The Huskies will face Nebraska in the opening round of the Fayetteville Regional.<\/b>
\nThe Northeastern Huskies crashed their way into the big diamond dance instead of hoping for an invitation. The Huskies earned an automatic berth in the Division 1 NCAA College Baseball tournament by capturing the first CAA title in program history on Sunday at Wilmington, N.C. The Huskies got an at-large bid in 2018, their last tip to the NCAA tournament. \u201cIt was different feeling than last time when we weren\u2019t sure if our name was going to be called,\u201d said NU coach Mike Glavine. \u201cThis time we knew we were going to get called and it was just a question of where we are going. \u201cNaturally it\u2019s a little different feeling but it\u2019s done and now we have to prep for the weekend.\u201d The Huskies, along with family members, friends and boosters, assembled at Matthews Arena on Monday to learn which of the 16 regional sites was in their future. The group didn\u2019t have to wait long because Northeastern was the third team in the field of 64 to learn its destination in the double-elimination tournament. The NCAA selection committee didn\u2019t do the Huskies any favors by handing them the No.3 seed in the Fayetteville, Ark., regional. NU (36-10) will face No.2 Nebraska (31-12) of the Big 10 while SEC champion and No.1 overall seed Arkansas (46-10) engages No.4 New Jersey Institute of Technology (26-22). Being cast into the belly of the beast did not dampen the spirits of the players and coaches as they embraced the challenges ahead. \u201cThere are definitely a lot of good baseball teams we are going to play but at the end of the day it\u2019s the same game,\u201d said Kyle Murphy, a 6-2,220-pound, senior right-handed starting pitcher from Billerica. \u201cAs coach Glavine always says, you play the game, not the uniform, so the biggest thing we can do is focus on ourselves and do what we do and how we play. We will figure it out when we get down there and hopefully win some more baseball games.\u201d The Huskies equaled the school record with 36 wins and ran the table in the CAA regular season with 20-0 mark. But the Huskies encountered turbulence in the CAA tournament and survived numerous gut-check situations, the most unnerving in the championship game. Center fielder Ben Malgeri tied the match with a home run in the bottom of the ninth and second baseman Max Viera swatted a walk off four-bagger in the 10th to capture an 11-10 victory over No.2 seed North Carolina Wilmington. Viera, a 5-10,180-pound freshman from Greenwood Lake, N.Y., said he derives his power from his father\u2019s rice and beans, chocolate milk and squats in the weight room. \u201cI didn\u2019t know it was going to go out right off the bat and I never know when I hit the baseball but I was screaming it over the wall,\u201d said Viera, who has five home runs on the season. \u201cI was praying it would go over and thankfully it did.\u201d Glavine will wait until the Huskies arrive in Fayetteville before he finalizes his pitching rotation. The staff ace is Cam Schlittler, a lanky 6-6,200-pound, right-handed freshman from Walpole. Schlittler is 8-0 in 12 appearances with a 1.72 era over 73.1 innings with 83 strikeouts and 19 walks. Schlittler will pitch for the Harwich Mariners of the Cape Cod League this summer. Murphy is a four-pitch guy who went 6-1 in 13 appearances with a 3.86 ERA over 65.1 innings. Murphy registered a team high 87 strikeouts with 15 walks and is a holdover from the 2018 team. Sebastian Keane is 6-3,187-pound, freshman right hander from North Andover. Keane was 6-1 in 11 appearances with a 3.93 ERA over 66.1 innings with 69 strikeouts and 19 walks.<\/p>\n