Behind elite pitching and unwavering confidence, Northeastern baseball enters NCAA Tournament as nation's hottest team
'I think it's just all excitement,' said Northeastern's Mike Glavine, who was named CAA Coach of the Year last week for the fifth time. 'That's the beautiful thing about the regionals, you're probably going to run into somebody that's highly ranked, tough to beat ... It's just going to be a great challenge. I think overall, the overwhelming feeling is just excitement.'
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There are a few other New England schools in the NCAA Tournament, with Holy Cross, Rhode Island, Fairfield, and Central Connecticut State in the mix, but its Northeastern that has shown the potential to make a serious run.
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The Huskies have dominated behind an elite three-man rotation of Massachusetts natives: Hamilton's Will Jones, Acton's Jordan Gottesman, and Lynn's Aiven Cabral. Northeastern has posted the nation's best ERA (2.92) and WHIP (1.04), each by a wide margin, and the Huskies' 17 shutouts are as many as the next two best teams combined.
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Jones has been the ace in a stunning breakout season for the lefthander, a campaign that has seen his 5.23 ERA in 2024 drop to a miniscule 1.82, second-best in the country.
With the stakes raised, Glavine isn't messing with the formula.
'I think that'll be the biggest thing: not changing [anything],' he said. 'We've changed in the past, haven't had success in the regionals for all kinds of reasons — probably all mostly my fault — because of changing and doing things differently. Will Jones will pitch Game 1, he's pitched Game 1 for us all year, and then we'll go from there."
The NCAA regionals haven't been kind to Northeastern, which has lost all six games it has played on that stage under Glavine dating to 2018, including unsuccessful runs in 2021 and '23.
But when you combine the Huskies' elite pitching with a lineup that scored a conference-leading 7.6 runs per game — anchored by CAA Co-Player of the Year Harrison Feinberg — you've got a team prepared to compete with the big guns on the national stage.
'[In 2021 and 2023] I felt confident going into it, and we were just sort of out of gas,' Glavine said. 'This year presents a different feeling of confidence, and so I feel, standing here, this is the most confident team we've had going into a regional.
'Like, why not us? Why can't we do this? Why can't we come out of this regional? There's no reason why we can't.'
Amin Touri can be reached at
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