HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – Northern Kentucky baseball begins the 2022 season on the road, traveling to Johnson City, Tennessee to take on East Tennessee State in a three-game series this weekend, beginning Friday, Feb. 18.
GAME INFORMATION
Northern Kentucky Norse (0-0 Overall, 0-0 Horizon League)
East Tennessee State Buccaneers (0-0 Overall, 0-0 SOCON)
Johnson City, Tenn. | Thomas Stadium
Friday, Feb. 18 – 3:00 PM (ET) // TV:
ESPN+ //
Live Stats
Saturday, Feb. 19 – 2:00 PM (ET) //
Live Stats
Sunday, Feb. 20 – 1:00 PM (ET) //
Live Stats
NORSE QUICK HITS
- Northern Kentucky enters the 2022 season after finishing fifth in the Horizon League a season ago. The Norse were also selected to finish fifth this season in the Horizon League Preseason Poll.
- The Norse will see multiple familiar faces on the field this season including seniors Jayden Wakeham (C) and Noah Richardson (P). Juniors Treyvin Moss (OF) and John Odom (2B) are back for NKU, along with sophomore pitchers Ben Gerl and Kyle Klingenbeck.
- NKU sees multiple new faces on the coaching staff this season in addition to Coach Peyton as Steve Dintaman and Connor Walsh each enter their first year as assistant coaches for NKU. Hunter Losekamp joins the Norse as a volunteer assistant coach, Nate Jones as director of baseball player development, Bob Runyan as director of baseball operations, Nate Sallee as director of leadership and character and Ryan Mavriplis as the head team manager.
- This will be the 51st season of Northern Kentucky Baseball, and the 11th season at the NCAA Division I level.
- The top newcomers to the 2022 Norse Baseball program include RHP Noah Sackenheim from Marian as he posted a record of 6-6 with an ERA of 4.17 over 77.2 innings. A pair of infielders join the Norse as well in Ryan Glass (Georgia State) and Manny Vorhees (Ohio Dominican). Glass posted a batting average of .244 a year ago and an OPS of .804. Vorhees went on to hit .300 overall with four home runs, 38 runs batted in and 10 stolen bases in 2019.
SCOUTING THE BUCS
- The Bucs have a record of 22-9 in the opening weekend series since 2011, all of which since then have been at home. The Bucs have won nine of those 11 series.
- Since 2017, the Bucs are outscoring their opponents 44-16 on opening day.
- Southpaw Colby Stuart (Elon, N.C.) was tabbed SoCon Preseason Pitcher of the Year and is expected to make his season debut on the mound Saturday after leading the Bucs with a 6-1 record last season.
- Senior Bryce Hodge (Knoxville, Tenn.) was named Preseason First-Team All-Conference as a DH after smashing ten home runs and batting .295 over 38 games last season. Eight of Hodge's ten home runs last season came in conference play.
- The Bucs are bringing back 19 lettermen while losing 27. 12 of those 19 returners are pitchers, including Bollenbacher, Stuart, and Loyd.
- The Bucs were picked to finish fourth in the coaches' poll and fifth in the media poll.
SERIES STUFF
East Tennessee State leads the all-time series against the Norse at 11-6 overall. These two squads are very familiar with each other, having met a year ago in a three-game series where ETSU took the series 2-1. Northern Kentucky picked up a win in the final game of the series in Johnson City, 4-3.
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