Atlantic Sun Weekly Release |
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Feb. 28-March 2
Atlanta, Ga. – GSU Baseball Complex (1,092)
NKU (1-7) vs. Georgia State (4-3)
Series Record: First meeting
HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – The Northern Kentucky University baseball team travels to Atlanta this weekend to face its second Sun Belt Conference opponent this season in Georgia State for a three-game series at the GSU Baseball Complex in non-conference action in Atlanta, Ga.
First pitch on Friday is scheduled for a 4 p.m. Eastern start time, with Saturday scheduled to start at 2 p.m. Sunday's series finale is slated for 1 p.m. Links to live stats and John Asalon's audio broadcast will be available at nkunorse.com.
NKU fell to 1-7 on the year after dropping four games to San Diego last weekend. The Norse had three players hit over .400 on the weekend, led by sophomore
Logan Spurlin. Spurlin went 6-for-14 with one double, one home run and three intentional walks in Sunday's series finale. The Evanston, Ill., native batted in three runs on the weekend and scored four times.
Redshirt freshman
Ryan LeFevers batted .417 (5-for-12) on the weekend after collecting five hits with a run and an RBI. He drew one walk, while freshman
Kyle Colletta was walked once and hit by a pitch as he went 6-for-15 from the plate. Senior
Zac Asman recorded two doubles over the four games, including a three-run double in the final game to give the Norse an 8-6 advantage after the top of the fourth.
Georgia State holds a 5-3 overall record after defeating Georgia, 3-2, on Wednesday. Last weekend, the Panthers dropped two contests in a three-game series against Mississippi in Oxford, Miss. The Rebels took a 3-0 victory to open the series on Friday before cruising to a 9-1 win on Saturday. Georgia State avoided the weekend sweep by defeating Mississippi, 6-4, on Sunday afternoon.
Chris Triplett is one of three Panthers batting above .300 on the year. The senior outfielder holds a .438 batting average with a double, a triple and two home runs. He has collected a team-high 11 RBIs and has scored six times. Senior infielder Nic Wilson is second on the team with 12 hits and is hitting at a .353 clip, while sophomore catcher Joey Roach is batting .346.
Junior left-handed pitcher Kenny Anderson leads the Georgia State bullpen with a 1.98 earned run average after picking up the win against Gerogia on Wednesday. He has allowed just three earned runs in 13.2 innings on the mound. Sophomore right-hander Matt Rose leads the Panthers with 10 strikeouts and has pitched one complete game this season in the 6-4 win over Mississippi. He has compiled a 3.86 ERA after allowing six earned runs on 13 hits over a team-high 14 innings of work.
NKU and Georgia State have never met in baseball.
AGAINST THE SUN BELT CONFERENCE: NKU is 3-8 against members of the Sun Belt Conference. Texas State holds a 2-1 lead in the all-time series after winning two of the teams' three meetings last year during NKU's inaugural NCAA Division I season. The Norse scored six runs in the ninth inning for a 6-5 victory over the Bobcats to start the series on March 12 for their second Division I win.
NKU began the 2014 season with a four-game series against Troy. The Trojans entered the weekend with a 3-1 advantage in the all-time series and won three of the weekend's four games to stretch the Troy lead to 6-2.
IN THE PEACH STATE: NKU has played 33 games in the state of Georgia during the program's 42-year history, including a total of eight games against two members of the Atlantic Sun Conference in Kennesaw State and Mercer. The Norse hold a 10-23 overall record in those contests.
NKU holds winning marks against Fort Valley State (2-0) and Georgia Southwestern (2-0). The series is tied with Georgia College & State (1-1). Armstrong State is 3-1 against the Norse, while Columbus State (4-1), Valdosta State (3-1), West Georgia (3-1) and North Georgia (2-0) each hold leads in meetings against NKU.
The Norse first met Kennesaw State during the 1986 season when both teams were competing at the NCAA Division II level, and the schools split a doubleheader. Last season, Kennesaw State won each of the three meetings with NKU, as did Mercer.
AMONG THE TOP: Sophomore first baseman
Logan Spurlin sits atop Atlantic Sun standings in several offensive categories. He leads the conference and the team in slugging percentage (.880) and on-base percentage (.606). Spurlin lands second in the Atlantic Sun in batting average (.480) and walks (7).
On Sunday, Spurlin drew an NKU NCAA Division I record by drawing three intentional walks. Last season,
Ryan Hinz and
Caleb Lonkard each drew three walks in games, but none were intentional. Hinz was walked three times in a 6-5 victory over Texas State on March 1, and Lonkard drew three against Kennesaw State on March 23.
The last player to be intentionally walked more than once in a game was Joe Mack on May 10, 2009. Mack was purposely put on base twice during the Great Lakes Valley Conference Championship game against Indianapolis. The Norse used a 5-3 victory to capture their second straight GLVC tournament title and fifth overall.
CURRENT STREAKS: Two NKU players currently hold multi-game hitting streaks. Senior
Zac Asman is riding a team-high seven-game hitting streak heading into the Georgia State series. During the past seven games, Asman has collected five RBIs and three doubles, while scoring three times. On Sunday, Asman gave the Norse an 8-6 advantage in the fourth inning against San Diego with a three-run double to left field.
Freshman
Kyle Colletta has recorded at least one hit in the past six games for NKU, including four two-hit games. In the opening game of the doubleheader against Troy on Feb. 15, Colletta went 2-for-4 with two doubles and a run scored. On the year, he has recorded two doubles, two RBIs and three runs scored while batting .400 for the Norse.
Sophomore
Logan Spurlin saw his hitting streak halted on Sunday, but he drew three walks to extend his reached base streak to eight. Spurlin has now successfully reached base in each of NKU's last 12 games dating back to last season.
CAREER FIRSTS: The San Diego series saw several career first for NKU players. After recording his first collegiate hit against Troy on Feb. 16, redshirt freshman
Barrett Arnold hit his first career double in his first at bat of the game against the Toreros on Feb. 21. He advanced to third as
Quint Heady reach on an error and scored on a
Zac Asman double down the left-field line.
Freshman
Brad Bohlen recorded his first hit in a Norse uniform against Troy, but he collected both his first run scored and RBI against San Diego in the series finale. He singled up the middle the second inning to score
Jordan Procyshen and Heady to give NKU a 3-2 lead, and he scored later in the inning on a
Cody Kuzniczci groundout.
On the mound last weekend, junior
Wendell Wright earned his first start at NKU in the final game against the Toreros. He only surrendered three earned runs on 10 hits over three innings of work. Freshman
Garrett Schrantz struck out his first batter on Friday night and finished the game with two, while juniors
Caleb Lonkard and
Josh Myers each made their first collegiate pitching appearances for the Norse.
IN THE ATLANTIC SUN: Several NKU players find themselves ranked among the top 10 of several categories in the Atlantic Sun. Junior
Drew Campbell leads the conference, having made six appearances on the mound for the Norse, while sophomore
Aric Harris' 10 strikeouts finds him sixth in the Atlantic Sun. Junior
Jordan Procyshen is sixth in at bats with 35 over the first two weeks of play.
As a team, the Norse are third in three separate categories among Atlantic Sun opponents. NKU is tied with Kennesaw State with 15 doubles on the year, while the Norse are tied with North Florida with three home runs. NKU is also third in at bats with a total of 274.
