HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – Five players recorded each of the Northern Kentucky University baseball team's five hits on Friday as the Norse suffered a 15-1 setback to Lipscomb University at the Bill Aker Baseball Complex.
David Head hit his second home run of the season in the first inning, and
Dominic Mercurio collected his third double of the year in the fifth for NKU, which fell to 17-33 overall and 5-15 in the Atlantic Sun.
Trey Ganns,
Logan Spurlin,
Mike Moffatt and
Brad Bohlen recorded the other four hits for the Norse, who recorded six hits and left six runners on base.
Head opened the game's scoring when he sent the first pitch he saw over the wall in left-center field for a 1-0 NKU lead, but Lipscomb answered and took the lead in the top of the second. Josh Lee reached base on a throwing error by
Mike Moffatt, and he went to second on a bunt single by Tyson Ashcraft.
Chucky Vazquez singled through the left side to bring Josh Lee home to tie the game at 1-all. A sacrifice bunt from Mike Korte advanced Ashcraft and Vazquez a base before a one-out bunt single from Michael Gigliotti scored Ashcraft to put the Bisons ahead, 2-1.
The Norse threatened in the bottom half of the frame.
Logan Spurlin led off the inning with a single up the middle, and Moffatt followed with a single to left field. A
Caleb Lonkard's sacrifice bunt sent Moffatt to second and Spurlin to third, but back-to-back strikeouts ended the NKU inning before bringing a run home.
Lipscomb added two runs in the third on a Vazquez single to left field to push the advantage to 4-1. The Bisons plated five in the fourth, highlighted by a three-run home run from Jonathan Allison, two in the fifth and two in the seventh to stretch Lipscomb's lead to 13-1. A Gigliotti eighth-inning home run resumed play after a lightning delay, and Allison's second home run of the game came in the ninth for the final margin of the game.
Gigliotti led the way for Lipscomb, which improved to 34-18 on the year and 12-8 in the conference, going 3-for-4 with three runs scored and two RBIs, while Grant Massey went 3-for-6, drove in two runs and scored once. Adam Lee and Vazquez each finished 2-for-5 with Adam Lee scoring twice and Vazquez bringing home three runs for the Bisons, who collected 18 hits on the day and stranded 10 base runners.
Cody Cooper (5-5) took the loss on the mound for NKU, surrendering 11 runs, just seven earned, on 11 hits in four-plus innings. He struck out two batters and walked three, while Lipscomb starter Jeffrey Passantino (4-1) gave up one run on five hits with five strikeouts in the win for Lipscomb.
NKU and Lipscomb wrap up the final series of the season for the Norse on Saturday at noon. Senior Day festivities will take place prior to the game. A link to live stats is available at nku.statbroadcast.com, and John Asalon will have the call on ASun.TV. Fans can track the game's progress by following @NKUNorseGameDay on Twitter as well.
