CHILLICOTHE, Ohio - For at least one more day, Northern Kentucky University's dream of earning a trip to the NCAA Division II World Series is alive.
NKU rallied from a 5-2 deficit against top-seeded Ashland and staved off elimination from the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional with a 7-6 victory Friday. The Norse (41-21) scored four times in the fifth inning to gain a 6-5 lead and held on at the end to advance to an elimination game against Grand Valley State at 3 p.m. Saturday.
NKU bunched together five hits in the fifth inning to erase a 5-2 Ashland lead. A wild pitch by Ashland starter Ben Minard allowed
Jake Morris to score with the first run of the inning. A run-scoring single by
Evan McDole plated
Jason Cisper to make it 5-4, and
Joe Mack's double to right-center field drove in McDole to tie the game at 5-all.
Jack Ambrose then stepped to the plate and delivered a run-scoring single to right on an 0-1 pitch to give NKU a 6-5 lead.
NKU added an insurance run in the seventh inning when
Kevin Dusold doubled down the left-field line to drive in Pat Muth and extend the Norse advantage to 7-5. Dusold finished 2-for-4 with two runs batted in, giving him 71 RBIs this spring. The NKU single-season RBI record is 72, set by Steve Walton in 2002.
The NKU bullpen also played a major role in Friday's win.
Jay Hale and
Matt Winterhalter combined for four innings of one-run baseball.
Kevin Jordan relieved Winterhalter in the ninth and picked up the save by retiring three consecutive batters with a runner at first base.
Ashland (42-14-1) entered the game ranked No. 6 nationally in the NCAA Division II poll.
