GREENVILLE, S.C. – The Northern Kentucky University baseball team (0-5, 0-0 HL) lost to Furman (3-3, 0-0 Southern), 9-8, on Friday at Latham Stadium in game one of the series. Matthew Marchal (W, 1-1) gets the win on the mound for the Paladins while Tyler Keith (L, 0-1) is credited with the loss.
AT THE PLATE
- Jake Murray went perfect at the plate with four hits, two of which were for an extra base. He also drove in four runs on the evening, which is a new career high. His previous best was three against Oakland on May 5, 2019. His four hits also tie his career best.
- Griffin Doersching continued his early-season success at the plate, going 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs. He's currently hitting at .412 (7-for-17).
- Tyler Wagner (2-for-3, 2 BB) and John Odom (2-for-4) also had a pair of hits in the ball game. Wagner has registered a hit in all but one game to start this season.
- Andrew Bacon (1-for-4, BB) and Brennan Gick (1-for-4, BB) also had hits in the contest.
ON THE MOUND
- TJ Graves threw for the first inning, giving up five hits and six runs, three of which were unearned.
- Bryson Lonsbury had a fantastic outing for NKU, tossing for six frames that saw just two runners reach home. He also had three strikeouts in that span.
- Keith finished things out for the Norse by fanning three batters, but giving up the winning run in the final inning.
KEY MOMENTS
- The Norse had runners on the corners in the opening frame after a double by Murray and a single by Bacon. Unfortunately for NKU, back-to-back strikeouts stranded the pair.
- Furman rallied off six runs in its half of the first, starting off with a three-run bomb by Trent Alley. Three more came in one at a time through a groundout, a double and a single.
- NKU's first run of the evening came in the third. Odom reached through a leadoff single to left. The Norse freshman then stole second and reached third on a wild pitch to get into scoring position. Murray brought him home with a sac fly to centerfield.
- Runners were on the corners in the fourth for NKU after singles by Wagner and Gick. Jewell loaded up the bases with a four-pitch walk, but Furman found its way out of the jam with a fly out by Odom to keep the score at 6-1.
- A solo-homer by Furman in the fifth tacked on another run for the Paladins.
- Odom and Hedges made it on base through a single and a walk, respectively, to lead off the seventh inning. The Norse scored the pair thanks to a double by Murray and a sacrifice fly to centerfield by Doersching.
- A scorcher of an eighth inning was in the cards for the Norse. Three-straight walks loaded up the bases with Wagner, a pinch-hitter in Jackson Haas and Odom to start things off. Murray took advantage and singled to right to score Gick and a pinch-running Bowden. Odom then reached home plate thanks to a wild pitch on the next at-bat.
- Bacon became the fourth walk of the inning and Doersching singled again to tie the game up at seven apiece as Murray scored.
- The Norse took the lead for the first time of the evening, 8-7, when Bacon made it home thanks to a passed ball.
- Two walks and a wild pitch had runners on second and third for the Paladins in their half of the eighth. An infield single to short by David Webel and a bad throw by Bacon scored two on the play and sealed the game after Furman threw a scoreless ninth.