Northern Kentucky University Athletics

Week 7 Notes | Live stats (Friday) | Live stats (Saturday) | Live stats (Sunday) | Live video | Live audio

March 28-30
Johnson City, Tenn. – Thomas Stadium (1,000)
NKU (6-16, 1-2 Atlantic Sun) vs. East Tennessee State (11-12, 2-1 Atlantic Sun)
Series Record: ETSU leads 4-1
First Meeting: ETSU 4, NKU 0 (March 11, 1978)
Last Meeting:  ETSU 13, NKU 4 (April 7, 2013)
 
HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – The Northern Kentucky University baseball team hits the road for a three-game series against East Tennessee State University this weekend in Atlantic Sun Conference action at Thomas Stadium in Johnson City, Tenn.
 
The weekend will start with a 7:05 p.m. first pitch on Friday, and Saturday's action is scheduled to begin at 2:05 p.m.  The two teams will then wrap up the series with the finale on Sunday, which is slated to start at 1:05 p.m.  Links to live stats, the ASun.TV broadcast and John Asalon's audio broadcast will be available at nkunorse.com.
 
NKU improved to 6-16 on the year after earning its second straight midweek victory on Wednesday.  Brad Bohlen batted in three runs to lead the Norse to a 7-3 victory over visiting Morehead State at the Bill Aker baseball Complex.  Zac Asman and Cody Kuzniczci each finished 2-for-4, while Kuzniczci scored twice and added an RBI.  Caleb Kellogg recorded a two-run double in the seventh inning to stretch his hitting streak to eight games.  NKU is 1-2 in the Atlantic Sun after dropping two of three games to North Florida last weekend.
 
ETSU is 11-12 overall and 2-1 in the Atlantic Sun as the Bucs won two contests against Stetson last weekend in a three-game series at home.  ETSU's midweek games against Western Carolina and Appalachian State were canceled because of inclement weather in the Johnson City area.  The Bucs defeated Stetson, 7-4, in the series opener on Friday before the Hatters evened things up with a 5-3 victory in the first game of a doubleheader on Saturday.  Dylan Tritsch drove in the go-ahead runs in the seventh inning to help ETSU capture the series with a 4-3 win in the nightcap.
 
Clinton Freeman leads the ETSU offense with a .358 batting average.  He also leads the team with 34 hits, nine doubles and 22 RBIs, and he has collected one triple, two home runs and 11 runs this season.  Jeremy Taylor has scored 14 times to lead the Bucs and is batting .272 with five stolen bases.  Chris Riopedre has collected a team-leading three homers while hitting at a .271 clip.
 
Austin Hutchison is expected to take the mound Friday against the Norse, and he boasts a 2.97 earned run average and a 2-1 record over 30.1 innings of work to lead the ETSU pitching staff.  He has struck out 21 batters and has recorded one complete game, the 7-4 win over Stetson on Friday.  Jimmy Nesselt is expected to follow on Saturday, and he is 2-2 on the year and holds a 4.02 ERA over 40.1 innings.  He has struck out a team-high 23 batters and walked just nine, while Jamin McCann, Sunday's probable starter, has compiled a 3.32 ERA with eight strikeouts and seven earned runs over 19.0 innings on the mound for the Bucs.
 
NKU/EAST TENNESSEE STATE SERIES:  NKU and ETSU have met five times in the past, with three of the meetings coming last season in Atlantic Sun play at the Bill Aker Baseball Complex.  The two teams first met on March 11, 1978, with the Bucs earning a 4-0 victory over the Norse.  NKU, however, brought the series even two days later with a 4-2 win.
 
ETSU took a 4-1 lead in the all-time series by sweeping NKU last season as the two programs met for the first time as conference opponents.  The Bucs took the series opener with a 5-2 win before overcoming a 9-1 deficit over the final four innings for a 12-9 victory in 10 innings.  A 13-4 win in the series finale gave ETSU the sweep.
 
LAST GAME AGAINST EAST TENNESSEE STATE: Kevin Phillips homered, doubled and drove in five runs to lead ETSU to a 13-4 victory over NKU at the Bill Aker Baseball Complex on April 7, 2013.
 
Phillips sent a 3-1 Blake Bagshaw pitch over the left-field wall to give the Buccaneers a 2-0 advantage after the second inning.  He capped a six-run fourth with a three-run double that extended the ETSU lead to 8-0.
 
ETSU added three runs in the sixth and two more during its final three innings to take a 13-1 lead into the bottom of the ninth.
 
Josh Myers homered over the left-field wall to start the bottom of the ninth for NKU, and Zac Asman followed with a double.  Cody Kuzniczci's single to left then drove in Asman to cut the ETSU lead to 13-3.
 
A single by Logan Spurlin plated Kuzniczci to make it 13-4 before Brett Cisper doubled and advanced Ryan Hinz, who replaced Spurlin on the base path, to third, but the Norse comeback fell short.
 
The ETSU pitching staff limited NKU to four hits through the first four innings, but the Norse collected five in the final frame to finish with nine.
 
Andrew Green finished 2-for-2 with three runs scored and two RBIs for the Bucs, and he drew two walks.  Derek Niesman went 3-for-4 with two runs, while Phillips finished 2-for-4.
 
Logan Rice did not allow an earned run and scattered four hits over six innings on the mound to earn the win.  He recorded two strikeouts and one walk.
 
Bradley Vanderglas led the NKU offense with a 2-for-3 performance.  Myers went 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI for the Norse.
 
LEADING SENIOR:  Zac Asman has driven in a team-high 16 runs this season.  He is batting .500 (3-for-6) with the bases loaded and .368 (7-for-19) with runners in scoring position as well.  He has recorded two base-clearing doubles this year, including a ninth-inning blast that gave the Norse a 3-2 lead over Georgia State on March 1. 
 
Overall, Asman is batting .316 with eight doubles, one triple, one home run and 13 runs scored.  He shares the team lead with three stolen bases, and his 24 total hits ranks third on the team.
 
STRONG MIDWEEK PERFORMANCES:  Over his last two starts, Aric Harris has recorded a 4.09 ERA over 11 innings of work.  He helped NKU to a 7-2 lead over Eastern Kentucky on March 19 before being replaced in the sixth inning by Drew Campbell.  He struck out seven batters and surrendered just two earned runs on five hits.
 
On Wednesday, Harris earned his first victory of the season against Morehead State after allowing just three earned runs on six hits as the Norse defeated the Eagles, 7-3, at the Bill Aker Baseball Complex.  He struck out five batters in six innings of work for NKU.
 
When following Harris off the mound over the last two Wednesday contests, Campbell has put together four scoreless innings on the mound.  He combined for just two hits, no runs, one walk and eight strikeouts against Eastern Kentucky and Morehead State.
 
SLUGGING AWAY:  As a team, NKU ranks fourth in the Atlantic Sun with a .382 slugging percentage.  The Norse trail Lipscomb's .429, while Mercer (.416) and North Florida (.406) round out the top three in the conference.  NKU is second in doubles with 50, just behind Lipscomb, which has collected 54 this season.  The Norse also rank fifth in home runs with 12.
 
Logan Spurlin is fifth in the conference with a .526 slugging percentage, while Jordan Procyshen shares second place in home runs with four.  Mercer's Sasha LaGarde's tops the Atlantic Sun with seven homers this season.  Spurlin is tied for third with nine doubles and Zac Asman is tied for seventh with eight.  Kennesaw State's Max Pentecost and South Carolina Upstate's Erik Samples lead with 10 two baggers each.
 
STREAKS CONTINUE:  Several NKU player streaks were extended against Morehead State on Wednesday.  Jordan Procyshen's single in the sixth stretched his hitting streak to a team-leading 10 games, and he went on to score in that inning to tie the game at 3-all for the Norse.  He has currently reached base in the last 11 NKU games after being hit by a pitch to head to first base against Loyola Marymount on March 7.
 
Caleb Kellogg saw his hitting streak extended to eight, which is second best for NKU, with his two-run double down the left-field line in the seventh inning to give the Norse the final runs of the game.  Logan Spurlin has now safely reached base in the last 24 games he has appeared in, dating back to last season, and has recorded hits in the last seven games. 
 
Zac Asman doubled in the bottom of the fifth against Morehead State on Wednesday to stretch his hitting streak to six games, and Josh Myers has collected hits in six of the last seven contests and holds a seven-game on-base streak after being walked against Eastern Kentucky on March 19.