NKU's Zac Asman hits a two-run triple against Drury on Thursday.
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ST. LOUIS – Something had to give when Northern Kentucky University met Drury in the first round of the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament on Thursday.
Drury entered Thursday riding a 13-game winning streak, while NKU had won 12 of its last 13 contests. The Norse had also jumped to third in the latest NCAA Division II Midwest Region poll, making the game even more important.
Clutch hitting by
Zac Asman and
Brett Cisper, not to mention the usual outstanding mound work by
Dave Middendorf, led NKU to a 7-3 victory over Drury. The third-seeded Norse improved to 32-18 and advanced to Friday's second round against Missouri S&T at noon in the double-elimination event.
Drury dropped to 33-18 after watching its 13-game winning streak end. The sixth-seeded Panthers owned a 3-0 lead going into the bottom of the fifth inning, but NKU's offense went to work and plated four runs.
Asman's two-run triple, sandwiched between RBI singles by Cisper and
Brad Clement, highlighted the fifth inning for the Norse. The rally started after the first two batters were retired. A walk to
Brandon Wood started the outburst, and five consecutive hits later, NKU owned a 4-3 lead.
Middendorf took over from there, shutting down the Panthers offense the rest of the way. The senior left-hander, who was named GLVC Pitcher of the Year on Wednesday, struck out 12 Drury batters and scattered seven hits en route to the complete-game win. Middendorf (8-3) also increased his GLVC-leading strikeout total to 112.
NKU sealed the win in the eighth inning by scoring three times.
Max Colaner and Cisper each had run-scoring singles in the eighth, and Colaner later scored the final run on a wild pitch.
Cisper was 3-for-5 with two RBI, while Colaner scored a pair of runs. Wood, Asman and
Shannon McCormick all had two hits for the Norse, who are playing the first two rounds at the Missouri-St. Louis baseball field.
The GLVC Tournament continues through Sunday, and the winner will receive an automatic berth in the NCAA Division II Tournament. On Saturday and Sunday, all GLVC Tournament games will be played at GCS Ballpark in Sauget, Ill.
NKU has won GLVC Tournament championships in 2002, '04, '06, '08 and '09.
