HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. –
Cole Bauml and
Brad Bohlen each recorded two hits to lead the Northern Kentucky University baseball team, but the Norse fell to Lipscomb University, 7-1, in its season finale on Senior Day at the Bill Aker Baseball Complex.
Bohlen finished 2-for-3 for NKU, which collected six hits on the day and stranded six base runners, while Bauml went 2-for-4 in the final game of his collegiate career.
David Head and
Taylor Sears each collected one hit to account for the six hit total for the Norse, who finished the 2015 season 17-34 overall and 5-16 in the Atlantic Sun.
Matt Jefferson (3-8) took the loss for NKU, allowing four runs on four hits with one strikeout and six walks over 3.1 innings of work in his last appearance in the Black and Gold.
Jake Shaw pitched 3.2 innings of relief, and he struck out four batters and gave up two runs on two hits.
Lipscomb, which improved to 35-18 on the year and 13-8 in the conference, took a 2-0 lead after the first inning. Michael Gigliotti drew a lead-off walk, and an Adam Lee sacrifice bunt sent him to second. After a strikeout, Jonathan Allison doubled to deep center field to score Gigliotti before Josh Lee doubled down the left field line to bring Adam Lee home.
The Bisons added to their advantage in the second when Hunter Hanks, who hit a two-out single to reach base, scored on a wild pitch before adding another run in the fourth. Mike Korte was walked to start the Lipscomb frame, and he went to second on a sacrifice bunt. A wild pitch advanced Korte and Gigliotti, who also drew a walk, a base, and Korte came home as Grant Massey reached on a fielder's choice to put the Bisons ahead, 4-0.
NKU threatened in the bottom of the fifth. Sears was hit by a pitch to start the Norse inning, but he was caught stealing.
Logan Spurlin then drew a walk, and a Bohlen single through the right side sent Spurlin to second. Lipscomb, however, turned a quick double play to end the frame before NKU could bring home a run.
The Bisons added two runs in the sixth for a 6-0 advantage before the Norse offense broke through in the bottom of the inning. Head led off with a single through the right side, and Sears sent a one-out single through the right side. The Norse then made a Lipscomb error hurt as Spurlin reached base on a throwing error by Korte, and Head came home to score to cut the NKU advantage to 6-1.
Lipscomb brought home the game's final run on a bases-loaded walk in the top of the ninth inning for the final margin of the game.
Hanks led the way for Lipscomb, which recorded six hits and left nine runners on base, going 2-for-3 with two runs scored, while Adam Lee drew three walks and hit a two-run home run, his only hit of the contest, in the sixth. Gigliotti, Allison and Josh Lee each collected one hit as well.
Brady Puckett (6-2) allowed one unearned run on five hits in the win for Lipscomb, and he struck out three batters and walked just one. Jason Ziegler gave up just one hit and struck out one in two innings of relief.
The 2015 season saw NKU set new benchmarks. The 17 victories for the Norse is the most for the team since beginning the reclassification process, and Bauml's 25 doubles, which finished one shy of the school record of 26 set by Jason Cisper in 2010, is the most by an NKU player in the D-I era. Bauml became the first Norse baseball player to earned Atlantic Sun Player of the Week honors after the first weekend of action.
