After strong start, Huskies look forward to 2023 season, CAA play

By Patrick O’Neal News Correspondent

The Northeastern baseball team began its 2023 season in a strong position, opening by defeating UNC Greensboro in a close 2-1 series and sweeping a threegame series against Indiana State Feb. 26 after losing the exhibition game against the Boston Red Sox.

“We looked really good, especially on the hitting side,” said sophomore center fielder Mike Sirota about the opening weekend. “I felt like the offense was clicking, and we capitalized on opportunities.”

Sirota, a standout rookie last year, was sidelined with an injury partway through last season, but returned to the starting lineup against UNC Greensboro. Before the start of the 2023 season, Sirota, along with pitchers Wyatt Scotti and Jordy Allard, received pre-season CAA AllConference honors.

The strong start to the 2023 season comes after a disappointing end to last season’s CAA championship, where the team suffered a walk-off loss against Hofstra.

“We were obviously disappointed in the final outcome,” said head coach Mike Glavine. “But to have that opportunity and get to the championship game out of the winner’s bracket was great … We were disappointed, but we’re excited to regroup.”

Glavine is confident about the team’s ability to repeat a CAA championship appearance but wants to take the season as it comes.

“[I’m] not necessarily focused on the end result, though aware of it and its importance, and it’s a long road from here to that game,” Glavine said. “I really like what I saw this weekend, which built on everything we saw this fall. We weren’t perfect this weekend, I know we can play better defense and pitch better, and we kind of lost our focus and let them get back into the game. [There’s] a lot of positives from this weekend we can build on from week one.”

Sirota’s confidence in the team’s ability to make it back to the conference championship is high.

“We just try to take it one step or one series at a time,” Sirota said. “We have high expectations, we expect to win the CAA and make regionals. It feels pretty real.”

Junior pitcher Eric Yost also felt good about the team’s performance in the opening weekend, but sees room for improvement going ahead.

“I think there’s a lot we can learn [from] this weekend, pitching- and hitting-wise,” Yost said about the series. “Overall, it was a good weekend — we showed what we can do with the bats and gloves.”

Northeastern will be coming off the first two series wins in hopes of continuing the recent trend of strong performance the baseball team has had in the past few years. Since Glavine became head coach, the team has gone 231-179-1 (101-63 in CAA play), appearing in two NCAA tournaments and having more than a dozen players drafted by MLB teams, including three in the 2022 draft — right-handed pitchers Cam Schlittler, Thomas Balboni and Sebastian Keane.

Last year’s draft was the third out of the last four in which the Huskies posted three or more picks — in 2019 and 2021, they had four.

“The trajectory is pretty awesome. I think the baseball team could make an impact in our world.” Glavine said.

“There’s been a lot of great things in the past five, six or seven years, and a lot of conversations on how we can get better … and get onto that national scene as well as be a great regional team.”

With so many star pitchers headed to play on the pro stage, there were some holes left to fill. On top of the 26 Huskies who returned to the team after 2022, 17 new players came into the team, including three impressive pitchers: two-time Boston Globe All-Scholastic pitcher Aiven Cabral; graduate pitcher Griffin Young, who pitched for a 2.17 ERA during his time at Wheaton College; and Craig Ottaviano, who was rated in the top 500 high school players in the nation by scouting organization Perfect Game.

Along with believing in their ability to perform, Glavine sees the spirit the players bring to the games and the team.

“They’re a fun team, I like them. I have a great vibe sitting here after one weekend. I like how balanced they are right now … they’re overall great guys, and I’m excited to see how the season goes,” Glavine said. “It’s a very talented but fun team to be around. We’ve already had some pretty big setbacks, but we haven’t missed a beat.”

The baseball team will start their next series against the University of South Florida March 3, and will begin conference play against Elon University March 10.