By Nate Owen, News Staff

In baseball, problems often have a way of working themselves out.
Have six pitchers vying for five spots in the rotation? A rough outing can fix that.
Two guys battling for a lineup spot? A prolonged slump by one player is a quick remedy to that problem.
But once again, Northeastern’s embarrassment of riches on the pitching staff proved to be an asset this weekend, as NU took two of three at Hofstra.
‘We’ve got six or seven guys that play an important role on the weekends,’ head coach Neil McPhee said of his pitching staff. ‘They’re keeping us where we are in the standings.’
The Huskies are currently fifth in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA). The top six teams make the playoffs.
But in a season that’s been headlined by pitching, the Huskies made some offensive splashes this weekend, as senior third baseman Mike Tamsin set the school record with his 228th career hit in the first inning of Saturday’s series finale, a game the Pride wound up winning 5-4 in 10 innings.
The previous hit mark was held by outfielder Chris Emanuele, who played from 2003-06.
‘To tell you the truth, right before I got up, for some reason I was nervous,’ Tamsin said. ‘I haven’t been nervous since my first college at-bat.’
Tamsin said several of his teammates told him he had tied the record after the second game of Friday’s doubleheader.
‘I took the first pitch to let myself relax, then hit the next one right up the middle,’ he said of his record-setting at bat against Hofstra starter Nick Panzarella (6 innings, five hits, three runs).
Hofstra grabbed a run in the first off sophomore Les Williams (3 innings, seven hits, three runs). NU went on top 2-1 in the second thanks to RBI singles by freshman shortstop Sam Berg and redshirt freshman right fielder Matt Miller (2-for-4).
The Pride took a 3-2 lead with two runs in the bottom of the third but the Huskies tied it up in the fourth on senior second baseman James Donaldson’s third home run of the weekend.
Williams left after three innings, but senior Trevor Smith (5 innings, no runs, five strikeouts) shut down Hofstra’s bats.
‘Les wasn’t as sharp as he was a week ago,’ McPhee said. ‘His pitch count was high, he had a lot of five, six pitch at bats. He wasn’t pitching poorly, but his pitch count was up there. Trevor has just dominated the role he’s playing, he’s been giving us four or five innings at a time, he’s been phenomenal.’
Northeastern took a fleeting 4-3 lead in the top of the tenth when Miller scored on a balk by Jeff Guthridge.
But the Pride (3-15,1-5 CAA) scored two in the bottom half to emerge victorious. Senior Dan Zehr (2-1, 1.74) took the loss, while Guthridge (2-1, 3.77) got the win.
The Huskies and Pride played a doubleheader Friday due to a poor weather forecast later in the weekend. Junior Ryan Quigley (2-2, 3.41) was superb in game one, tossing eight scoreless innings while striking out seven.
‘Quigs pitched a terrific game,’ McPhee said. ‘Each game he’s getting better and better. He’s really doing what we’re hoping a Friday starter will do.’
Northeastern could only muster three hits off Pride starter Brody Fontaine (0-4 8.05) but a solo home run by Donaldson in the second would prove to be all they needed.
Senior Russ Lloyd and freshman Andrew Leenhouts combined to pitch the ninth, with Leenhouts getting his second save of the season.
‘He’s been so effective coming out of the bullpen that it’s almost becoming a necessity [to get him innings],’ McPhee said of Leenhouts, adding that the rookie could get some starts, be it during the week or on the weekend.
While the first game was a pitchers’ duel, game two saw the Huskies smash their way to a 14-3 win.
Tamsin, Donaldson, Berg and junior first baseman Brendan Stokes all went deep for NU. Berg’s blast was the first of his collegiate career.
Overall, the Huskies recorded 19 hits, as Tamsin, Miller, Stokes, Berg and junior center fielder David Gustafson each had three. Tamsin also had four RBI on the game. NU’s explosive offense made it easy for senior co-captain Jeff Thomson (2-3, 5.54) who pitched six scoreless innings for the win.
‘I was just spotting my pitches,’ Thomson said. ‘I had a good changeup that day, it was getting the job done for me.’
Hofstra’s Rob Kumbatovic (1-4, 6.82) was charged with the loss, giving up six runs in five innings.
The weekend marked the return of outfielder Frank Compagnone from a knee injury. ‘ ‘ ‘ The junior started at DH in both the opening and closing game of the series, finishing the weekend 1-for-7 with two walks.
Compagnone’s return to the lineup should provide much needed protection for Tamsin and senior co-captain Frank Pesanello.
‘We’d like to get Frank Pesanello hot again,’ McPhee said of his catcher, who did not have a hit on the weekend in 12 at-bats. ‘ ‘ ‘
‘We can put Comp in the fifth spot as the DH and hopefully we’ll get [junior] Tony [DiCesare] back soon, that is definitely going to give us a boost in the lineup.’
The Huskies (12-8, 3-3 CAA) are back in action at Boston College (15-9, 5-5 ACC) tomorrow at 3 p.m. The game was originally scheduled to be at Friedman Diamond, but the Eagles visited the Huskies on March 17 in an early home opener.
BC scored a run in the top of the twelfth to emerge with a 6-5 victory.
Junior Charly Bashara (3-0, 1.10) is set to pitch for NU. BC has yet to announce a starter.