Series notes
HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – The Northern Kentucky University baseball team begins its spring break trip by traveling to Cookeville, Tenn., for two midweek games against Tennessee Tech at the Averitt Express Baseball Complex.
NKU is looking to snap a six-game losing streak after Marshall completed a four-game series sweep over the weekend to put the Norse at 2-12 on the season.
Quint Heady batted .455 during the weekend to lead the NKU offense, which was outscored 24-5 over the series.
First pitch on Tuesday is scheduled for 7 p.m., followed by a 4 p.m. contest on Wednesday. NKU and Tennessee Tech have never met in baseball.
Live stat links are available at NKUNorse.com.
ABOUT TENNESSEE TECH: Tennessee Tech enters Tuesday's contest with an 8-6 overall record and a 2-1 mark in the Ohio Valley Conference. The Golden Eagles opened conference play last weekend and won two out of three games against Eastern Kentucky, including a 5-4 victory in Sunday's finale.
Brandon Thomasson leads the Tennessee Tech offense with a .327 batting average, while collecting a team-high 17 RBIs, five doubles and five home runs. He has also scored 11 times for the Golden Eagles, which ranks third on the team.
Tristan Archer (2-1) has a 3.04 earned run average over 26 2/3 innings on the mound. He has struck out a team-leading 24 batters and has only allowed nine earned runs. Seth Lucio leads the Golden Eagles with a 0.75 ERA in five relief appearances. He has only surrendered one run while striking out 13 in 12 innings of work.
GOING THE DISTANCE: Brett Cisper struck out 10 batters and only allowed two runs in the first complete-game effort for NKU this season and in the NCAA Division I era in the nightcap of Sunday's doubleheader. He did not get the win, however, as the Norse dropped a 2-1 decision in the final game of the series. In the top of the sixth, Cisper (0-2) retired the Thundering Herd in order, each striking out swinging.
Cisper, a junior from Cincinnati, currently holds a 6.10 ERA in four starts in his first season on the mound for NKU. He leads the team with 18 strikeouts.
ON-BASE SUCCESS: Brad Clement has safely reached base in each of NKU's games this season. He started the season with an eight-game hitting streak. That stretch was halted at Texas State on March 2, but he drew a walk to reach base. After collecting hits in the first two games of the Marshall series, he drew three walks and was hit by a pitch during Sunday's doubleheader to keep the streak alive.
Clement leads the team in batting average (.373), hits (19), runs scored (7), RBIs (8) and walks (8).
FRESHMEN STEP UP: With injuries plaguing the NKU lineup this season, NKU's freshmen have had a chance to shine early in the season and have stepped up to the challenge.
The Norse were limited to 11 hits over two games on Sunday against Marshall, and 10 of those came from NKU's freshmen. Heady collected a total of four hits on the day, while
Hunter Morey and
Logan Spurlin each added two.
Cody Kuzniczci and
Ryan Hinz recorded hits in the second game.
Three of the top five hitters for the Norse are freshmen as well. Heady is second on the team with a .306 batting average, followed by
Conor Ledger's .240.
Cody Kuzniczci is batting .216 on the season, which ranks fifth.
