Aiven Cabral didn’t come to Northeastern to sit on the bench as a freshman, and he decided to make that clear to Huskies coach Mike Glavine at his exit meeting in the fall of 2022.
“The coaches asked, ‘Where do you want to be in the spring?’” Cabral said. “I said I wanted to be a midweek starter.”
Cabral (Lynn, Mass.) more than called his shot, going on to have the best freshman season for any pitcher in program history. He earned Freshman All-America honors after leading the team in starts (16), wins (9), innings pitched (83.2) and strikeouts (69).
While it is rare for a freshman to encounter immediate success – particularly to that degree – at the Division 1 level, it has become a staple of the Northeastern program. Cabral wasn’t the only Northeastern freshman to earn an All-America selection last spring, as classmate Cam Maldonado (Wolcott, Conn.) took home the same honor after making 55 starts and leading the team with a .353 batting average and 32 stolen bases.
