HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – The Northern Kentucky University baseball team picked up a three-game series with Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky, this weekend after travel complications due to inclement weather in northern Kentucky forced the team's New Mexico State series to be canceled.
 
First pitch for Saturday's opener from Cliff Hagan Stadium is slated for 2 p.m., and the two teams will take the field for a doubleheader on Sunday.  Game 1 begins at noon with Game 2 following after a short break.  Links to live stats and John Asalon's audio broadcast will be available at NKUNorse.com.  Fans can follow @NKUNorseGameDay on Twitter for updates as each game progresses as well.
 
NKU takes a 2-8 overall record to Lexington and looks to snap a four-game losing streak.  The Norse traveled to Emerson, Georgia, last weekend and dropped three neutral-site contests to William & Mary, including a pair of extra-inning games in Sunday's doubleheader.  The Tribe handed NKU a 9-3 loss in the series opener on Saturday before defeating the Norse, 6-4 and 5-4, respectively, on Sunday.
 
Caleb Lonkard paced the NKU offense against William & Mary, batting .556 (5-for-9) with three runs scored and one RBI.  The senior infielder recorded his first career home run and stole successfully two bases in as many attempts against the Tribe.  David Head went 4-for-9 (.444) with one double, while Trey Ganns continued his impressive performance at the plate in his first season with the Black and Gold, hitting .400 with one double and two RBIs on four hits.
 
Left-handed pitcher Cody Cooper struck out five batters to equal his career high in 2.2 innings of relief, surrendering just one unearned run on two hits in Sunday's night cap.  Fellow lefty Evan Korson pitched six innings of relief in Sunday's opener, giving up two earned runs on two hits with five strikeouts as well.

ABOUT UK: The Wildcats enter the weekend with a 9-3 overall record after sweeping a midweek doubleheader against Murray State.  Kentucky scored three runs in the bottom of the second inning and added one more in the fifth to take a 4-1 win in the opener before using a three-run seventh for a 4-3 victory in the nightcap.
 
Kyle Barrett leads seven Wildcats batting over .300 with a .431 batting average to go along with four doubles, seven RBIs and eight runs scored, and he has successfully stole three bases in five attempts.  Zach Arnold is batting .429 with three doubles and has scored four times, while Ka'ai Tom holds a .422 batting average.  Tom has driven in 10 runs, which trails just Thomas Bernal's 12, and scored 11 times for UK this season.  Bernal is hitting .342 as Evan White (.326), Riley Mahan (.321) and Connor Heady (.308) round out the heavy hitters.
 
Right-handed pitcher Dustin Beggs has earned three starts for the UK pitching staff this season and holds a 2.08 earned run average and 1-1 record.  He has allowed five runs, four earned, on 17 hits with 12 strikeouts and has walked just two batters in 17.1 innings on the mound.  Fellow righty Kyle Cody has started in each of his three appearances for the Wildcats, and he is also 1-1 with a 4.50 ERA.  He leads the team in strikeouts with 18, and he has only walked three batters over 14 innings.  Relief pitcher Andrew Nelson is 2-0 and has recorded a 3.24 ERA and one save over a team-leading six appearances.
 
NKU-UK SERIES: Saturday will mark the 10th meeting between NKU and Kentucky, with the Wildcats winning each of the previous nine games in the series.  The two teams first met during the 1972 season as Kentucky shut out the Norse in an 8-0 victory in Camp Springs, Ky.  The Wildcats completed the season sweep on May 3, when Kentucky defeated NKU, 5-1, in Lexington.
 
NKU and Kentucky faced each other six more times through the 1980 season with the closest contest coming in 1979 when the Wildcats held on for a 3-2 victory over the Norse, before taking a break until the 2005 season when the two teams met again for their most recent matchup.
 
BROTHERLY LOVE: Redshirt junior Quint Heady will see a familiar face in a Kentucky uniform when the two teams take the field on Saturday.  Heady's younger brother, Connor, is a sophomore infielder for the Wildcats.
 
The older Heady has seen action in six games and started five times in both the infield and outfield for the Norse this season.  He is batting .238 with one double, one triple, one RBI and three runs scored.  He has drawn four walks and boasts a .941 fielding percentage.  Quint Heady went 2-for-4 from the plate against CSU Bakersfield to help lead NKU to an 8-2 victory.
 
Connor Heady has appeared in 10 of UK's 12 games and has earned nine starts the Wildcats.  On the year, he is batting .308 with one home run, three RBIs and six runs scored.  He has successfully been walked four times and holds a .423 slugging percentage.

SENIOR LEADERSHIP: Three of NKU's top four hitters through the first 10 games are seniors.  Cole Bauml paces the Norse offense, boasting a .439 batting average, which lands second in the Atlantic Sun, with a nation-leading 12 doubles.  He has driven in five runs and scored nine times, and he has successfully stolen four bases in as many attempts, ranking fourth in the conference.
 
Caleb Lonkard is batting .333 after going 5-for-9 (.556) against William & Mary last weekend.  He recorded his first career home run against the Tribe, and he collected one double, one RBI and six runs scored.  Lonkard has swiped two bases in two attempts for the Norse.
 
David Head rounds out over-.300 hitters for NKU, having gone 9-for-29 (.310) with one double, one RBI and two runs scored.  He has drawn four walks and holds a .944 fielding percentage through the first three weekends of play.
 
STRETCHING STREAKS: Three NKU hitters possess hitting and on-base streaks of five or more games.  Cole Bauml has recorded at least one hit in the last 20 Norse games, dating back to last season, and he has reached base in 21 straight contests.  The senior center fielder leads the team in several offensive categories, including batting average (.438), hits (18), doubles (12) and runs scored (8).
 
After going 0-for-4 from the plate in his first collegiate game, Trey Ganns has found his groove, collecting one or more hits in the last eight games for the Norse.  Over that span, he has posted four multi-hit games.  This season, the freshman designated hitter is batting .412, which is second best for the team, with three doubles and five walks over his nine appearances.  He has also driven in five runs and scored once for the Norse.
 
Logan Spurlin boasts a five-game hitting streak and a six game on-base stretch.  Spurlin, who returned as the team's top hitter from 2014 after batting .350 as a sophomore, did not record his first hit of the season until he went 2-for-5 from the plate in NKU's 8-2 win over CSU Bakersfield on Feb. 21.  The junior infielder has improved his batting average to .233, and he has recorded two doubles, one home run and three RBIs and has scored four times.
 
STRIKE 'EM OUT: The NKU pitching staff struck out 30 batters against William & Mary, including a season-high 13 in the doubleheader nightcap on Sunday evening.  Matt Jefferson led the Norse effort, striking out nine batters in in six innings of work on Saturday.
 
Three pitchers added five strikeouts to their season totals, including Cody Cooper.  He pitched 2.2 innings of relief and struck out five as did Even Korson, who saw six innings of relief against William & Mary and recorded 15 straight outs in Sunday's opener.  Tyler Miller made the most of his four innings of work, striking out five of the 17 batters he faced.
 
Rounding out the Norse performers on the mound were Trey Ganns, who recorded two strikeouts, and Aric Harris and Pierce Knisley, who each struck out one William & Mary batter apiece.
 
BASE ON BALLS: The NKU pitching staff has only walked 35 batters this season to rank third in the Atlantic Sun in that category.  The Norse trail just Lispcomb, which has recorded 27 walks, and Florida Gulf Coast's 29.  In Friday's opener against William & Mary, the NKU pitching staff did not give up a free base to the Tribe, and the Norse have walked just one batter on three separate occasions, including twice against Campbell in the season's first series.
 
UP NEXT: NKU begins midweek play on Tuesday, March 10 at Dayton before the Norse open a four-game home stand the following day, welcoming IPFW to the Bill Aker Baseball Complex at 3 p.m.  NKU then hosts Eastern Michigan for a three-game series, starting with a 3 p.m. contest on Friday, March 13.  The two teams will then take the field at 1 p.m. on March 14 for a single game before wrapping up the series on Sunday at noon.  Links to live stats and John Asalon's broadcast are available at NKUNorse.com.