Northern Kentucky University Athletics

Week 11 Notes | Live stats | Live video | Live audio

April 25-27 – Dugan Field (1,500); Nashville, Tenn.
NKU (12-26, 5-10 Atlantic Sun) at Lipscomb (24-18, 12-6 A-Sun)
Series Record: LU leads 3-0
Last Meeting:  LU 11, NKU 6 (May 5, 2013)
 
HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – The Northern Kentucky University baseball team returns to Atlantic Sun Conference action this weekend as the Norse face Lipscomb for a three-game series at Dugan Field in Nashville, Tenn.
 
Friday and Saturday are scheduled to start at 7 p.m. Eastern, and the series finale on Sunday is slated for 2 p.m.  Friday and Sunday's action will be shown on ASun.TV, and live stats and John Asalon's audio broadcast for each contest will be available at nkunorse.com.
 
NKU enters the series with a 12-26 overall record and 5-10 mark in the Atlantic Sun.  The Norse faced Xavier for a pair of midweek nonconference games this week, with NKU cruising to a 17-8 victory on Tuesday afternoon and dropping a 6-3 decision to the Musketeers on Wednesday.  The 17 runs, 21 hits and nine-run differential in Tuesday's contest set new NCAA Division I program records.
 
Logan Spurlin went 6-for-9 (.667) from the plate over the two games to lead the NKU offense, and he extended his on-base streak to 38 consecutive games, dating back to last season.  Cole Bauml finished 5-for-8 (.625), scored five times, batted in six runs and drew three walks while collecting one double and a two-run home run.  Garrett Schrantz earned his second collegiate victory in Tuesday's action, going four innings and allowing four runs on four hits with three strikeouts and two walks.
 
Lipscomb is 24-18 on the year and 12-6 in the Atlantic Sun, which ranks third in the conference, and looks to snap a six-game losing streak.  After being swept by Stetson last weekend, the Bisons fell to Belmont, 13-3, in midweek action on Tuesday.  Adam Lee went 2-for-3 with a run scored and one walk to lead Lipscomb, while Hunter Hanks also recorded two hits with an RBI on the day.
 
Shortstop Grant Massey leads the Bisons offense, boasting a .325 batting average.  He leads the team with 14 doubles, which ranks fourth in the Atlantic Sun, 38 runs scored and 11 stolen bases.  He has collected three triples, three home runs and 21 RBIs.  Right fielder Drew Adams follows Massey, batting .316 on the year, tops the team in RBIs (45) and shares the team lead in home runs (4) with catcher Tyson Ashcraft. 
 
The Norse are expected to face three right-handed pitchers on the mound this weekend.  Ian Martinez-McGraw will make the start for Friday's contest, and he holds a 6-1 record with a 4.25 earned run average this season.  He leads the team with 39 strikeouts and has allowed 34 earned runs in 72 innings of work.  Saturday's starter will be Hunter Brothers, the brother of Colorado Rockies reliever Rex Brothers, and he is 2-2 on the year with a 5.27 ERA.  Brothers has struck out 31 batters and given up 25 earned runs over 42.2 innings.  The starter for the series finale on Sunday will be Denton Norman.  Norman is 5-3 on the mound and boasts a 2.97 ERA, and he has collected 35 strikeouts while surrendering just 20 earned runs in 60.2 innings.
 
NKU/LIPSCOMB SERIES: Lipscomb 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.  An RBI single in the top of the fourth inning gave the Bisons a 1-0 victory in the series opener on May 4, before taking a 3-2 victory in 10 innings the next day.  Lipscomb used an 11-6 rain-shortened victory in seven innings in the series finale to complete the sweep.
 
Quint Heady finished the weekend 6-for-12 (.500) from the plate over the three games and added two runs, two RBIs, two stolen bases and one double to lead the Norse offense.  Anthony Vagnier batted 3-for-5 with a run scored, while Matt Jefferson surrendered just one earned run on 11 hits with three strikeouts in a 10-inning complete-game performance.
 
Drew Adams went 3-for-8 with two runs scored, two RBIs and two stolen bases and was walked four times for the Bisons.  Denton Norman allowed just one run on six hits over 4.1 innings of work in the second game of the series, and he struck out three batters while walking two.
 
EXTRA-BASE SUCCESS:  The NKU offense is among the top nationally in extra-base hits percentage.  Of the 372 total hits the Norse have collected this season, 111 – 29.8 percent – have gone for extra bases.  NKU ranks fourth in the Atlantic Sun in doubles at 78.  The Norse have recorded nine triples and 27 home runs, which is third in the conference.
 
Lipscomb leads the conference in doubles with 83, followed closely by Florida Gulf Coast's 82.  Stetson rounds out the top three with 79, while East Tennessee State has hit 23 triples to top the Atlantic Sun in that category.  NKU is just three home runs off the conference lead as ETSU and Mercer have each sent 30 homers over the outfield wall.
 
Logan Spurlin is leading the team in double with 14 two-baggers on the year, which lands fourth in the conference with Lipscomb's Grant Massey.  Zac Asman tops the team in triples with nine, and Jordan Procyshen's 10 home runs is tied for the Atlantic Sun lead with ETSU's Clinton Freeman.
 
ALL-CANADIAN BATTERIES:  When Adam Jafine, Saturday's probable start for NKU, takes the mound with Jordan Procyshen behind the plate, the pair is just one of two international batteries to start for Division I programs this season.  Jafine, a freshman left-handed pitcher, hails from Toronto, Ontario, while Procyshen is a native of Okotoks, Alberta, for the only all-Canadian duo in the nation.
 
Jake Shaw, a freshman right-handed relief pitcher, came to NKU from Grand Bay-Westfield, New Brunswick, and provides the Norse with an all-Canadian battery in relief with Procyshen manning the plate as well.
 
The University of Texas-Pan American baseball team features an all-Australian battery.  Sam Street, a native of Melbourne, Australia, is a weekend starter for the Broncos and has seen Unanderra, Australia, product Alex Howe behind the plate several times this season.
 
STEADY IMPROVEMENT:  Over Alex Bolia's last five appearances on the mound for NKU, he has posted a 2.84 ERA.  The sophomore from Cincinnati, Ohio, has only surrendered two earned runs on six hits over 6.1 innings of relief work for the Norse.  Bolia collected six strikeouts during that span, including a season-high three against Mercer on April 17, which he had previously accomplished against Eastern Michigan on March 15.
 
KNOCKING IN RUNS:  Cole Bauml went 4-for-5 from the plate, scored three times and equaled his career-high in RBIs with six in Tuesday's 17-8 victory over Xavier on Tuesday afternoon.  He began the game with a two-run home run to tie the game at 2-all after the first inning before drawing a bases-loaded walk, which allowed Dominic Faron to score, in the second.
 
Bauml then recorded his fourth RBI of the day when he doubled to left field to bring Zac Asman home in the bottom of the third, and he hit an RBI singled up the middle in the sixth frame, once again scoring Faron.  He batted in his final run of the game in the eighth inning, when he singled to score Asman.
 
In the opening game of a doubleheader against Stetson on April 5, Bauml also recorded six RBIs, highlighted by a three-run home run in the fourth inning to give NKU a 9-2 advantage.  The other three came on a sacrifice fly in the third and double in the bottom of the seventh inning.