Northern Kentucky University Athletics

Week 10 Notes | Live stats | Live video | Live audio

April 17-19
Macon, Ga. – Claude Smith Field (500)
NKU (11-22, 5-7 Atlantic Sun) vs. Mercer (28-10, 11-4 A-Sun)
Series Record: MU leads 3-0
Last Meeting:  MU 13, NKU 4 (May 18, 2013)

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – The Northern Kentucky University baseball team takes to the road for a three-game Atlantic Sun Conference series against Mercer at Claude Smith Field in Macon, Ga., starting with a 6 p.m. contest on Thursday.
 
Friday's action is also slated to begin at 6 p.m., while the two teams will meet for the series finale at 2 p.m. on Saturday.  Links to live stats and John Asalon's audio broadcast for each contest will be available at nkunorse.com.  Thursday's game will also be available for viewing on ASun.TV.
 
NKU, which had its midweek game against Kentucky Wesleyan canceled because of inclement weather, enters the weekend 11-22 overall and 5-7 in the Atlantic Sun after hosting conference foe South Carolina Upstate last weekend at the Bill Aker Baseball Complex.  Each game is the series was decided by just one run as the Spartans started the three-game series by holding off a Norse rally to take a 7-6 victory on Friday.  USC Upstate then defeated NKU, 3-2, in a marathon 16-inning game on Saturday.  The Norse avoided the series sweep by coming-from-behind for a 4-3 win in 10 innings on Sunday.
 
Cody Kuzniczci went 5-for-11 (.455) with three runs scored, two doubles, one home run and two RBIs to lead the NKU offense against USC Upstate.  He scored the first game-tying run in the sixth inning in the lone Norse victory on the weekend.  Jordan Procyshen batted .429 (6-for-14) with two doubles and one home run, while Evan Korson earned his first career victory after pitching five innings of relief and striking out three batters.
 
Mercer, the preseason favorite to win the Atlantic Sun, is 28-10 on the year and 11-4 in the Atlantic Sun.  The Bears dropped two games on the road to conference-leader Lipscomb last weekend before using a 2-0 victory on Sunday to avoid the sweep.  The Bisons won the first two games of the series by scores of 4-2 and 2-1, respectively.  Mercer's midweek contest scheduled for Tuesday against Georgia Southern was canceled due to rain.
 
Second baseman Michael Massi, the preseason Atlantic Sun Defensive Player of the Year, has started every game for the Bears this season and leads the offensive attack with a .345 batting average.  He has collected eight doubles, two triples and three home runs while batting in 23 runs and scoring 26 times.  Third baseman Chesney Young, the preseason conference player of the year, follows with a .342 average with eight doubles and two home runs.  Young has added 21 runs and 23 RBIs for Mercer, while Sasha LaGarde is batting .336 with a team-high 39 runs scored, 37 RBIs and eight stolen bases.
 
NKU is expected to face right-handed pitcher Brandon Barker Thursday.  Barker holds a 3.21 earned run average and 3-2 record over his nine starts, and he H collected 35 strikeouts and allowed just 15 earned runs in 42 innings of work.  Left-hander Grant Papelian will take the mound on Friday, and he enters the contest with a 4.44 ERA with 27 strikeouts and 12 walks in 48.2 innings.  Righty Eric Nyquist, the reigning Atlantic Sun Co-Pitcher of the Week, will start on Sunday.  Nyquist is 6-0 on the year with a 3.17 ERA, three complete games and two shutouts, and he has struck out 32 batters while walking just 11 over a team-leading 59.2 innings on the mound for the Bears.
 
NKU/MERCER SERIES: Mercer holds a 3-0 record in the all-time series between the two teams, with all three matchups coming during NKU's inaugural NCAA Division I season last year.  The Bears took a 7-4 victory in the opener at the Bill Aker Baseball Complex before a sixth-inning rally helped the team to a 9-5 win the next day.  Mercer then cruised to a 13-4 victory in the finale to complete the series sweep.
 
Logan Spurlin led the NKU offense, going 5-for-11 (.455) with one double, one home run, two runs and three RBIs, while Quint Heady batted .417 (5-for-12), scored twice and stole two bases against the Bears.  Caleb Lonkard also recorded five hits and two runs for the Norse.
 
Chesney Young finished 8-for-15 (.533) from the plate to lead Mercer in last season's series.  He scored four times and batted in four runs, while Austin Barrett went 7-for-15 (.467) with nine RBIs and four runs for the Bears.  Brandon Barker pitched 5.1 scoreless innings and scattered three hits as he struck out seven batters in the series opener.
 
OVER THE WALL:  NKU ranks fourth in the Atlantic Sun in home runs.  The Norse have hit 22 homers as a team, which already surpasses the team's total of 14 in each of the last two seasons.  Mercer leads the conference with 27 home runs on the year, followed by East Tennessee State's 26.  North Florida rounds out the top three, having sent 25 shots over the outfield wall.  NKU has recorded 11 of its home runs against Atlantic Sun opponents to lead the conference-only statistic with North Florida.

Last weekend, NKU added four home runs to its total, including three in Friday's opener.  With the Norse trailing 6-0 in the fourth inning, Cody Kuzniczci sent a two-run shot over the left-center field wall to bring the Norse to within three, and Caleb Kellogg immediately followed with a solo home run over the left-field wall to cut the NKU deficit to 6-4.  Four innings later, Jordan Procyshen recorded his seventh homer of the season to cap the Norse rally and tie the game at 6-all.
 
Cole Bauml added the final NKU home run of the weekend when he sent a 1-1 pitch over the left-field wall to force an extra inning and set the Norse up for the victory.
 
Procyshen's team-leading seven home runs are third best in the Atlantic Sun.  He ranks just behind Mercer's Sasha LaGarde and ETSU's Clinton Freeman, both of whom have collected eight homers on the season.  Kuzniczci and Bauml have each knocked four shots out of the ballpark this season, while Logan Spurlin has collected three on the season.
 
STRONG RELIEF:  NKU received strong outings from its bullpen last week to help keep the Norse in each contest.  Kyle Colletta threw 8.1 scoreless innings of relief over two appearances.  He started the week striking out one batter and allowing just one walk and no hits as he appeared in the ninth inning for NKU against Eastern Kentucky on Wednesday. 
 
Colletta then held USC Upstate scoreless over 7.1 innings on the mound for the Norse during the 16-inning marathon game on Saturday.  He scatted four hits with five strikeouts and just two walks as he threw 110 pitches after starting the game at shortstop.
 
Evan Korson also made two relief appearances and saw action for a total of six innings last week.  He struck out two batters and did not surrender a hit against Eastern Kentucky to start the week before he earned his first collegiate victory against USC Upstate on Sunday.  Korson only allowed one run on five hits with three strikeouts as he pitched the final five innings for the Norse.
 
MOVING ON UP:  Zac Asman continues to move up NKU's career at-bat list.  After the USC Upstate series, the senior from Cincinnati, Ohio, has now stepped to the plate 633 times for the Norse, which moved him into seventh place on the all-time list.  He entered the weekend at 615 but his 18 plate appearances against the Spartans moved him by the 626 at-bats by Jason Rahschulte (1999-2002) and Conor McGeehan (2003-06), who made 629 appearances over his four-year career.
 
Asman currently ranks third for the Norse with a .315 batting average.  He has recorded 10 doubles, one triple, one home run, 17 RBIs and 22 runs scored.  He leads the Norse in stolen bases, having successfully swiped five bases in as many attempts.  Asman currently boasts a .985 fielding percentage, which ranks second on the team.