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LOS ANGELES – Tommy Cheek went 4-for-5 with two runs, two RBIs and a home run to lead the Loyola Marymount University baseball team to a 13-10 victory over Northern Kentucky University to complete the series sweep at Page Stadium in non-conference action on Sunday.
Cheek led six LMU batters with multiple hit games, including Kevin Garcia's 2-for-3 effort with two RBIs and one run scored. David Fletcher and Tyler Cohen each went 2-for-5 with three RBIs, as Cohen also scored three times for the Lions, who improved to 9-7. Austin Miller and Kyle Dozier both recorded two-hit games as well.
Cody Kuzniczci and
Jordan Procyshen each finished 3-for-5 for NKU, which fell to 3-11 on the year. The pair also combined for three home runs and four runs scored, and Procyshen batted in four runs for the Norse.
For the second game in a row, NKU grabbed an early lead after the first inning.
Kyle Colletta was hit by a pitch to lead off the game, and Kuzniczci sent him to third with a single to right field. Procyshen then sent a one-out single through the right side to score Colletta for a 1-0 Norse advantage.
Procyshen struck again in the top of the third inning when he hit a two-out pitch over the right-field wall to extend the NKU lead to 2-0. The shot marked his second homer of the year.
Cohen cut into the Norse lead in the bottom of the frame, when he started the inning with an infield single. He went to second on a sacrifice bunt by Cole Trezek and advanced to third on a
Jake Shaw balk. A sacrifice fly by Garcia brought Cohen home to pull the Lions to within 2-1.
After NKU went down in order to start the fourth, the LMU offense broke the game open with eight runs in the bottom of the inning, highlighted by a two-run triple by Cohen, to take a 9-2 advantage.
The Norse, however, responded with three runs in the next frame to bring the score closer. Kuzniczci reached base on a two-out single up the middle, advanced to second on a wild pitch and came home on a
Logan Spurlin single. Procyshen then sent a 1-0 Patrick McGrath pitch over the right-field wall for his second home run of the game to cut the NKU deficit to 9-5.
An RBI double by Fletcher scored Miller in the bottom of the sixth inning to stretch the LMU advantage to 10-5, but Kuzniczci cut into the Lions' lead in the top of the seventh with his season home run of the season, a two-out solo shot over the left-centerfield wall.
After LMU plated three runs in the bottom of the frame to go ahead 13-6, the Norse reduced the Lions lead once again. Back-to-back walks put
Zac Asman and
Cole Bauml on base to start the eighth inning, and
Caleb Kellogg recorded his first career hit and RBI with a single through the right side to score Asman.
David Head's double down the left-field line with one out brought Bauml and Kellogg home, and
Quint Heady followed with an RBI single as Head scored on an error by right fielder Tanner Donnels on the play for the final margin of the game.
Spurlin extended his on-base streak to 18 games, dating back to last season, with his fifth-inning single for NKU. Kuzniczci stretched his hitting streak to six.
Both teams stranded six runners on the day, and the Norse committed two errors to the Lions' one.
McGrath (2-0) went five innings for the Lions and gave up five runs on seven hits, while collecting four strikeouts and walking just one batter. Cohen earned his third save of the season after holding the Norse scoreless with one hit and one strikeout in the final inning.
Shaw dropped to 1-2 on the year after going 3.1 innings in his first collegiate start and allowed eight earned runs on seven hits. He struck out one batter and walked two Lions.
NKU returns to action on Wednesday with its first midweek game of the season as the Norse face No. 22 Kentucky at Cliff Hagen Stadium in Lexington, Ky. First pitch is set for 4 p.m. Links to live stats and John Asalon's audio broadcast will be available at nkunorse.com.
