Brian Beltz pitched 8 2/3 scoreless innings

SAUGET, Ill. - Brian Beltz demonstrated Saturday night why the pitching staff at Northern Kentucky University is considered one of the deepest, most talented group of hurlers in the nation.

Beltz pitched 8 2/3 and struck out nine batters before giving way to Steve Thomas as NKU posted a 1-0 win over Quincy in the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament. The top-seeded Norse improved to 41-18-1 and will play for the GLVC championship at 4 p.m. (Eastern time) against the winner of the Quincy/Indianapolis game.

Beltz, a junior left-hander and a graduate of Louisville Ballard High School, upped his record to 6-4. He scattered four hits and walked only one batter.

Thomas notched his 11th save of the season by getting Nick Dunning to ground out to third base for the final out with runners on first and second. Beltz retired the first two batters of the inning, but Chris Scroggins singled and NKU head coach Todd Asalon called on Thomas to close out the game.

Thomas, a senior from Elder High School in Cincinnati, allowed a single to Matt Nichols before getting the final out.

Kory Lonergan scored the game’s only run in the first inning by coming home from third on Conor McGeehan’s sacrifice fly to center field. Beltz then outdueled Quincy starter Brad Bumpus - who also allowed just four hits and struck out seven - for the victory.

In the first game Saturday, NKU rallied from a 5-4 deficit in the ninth inning to tie the score, and the Norse scored twice in the 11th to pull out a 7-5 decision over Southern Illinois at Edwardsville. Jon Back’s RBI single in the 11th snapped a 5-all tie and was the key hit.

Nick D’Ippolito (right) is greeted by Jon Back

Kenny Wilson later drew a bases-loaded walk to force in an insurance run, and Thomas picked up the win by pitching a perfect bottom of the 11th inning.

Nick D’Ippolito gave NKU a 1-0 lead in the second inning by crushing a pitch from Clay Zavada over the fence in left-center field. SIUE roared back in the bottom of the inning with a three-run homer by
Bryan Newby to take a 3-1 advantage.

NKU struck for two runs in the third inning to even the score at 2-all as Chris Nann and McGeehan each drew bases-loaded walks. The Norse took a 4-3 lead in the fourth inning when Lonergan singled in Wilson.

SIUE bounced back in the bottom of the eighth with a pair of runs to take a 5-4 advantage, but NKU responded by taking advantage of a Cougar error in the ninth. Matt Jones - who tied an NKU single-game record with five hits - doubled to start the inning, and McGeehan lined a one-out single to right field with Jones being held up at third.

SIUE right fielder Jeff Darnall, however, uncorked an errant throw that short-hopped catcher Seth Hall and bounced up the third-base line, allowing Jones to trot in from third to tie the game. McGeehan advanced to third on the same play via another Cougar error, but D’Ippolito struck out swinging to strand the go-ahead run 90 feet from home.

NKU starter Paul David Patterson went seven innings and allowed just one earned run. He also struck out three batters.

NKU, which reached the 40-win plateau for the first time since 1989, is currently ranked 23rd nationally in the NCAA Division II poll. The Norse are No. 2 in the North Central Region rankings.

NKU is going for its third GLVC Tournament championship in the last five years. The Norse also won the event in 2002 and ’04.

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