HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – The Northern Kentucky University baseball team suffered a 6-1 setback in the front end of a doubleheader against Oakland on Saturday as the Golden Grizzlies followed up with a 12-4 victory in game two after NKU could not recover from a late offensive surge at Bill Aker Baseball Complex.
Oakland (10-11, 4-2 Horizon League) came away with the series sweep while NKU dipped to 7-16 overall and 0-6 in the Horizon League.
Mike Moffatt posted a 3-for-4 showing with two RBI in game two to go 4-for-8 on the day.
The Norse return to action when they travel to take on Kentucky on Tuesday, March 29 at 6:30 p.m. before turning around to host Butler on Wednesday, March 30 at 3 p.m.
Game One (Oakland 6, Northern Kentucky 1)NKU starter
Justin Watts struck out the side in the top of the first in game one, but not before the Golden Grizzlies plated a run on an RBI single for an early 1-0 edge.
A groundout RBI pushed the Oakland lead to 2-0 in the top of the fourth.
Watts held Oakland to four hits across the first five innings and struck out eight in 7.0 innings pitched to tie his career high. However, a three-run sixth inning from the Golden Grizzlies extended the Oakland lead to 5-0.
An RBI single to center from Spurlin in the eighth inning was not enough to overcome the deficit.
Tyler Miller pitched 2.0 relief innings, retiring all six batters he faced, but the Norse offense struggled to convert while Miller kept the Golden Grizzlies at bay.
Dominic Mercurio went 2-for-4 as the Norse distributed seven hits across six different batters, out-hitting Oakland 7-6.
Game Two (Oakland 12, Northern Kentucky 4)Oakland used an eight-run top of the ninth to take game two after the Norse knotted the game at 4-4 in the bottom of the eighth.
The Golden Grizzlies scored a run in the top of the third and the Norse answered back in the bottom of the fourth with an RBI single from Moffatt to plate
Logan Spurlin for a 1-1 tie.
Oakland then scored three runs on three hits and a Norse miscue with the Norse again responding with three runs of their own for a 4-4 tie in the bottom of the eighth.
Trey Ganns,
Will Haueter and Moffatt launched two-out doubles to knot the game.
However, the Norse could not hold off the Golden Grizzlies as they went on to score eight runs in the top of the ninth for the 12-4 result.
NORSE NOTES:- After going 11-for-24 across NKU's first two League series, Mercurio is batting .458 against Horizon League opponents. Meanwhile, Spurlin is batting .368 with four RBI in League contests.
- Watts has a team-best 29 strikeouts in 29.1 innings pitched. He fanned eight batters in 6.0 innings against Kennesaw State on April 10, 2015 to set the career-high that he tied on Saturday afternoon.
