Baseball Falls to Northeastern in Beanpot Consolation Game

­BOSTON—Wednesday afternoon was a dream come true for two Harvard baseball players from Massachusetts. Senior second baseman Jake McGuiggan and freshman right fielder Conor Quinn both hit two-run home runs over the Green Monster at legendary Fenway Park, but the four runs proved not to be enough as the Crimson fell to Northeastern, 7-6.

“It was an exciting experience,” McGuiggan said. “To be able to come out here and cap off my senior year with that was nice. That’s a good memory and I’m happy I got the opportunity to be in there after missing the last nine games.”

After the Huskies tied the contest in the top of the eighth, freshman shortstop Maxwell Burt led off the Northeastern ninth with a single.

Sophomore Nick Gruener and junior Nick Schahill combined to get the next two outs, but Huskies first baseman Cam Hanley singled home Burt to give Northeastern the lead for good.

With the win, the Huskies (17-22 overall, 7-5 Colonial Athletic Association) took third place in the Beanpot, an annual two-round tournament between Harvard, Northeastern, Boston College, and UMass. This was the first time the second round games have been played at Fenway Park since 2013. The Crimson (18-20, 7-9 Ivy League) took home the crown last season with a win at Friedman Diamond in Brookline.

Junior Shaun Rubin got a much-deserved start for Harvard. The lefty had command issues in the first and gave up a run after a single to Huskies centerfielder Michael Foster and three wild pitches. However, McGuiggan put the Crimson up 2-1 with his third home run of the season.

Playing in the Beanpot took on special meaning for the Hingham, Mass. native, who has battled injuries all season. The senior started at designated hitter and saw his first game action since pulling his hamstring April 11 at Brown.

“I think it’s been great for Jake,” Harvard coach Bill Decker said. “The think about Jake is he’s got his teammates pulling for him. He’s been one of our leaders offensively. I’m real happy for him.”

Northeastern tagged junior Matt Sanders and freshman Garrett Rupp for three runs, but Harvard reclaimed the lead in the fourth as Quinn took Nate Borges yard for the first home run of his collegiate career. The freshman from Amherst, Mass. had a slow start to the season but is hitting .413 in his last 13 games. Freshman John Fallon, a lifelong Red Sox fan, picked up a go-ahead RBI in his Fenway debut.

“They keep on growing, they’re young,” Decker said. “They’ve got a lot of innings under their belt, seasoned as freshmen. They came up big for us. We can count on those guys one through nine.”

A diving catch by Foster on a liner by McGuiggan in the fourth saved two runs and kept the game tied. Freshman Ian Miller and junior T.J. Laurisch combined to give the Crimson the shutdown performance it needed from the bullpen. The duo combined to throw three innings and did not surrender a hit.

Despite only throwing 11 pitches in the seventh, Laurisch was replaced by Gruener the following inning. One of Harvard’s top starters, Gruener had not made an appearance out of the bullpen this season.

After the Huskies tied the game when an errant throw home from Quinn got past both sophomore cutoff-man Matt Hink and senior catcher Ethan Ferreira and into the backstop, senior Mike Martin ended the Northeastern threat by throwing a dart from center field to nail Joey Scambia at third.

The Crimson went quietly in the eighth after Burt threw out freshman third baseman John Fallon trying to advance to third, and despite hits from Ferreira and junior infielder Mitch Klug, Harvard could not push the tying run across in the ninth. The offense had 17 hits on the day but did not score after the fifth and posted just four singles in the game’s final four frames.

Huskies sophomore Aaron Civale got Hink to roll over a pitch in the ninth to pick his fifth save and salvage the win for Northeastern. John Amendola picked up a well-deserved win. The freshman threw four scoreless innings and only surrendered three hits.

“We definitely left a lot of runners in scoring position,” McGuiggan said. “We didn’t capitalize on a lot of offensive situations later in the game. At the same time, I think we can really build on our offensive showing today.”