Cabral, Gigliotti Combine On One-Hit Shutout As Northeastern Blanks William & Mary
Rob Washburn
BOX SCORE CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. (May 24, 2023) – Freshman Aiven Cabral and junior Jake Gigliotti combined on a one-hit shutout to lead third-seeded Northeastern to a 6-0 victory over #6 William & Mary in Game 2 of the CAA Baseball Championship on Wednesday afternoon at the Ballpark at Patriots Point.
The Huskies (42-12) advance to play #2 Elon at 7 p.m. on Thursday, while the Tribe (32-24) meets Charleston in an elimination contest at 11 a.m.
Cabral (9-3) surrendered only a third-inning triple over 5.1 innings and struck out three, while Gigliotti fanned three and didn’t allow a hit over the final 3.2 frames. It was just the fourth one-hitter in the history of the CAA Baseball Championship and the first since 2007.
Outfielder Mike Sirota powered the Northeastern offense, going 3-for-5 with a double and two RBI’s. Alex Lane and Tyler MacGregor each recorded a pair of hits and drove in a run.
Northeastern grabbed the early advantage by plating a pair of runs in the second. The Huskies loaded the bases with nobody out following a hit batter, a walk and a Harrison Feinberg base hit. A sacrifice fly by Luke Beckstein got Northeastern on the board and a two-out single up the middle from Spencer Smith made it 2-0.
The Huskies tacked on another run in the fourth. Beckstein singled to right, advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt and a groundout, and scored on Sirota’s hard liner up the middle that ricocheted off Tribe pitcher Tom Mayer.
Northeastern broke the game open by tallying three runs with two outs in the sixth. Smith reached on an error and scored on Sirota’s double to the gap in left-center. MacGregor’s RBI single brought in Sirota and he would come around to score on Lane’s bloop base hit to left that made it 6-0.
Cole Ragone had William & Mary’s lone hit in the third when he lined a triple to the gap in right-center. Ragone attempted to score on a flyout to right but was thrown out at the plate by Cam Maldonado.