CINCINNATI –  Northern Kentucky baseball put a pair of runners on base in the ninth, but was unable to push the tying or go-ahead run across the plate in a 6-5 setback to cross-river rival Cincinnati on Tuesday. The loss drops NKU to 13-38 overall, while UC moves to 25-27 on the season.
 
AT THE PLATE

• Will Haueter clubbed a trio of hits for the Norse, driving in one run and scoring once.
• Griffin Doershing, Jake Murray and Preston Pilat each went 1-for-4 at the plate, with Doersching and Pilat delivering home runs for NKU.

• Andrew Bacon had a 1-for-3 showing and Jayden Wakeham had a hit in his only plate appearance.

 
ON THE MOUND

• TJ Graves (0-2) suffered the loss after tossing the first 2.2 innings. He allowed four runs on four hits and five walks, while fanning three Bearcats.
• Tyler Murphy gave up one run in 1.2 innings of work out of the bullpen.
• Gunnar Barnard had quality outing from the pen, tossing 3.0 innings of one-run baseball.
• Tyler Ollier faced one batter in the eighth, inducing a groundout.

• Noah Richardson worked the final two-thirds of the eighth, registering one strikeout.

 
KEY MOMENTS

• Cincinnati struck first when Griffin Merritt doubled to lead off the second. After being sacrificed to third, he scored on a balk. The Bearcats then loaded the bases, but Noah Fisher came up with a diving stop on a grounder up the middle and tossed the runner out at second to prevent any further damage.
• NKU answered in the top of the third. With one out, Andrew Bacon was hit by a pitch and then driven in from first off a Jake Murray double that was laced off the right field fence. Murray then scored off of Haueter's sharply hit ground ball through the right side.
• UC tacked on three runs in the bottom half of the third, capitalizing on five walks issued by Norse pitchers, to retake the lead, 4-2.
• A pair of runs courtesy of Doersching's home run to deep left field tied the game in the fifth. Haueter, who singled and moved to second on an error by UC's Joey Wiemer in left field, scored on the play.
• UC scored runs in the home half of both the fifth and sixth innings to regain a two-run advantage, 6-4.
• Preston Pilat thumped his fourth long ball of the season in the eighth inning to bring the Norse back within a run.

• Wakeham delivered a pinch-hit single to open the ninth and advance to second on Bacon's sac bunt. Murray walked to give NKU runners on first and second, but Haueter grounded into a double play to end the threat.

 
GAME NOTES

• Doersching's home run is his 13^th of the season, matching the total from his freshman campaign last year.

• Haueter's three-hit game is his sixth contest of the season with at least three hits. He's also had multi-hit games in six of the last seven outings for the Norse.

 
UP NEXT

• NKU has wrapped up the nonconference portion of its schedule and will host UIC in the final regular-season series of the year, May 14-16. Thursday's series opener is set for 3 p.m. at Bill Aker Baseball Complex.