EMERSON, Ga. – The Northern Kentucky University baseball team got home runs from
Logan Spurlin and
Cody Kuzniczci, but a five-run sixth inning led William & Mary to a 9-3 victory late Saturday night.
Kuzniczci went 2-for-5 with a solo home run, a double and two runs scored to pace the Norse (2-6), who collected nine hits on the night.
Cole Bauml also went 2-for-5, extending his team-best hitting streak to 18 games.
Spurlin got the Norse on the board in the top of the second inning, taking a 1-0 pitch to right field for NKU's first home run. The Tribe answered in the bottom half of the inning when Devin White singled through a drawn-in infield to bring home Ryan Hall, who doubled to left to lead off the inning. A dropped strike three allowed Josh Smith to reach with two outs before Cullen Large cashed in the opportunity with a single to left to score White and make it a 2-1 game.
William & Mary (2-2) extended its lead in the bottom of the fifth inning on a Ryan Hissey two-run home run to score Willie Shaw, who reached on a throwing error.
Cody Kuzniczci pulled one run back in the top of the sixth with a solo home run with one out to cut the Tribe advantage to 4-2.
A Charley Gould grand slam capped a five-run sixth inning for William & Mary that put the Tribe up 9-2. Three-consecutive one-out singles, including infield knocks by Large and Smith, helped plate White, who led off the frame with a single of his own.
The Norse pulled a run back on a
Trey Ganns RBI-single to plate Kuzniczci in the eighth inning, but got no closer as William & Mary's Michael Toner survived a two-out rally by the Norse in the ninth that included back-to-back singles by
Ryan Hinz and
Cole Bauml.
Matt Jefferson (0-3) collected nine strikeouts for the Norse, but surrendered eight earned runs over six innings of work to take the loss.
Pierce Knisley and
Alex Bolia combined for two innings of shutout baseball, with Knisley picking up a strikeout in his collegiate debut.
The win went to Jason Ingram (1-1), who scattered three runs on six hits over 7.2 innings, striking out six and walking three.
The teams will conclude their three-game series on Sunday with a doubleheader starting at 3 p.m. NKU's
Jake Shaw (0-2, 6.00 ERA) will oppose Nick Brown (1-0, 1.42 ERA), while
Tyler Miller (0-0, 4.05 ERA) will lead the Norse against Mitchell Aker (0-1, 24.00 ERA) in the nightcap. Fans can follow the action through John Asalon's broadcast, live stats and on Twitter by following @NKUNorseGameDay.
