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Box score (PDF)JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – Chris Cook went 3-for-4 and scored a run to lead the East Tennessee State University baseball team to a 6-3 victory over Northern Kentucky University on Friday night in Atlantic Sun Conference action at Thomas Stadium.
Cook finished a home run shy of the cycle and drew a walk as ETSU improved to 12-12 overall and 3-1 in the Atlantic Sun. He tripled and scored in the bottom of the first inning to give the Bucs an early 1-0 lead.
NKU, which fell to 6-17 overall and 1-3 in the Atlantic Sun, answered with two runs in the top of the second to take its only lead of the game.
Jordan Procyshen led off with a double to left field but was out on the next play as
Cody Kuzniczci reached on a fielder's choice.
Cole Bauml followed with a single to right field before
Caleb Kellogg was walked to load the bases.
Kuzniczci proceeded to score on a wild pitch by ETSU starter Austin Hutchison, and Bauml came home on a sacrifice fly by
David Head.
The Bucs responded in the bottom of the frame to regain the lead for good. Kevin Phillips drew a lead-off walk before Dylan Tritsch was hit by a
Cody Cooper pitch, and Phillips then stole third. Tyler Roach's single up the middle brought Phillips home to tie the game at 2-all, and Tritsch and Roach each advanced a base on a Trey York sacrifice bunt. On the next play, Tritsch came home to give ETSU a 3-2 advantage.
Tritsch hit his first home run of the season, a two-out shot over the left-centerfield wall, in the bottom of the third to extend the Bucs lead to 4-2. After being walked, Roach scored on back-to-back singles by York and Matt Sorrow to make it a 5-2 ballgame.
After three scoreless innings, the Norse cut into their deficit to start the seventh. Kellogg singled to right field to start the inning for NKU, and he scored on a
Zac Asman double down the right-field line. ETSU added its last run of the game in the eighth when Jeremy Taylor sent a 3-2 pitch over the right-field wall.
ETSU finished with 10 hits from eight different players. Tritsch scored twice, while Sorrow batted in two runs for the Bucs, who left eight runners stranded on the base path.
Hutchison went seven innings on the mound for ETSU to improve to 3-1 on the year. He surrendered just three runs on six hits, while striking out two batters and walking just one. Clinton Freeman earned his fifth save of the year after two innings of hitless relief, and he struck out two and did not walk a Norse.
Each of NKU's six hits came from different batters, including Procyshen's second-inning single to extend his hitting streak to a team-high 11 games.
Logan Spurlin has now safely reached base in the last 25 games he has appeared in, dating back to last season, after singling in the sixth inning.
Cooper (0-6) pitched the first complete game for the Norse this season. He recorded two strikeouts and walked five batters. It marked the first time an NKU pitcher has accomplished that feat since
Matt Jefferson's 10-inning outing against Lipscomb on May 4 last season, which was a 3-2 loss.
NKU and ETSU will continue the series Saturday at 2:05 p.m. The series finale is slated for a 1:05 p.m. start time on Sunday. Links to live stats, the A-Sun.TV broadcast and John Asalon's audio broadcast will be available at nkunorse.com.
