ home games at’ Friedman Diamond postponed due to the weather Monday and Tuesday, a price that comes with the territory of being a northern baseball program.
No makeups have been announced for the two games and Northeastern (10-7) will now head into its second Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) series when they travel to Hofstra this weekend.
NU lost two of three games at reigning CAA champ James Madison this weekend. Senior co-captain and catcher Frank Pesanello’s eighth inning single Sunday allowed the Huskies to squeak out of Virginia with a tally in the win column.
‘Pitching, the middle of the order, and good defense basically won today’s game,’ head coach Neil McPhee said following Sunday’s win. ‘We know that’s how were going to win games.’
So far that pitching has been the strength of the team. Through 17 games, NU boasts a 3.31 team ERA, tops in the CAA and 17th in the nation.
With junior Ryan Quigley (1-2, 4.56). senior co-captain Jeff Thomson (1-3, 7.20), sophomore Les Williams (0-0 3.60) and senior Trevor Smith (1-1, 3.71) the Huskies have four pitchers who have proven themselves capable to start and win weekend games.
The Huskies have gotten solid midweek pitching as well. Sophomore JT Ross (1-0 0.69) has been outstanding in his two starts, including holding ACC opponent Boston College to just one earned run in his seven innings of work last Tuesday.
‘ The bullpen too, has shown depth and has either helped the Huskies shorten games, or kept the other team in check until NU could scrap across a run.
Senior Dan Zehr (2-0) leads the CAA with a 1.31 ERA and has 21 strikeouts in 20 1/3 innings. Fellow classmate Russ Lloyd has not been scored upon out of the ‘pen in his six appearances, and junior Charly Bashara, who was in line to start Tuesday, has a 3-0 record with a 1.10 ERA in 16 1/3 innings. Freshman Andrew Leenhouts (1.86) has been impressive in his four outings.
‘ ‘The bullpen and the depth of the staff is really coming into play early in the season,’ McPhee said following NU’s home-opening loss to BC March 17. ‘Hopefully that bodes well for the rest of the season, particularly in conference.’
However, the young season has shown that the Huskies will need to get more production from top to bottom in their lineup, particularly with men on base. As a team, they are hitting just .240 with runners in scoring position, a number boosted by senior third baseman Mike Tamsin’s impressive .407 mark. Help should be on the way in the coming weeks, as the return of junior outfielders Tony DiCesare and Frank Compagnone from injuries looms.
‘With two experienced hitters like Tony and Comp, we’re very anxious to get them back,’ McPhee said Sunday. ‘Having those two guys should give us a much better chance; we just can’t seem to sustain any kind of a rally right now.’
McPhee said yesterday that Compagnone was cleared by the team doctor and was waiting to hear from Dr. James Andrews on the status of his knee, which required ACL surgery.
The Huskies’ upcoming weekend against Hofstra provided a matchup, which on paper, the Huskies should be favored to win. The Pride are 2-13 this season and were swept at UNC Wilmington this past weekend. As a team, Hofstra is second to last in the CAA in batting average (.268) and dead last in ERA with a hefty 10.91 mark as a team. Despite this, McPhee pointed out the difficulty the Pride have given the Huskies over the years.
‘Hofstra always, always gives us trouble, no matter what their record is,’ McPhee said.’ ‘We need to take advantage or at least win the weekend. [If we win the weekend], we won’t be in a catch-up situation with the rest of the conference. That’s what our goal is.’
Third baseman Matt Prokopowicz’ (.321-1-15) has been one of the bright spots so far for Hofstra. The junior was named to the All-CAA third team last season and was named’ one of the top 50 players to watch in 2009 by the College Baseball Blog.
Quigley will start the series for the Huskies on Friday, facing Rob Kumbatovic (1-2, 6.14), while Thomson faces Brody Fontaine (0-3 12.00) Saturday, and Williams will take the mound against Nick Panzarella (0-2, 9.72) on Sunday.