WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — In a classic pitcher's duel, William & Mary baseball fell by the slimmest of margins to Northeastern 1-0 in the series opener Friday night at Plumeri Park.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Both teams' starting pitchers were effective from the jump, as Tribe starter Nick Lottchea got two strikeouts in a scoreless first inning. Northeastern's Will Jones faced the minimum in the bottom of the frame.

In the second, Lottchea worked around two singles as he got a fielder's choice groundout to second base.

The Tribe (20-29, 13-9 CAA) got its first hit in the second — a single by right fielder Christian Rush — but he was later erased on a double play ball.

Lottchea registered two more punchouts in the fourth inning. The senior hurler surrendered five knocks, all singles, but scattered them effectively. He went five innings and struck out five Huskie batters, walking none.

In the sixth, Northeastern (39-9, 20-2) got a runner to third base with nobody out. Reliever Jack Weight got a strikeout of Harrison Feinberg for the first out. After issuing a walk, RHP Daniel Lingle came in to relieve, getting a strikeout and foul fly out to third to preserve the scoreless tie.

RHP Carter Lovasz took over for Lingle in the seventh and promptly retired the side, erasing a base runner on a pickoff at first base.

Both teams were held in check offensively, with neither side collecting a hit from the top of the fourth to the bottom of the seventh.

The Huskies broke through with an RBI single in the ninth from Alex Lane, capitalizing on a leadoff base hit.

W&M made noise in the bottom of the ninth. With two outs, third baseman Jamie Laskofski and second baseman Henry Jackson hit back-to-back singles with Laskofski advancing to third. The Tribe had a chance to tie with the bases loaded, but a line drive caught in right field ended the comeback effort.

Charlie Walker was the winner for Northeastern, going 2 ⅓ scoreless innings. Lovasz took a tough-luck loss, surrendering one run over three frames with five strikeouts.

STAT NUGGETS

• Center fielder Ben Parker's hitting streak came to an end at 34 games. It stands tied for the CAA record.
• The Tribe pitching staff posted 12 strikeouts to just three walks.

UP NEXT
W&M will try to even the series on Saturday at 1 p.m. The game can be seen on FloSports.