TOWSON, Md. ? After building a 6-0 lead after the first inning and owning a 7-1 lead entering the fifth inning, it appeared that the Tigers might be on their way to a CAA Tournament-clinching win over Northeastern in the second game of their three-game weekend series on Friday afternoon. However, senior third baseman Mike Tamsin banged out four hits and drove in four runs as Northeastern  (27-23, 12-11) kept its Colonial Athletic Association Tournament hopes alive with a 13-11 win over the Tigers (28-24, 12-11) at John B. Schuerholz Park on Friday afternoon.

The Huskies, who dropped a 13-10 heart-breaker in the series opener on Thursday, moved into a tie for fifth place with Towson in the wacky CAA standings. Heading into the final day of the regular season, six teams (Old Dominion, UNC Wilmington, Delaware, James Madison, Northeastern and Towson) are competing for one of the four remaining spots in next week's CAA Tournament.

The winner of Saturday's series finale between Towson and Northeastern will advance to the CAA Tournament. Under the right circumstances, the losing team could also qualify for the CAA Tournament.

With their season on the line in Friday's game, the Huskies accumulated 22 base hits and scored 12 runs in the final five innings to edge the Tigers.

In the first inning, Northeastern made a bid to take an early lead. With one out, junior first baseman Frank Compagnone and Tamsin hit back-to-back singles. When senior second baseman James Donaldson drew a walk from sophomore righthander Drew Permison, the Huskies had the bases loaded with one out. However, Permison came back and struck out senior catcher Frank Pesanello and sophomore leftfielder Jeff Dunlap to escape the jam.

While Permison struggled with his control in the top of the first, junior lefthander Ryan Quigley of Northeastern never found his command.

After striking out senior shortstop Gary Helmick to lead off the bottom of the first, he struggled. Junior centerfielder Kevin Collins started the rally when he blasted a triple to deep right centerfield. After a walk to junior Steve Yarsinsky gave the Tigers runners at first and third, senior first baseman Matt Collins lined a single to leftfield, driving in his younger brother with the first run of the game.

When Quigley walked sophomore third baseman Austin Harclerode on four pitches, the Tigers had the bases loaded with one out. At that point, Quigley's control completely deserted him. When he walked sophomore second baseman Chris Wychock on a 3-2 pitch, Yarsinsky scored to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead. Senior leftfielder Aaron Gabrielian upped the lead to 3-0 when he drew a bases-loaded walk on a 3-1 pitch. When Quigley walked his fourth batter in a row, senior catcher Jason Stifler, the Tigers had a 4-0 advantage and Quigley was replaced by sophomore lefthander J.T. Ross.

Quigley left the game after pitching to only eight batters. He allowed two hits and walked five batters.

Freshman rightfielder Ben Winter increased the Tigers' lead to 5-0 when he hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Wychock. The tenth player to bat in the inning, Helmick drilled an RBI single to left, giving Towson a 6-0 edge. Ross finally retired the side when Kevin Collins grounded out, ending the six-run inning which included only two hits.

After his shaky first inning, Permison retired the Huskies in order in the second inning. With one out in the third inning, Compagnone singled. One out later, he scored the Huskies' first run of the game on a double to right by Donaldson.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Kevin Collins restored the Tigers' six-run lead when he blasted his 14^th homer of the season over the rightfield fence.

Trailing by 7-1 in the fifth, the Huskies' bats came to life. Sophomore shortstop Ryan Maguire led off the fifth by hitting a solo home run over the right field fence, cutting the deficit to 7-2. With one out, Compagnone singled to left field. When Tamsin smashed his fifth homer of the season over the left field fence, the Huskies trimmed their deficit to 7-4. Donaldson kept the inning alive when he singled. After moving to third base on a passed ball, he scored on Dunlap's sacrifice fly.

With their lead cut to 7-5, the Tigers responded in the bottom of the fifth inning. Harclerode led off with his ninth homer of the season, upping the advantage to 8-5.

In the sixth inning, junior righthander Zach Umberger relieved Permison and gave up a leadoff double to Maguire. With two outs, Tamsin singled to right, scoring Maguire to make it an 8-6 game.

The Huskies completed their comeback and took a lead in the seventh inning as they scored five runs on seven hits. Pesanello opened the inning by blasting his 12^th homer of the season to left field, making it an 8-7 game. After Umberger retired Dunlap on an infield ground out, junior designated hitter Brendan Stokes singled to centerfield. When junior centerfielder David Gustafson singled to left, the Huskies had the tying run in scoring position. Maguire followed with an RBI single to left as Northeastern tied the game at 8-8.

Junior righthander Nate Curd replaced Umberger on the mound. He was greeted by freshman rightfielder Matt Miller's single to right that scored Gustafson with the go-ahead run. Compagnone delivered an RBI single to left, driving in Maguire to give the Huskies a 10-8 advantage. After facing two batters, Curd was relieved by sophomore righthander Charlie Cononie. Tamsin's single to right, the Huskies' sixth consecutive single, drove in Miller to put Northeastern ahead by 11-8. Finally, Cononie pitched out of the jam by retiring Donaldson on a fly ball to right field and striking out Pesanello.

After being held to two runs on three hits over five innings by Ross, the Tigers cut into their deficit in the bottom of the seventh inning. With one out Harclerode doubled down the left field line. When Gabrielian reached base on an infield single to deep shortstop, Harclerode never stopped running and came around to score, making it an 11-9 game.

In the top of eighth inning, Northeastern added another run to extend its lead to 12-9. Dunlap and Stokes opened the inning with back-to-back singles. When Gustafson reached base on a bunt single, the Huskies had the bases loaded and nobody out, threatening to break the game open.

But Cononie struck out Maguire for the first out. When Miller grounded out to second base, Dunlap scored to give the Huskies a three-run lead. Cononie pitched out of the jam by retiring Compagnone on a ground ball to third base.

Trailing 12-9 in the bottom of the eighth inning, the Tigers made a valiant effort to tie the game. Winter led off with a single to left. That brought freshman lefthander Andrew Leenhouts in from the bullpen to relieve Ross. After Helmick singled to right centerfield, Leenhouts struck out Kevin Collins for the first out of the inning. A four-pitch walk to Yarsinsky loaded the bases with one out.

Matt Collins cut the deficit to 12-10 when he singled to left, scoring Winter. Harclerode followed with a fly ball to deep right centerfield that went for a sacrifice fly as Helmick scored to make it a 12-11 game with two outs. However, Leenhouts retired Wychock on a ground ball to deep shortstop as Maguire made a very strong throw, just nipping Wychock at first. In his frustration at being called out, Wychock threw his helmet and was ejected from the game.

With Wychock ejected from the game, Harclerode moved from third base to second base while Yarsinsky, who had been the designated hitter, went to third base.

The ejection affected the Tigers right away when Tamsin hit a ground ball to Harclerode, who made an error to give the Huskies a leadoff base runner. When Donaldson drew a walk, Northeastern had two runners on base with no outs. Pesanello delivered an RBI single to left field, driving in Tamsin with a very important run to make it a 13-11 lead. But, Cononie worked out of the inning with the help of an inning-ending double play that was turned by the Tigers' makeshift infield.

In the bottom of the ninth, Gabrielian led off with a single to rightfield as the Tigers brought the tying run to the plate. But Stifler hit a bloop between first and second base and Gabrielian was retired at second base on a force play. After pinch hitter Bryan Wyman struck out, Leenhouts nailed down the win by getting Helmick to ground out to shortstop, ending the game.

Ross, who allowed four runs on seven hits in 6.2 innings of relief, earned the win for the Huskies, upping his record to 5-1 on the season. Leenhouts, who gave up one run on two hits in two innings of relief, picked up his third save of the year.

Tamsin, who went 4-for-6 with two runs scored and four RBI's, was one of two Huskies with four hits in the game. Compagnone also went 4-for-6 with two runs scored and had one RBI.

Stokes and Maguire each contributed three base hits as everyone in the Huskies' lineup had at least one hit and scored at least one run. Maguire went 3-for-5 with three runs scored and two RBI's. Donaldson was 2-for-4 and drew a pair of walks while Pesanello was 2-for-5 and drove in two runs.

After hitting four homers in the series opener on Thursday, the Huskies belted three home runs in Friday's win as Pesanello and Maguire homered for the second game in a row.

Gabrielian led the Tigers with three hits and two RBI's while Harclerode went two-for-three with a double and a home run. He also walked once and scored three runs while driving in a pair of runs. Kevin Collins was two-for-five with a triple and a home run while Helmick was two-for-six. Matt Collins also had a pair of hits and drove in two runs.

Umberger suffered the loss in relief for the Tigers. He pitched 1.1 innings and allowed five runs on six hits with no walks and one strikeout.

The Tigers and the Huskies will close out the regular season on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. It will be the Tigers' Senior Day as their six seniors will be honored in pre-game ceremonies.

TIGER TALES: With two hits in the loss to Northeastern, Helmick now has 96 base hits on the season, extending the school record he set earlier this season ... He also scored his 72^nd run of the season to extend his school record for runs scored in a season ... When Helmick drove in a run with his first inning single, it gave him 50 RBI's on the season ... He is one of four Tigers with 50 RBI's, joining Kevin Collins (56), Matt Collins (52) and Wychock (51) as Tigers with 50 RBI's.

Helmick will be one of six seniors honored in pre-game ceremonies on Saturday ... Pitchers Duane Herr and Josh Squatrito will also be honored, along with Matt Collins, Stifler and Gabrielian.

This is the second year in a row that the Tigers have gone into the final game of the regular season with a CAA Tournament berth on the line ... Last year, the Tigers beat Georgia State, 7-2, to earn a berth in the CAA Tournament.

 The Tigers, who are now 16-8 at Schuerholz Park, have won 11 of their last 16 games and seven of their last 11 CAA contests.

With their two home runs on Friday, the Tigers have now hit 94 home runs on the season, a mark that ranks them in the top ten nationally.