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By Mike Anderson, NKU Sports Information ROLLA, Mo. – Jake Shaffer hit five doubles on Saturday as the Northern Kentucky University baseball team swept a doubleheader against Missouri S&T to close out the Easter weekend’s Great Lakes Valley Conference action. NKU won Game 1, 5-0, before closing out the nightcap, 12-5. Aaron Mentz cranked his second home run in as many days to lead off the fifth inning and give NKU pitcher Ryan Schmidt all the lead he needed to coast to victory in Game 1. The sophomore southpaw went in shut-down mode, retiring 11 of the Miners’ last 12 batters in order for the win. Schmidt (2-0), the reigning GLVC Pitcher of the Week, struck out five batters without a walk to take his second straight shutout victory. Shaffer was 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles to lead the offense. Game 2 saw the Norse take a couple of big offensive innings en route to victory. After the teams traded runs in the first, NKU exploded for five in the third inning, kicked off by Jon Back’s third home run of the season. After Kevin Dusold tripled in Pat Muth, Jack Ambrose went deep for the first time as a Norse, scoring three runs.
After the Miners took a run back in each of the third and fourth innings, the Norse plated four more runs in the top of the fifth on four RBI singles. NKU closed the book by scoring a run each in the sixth and eighth innings. Shaffer added three doubles in a 3-for-3 performance, scoring four runs. Jason Cisper was 3-for-5 with three RBIs, while Ambrose was 2-for-5 with four RBIs. Andy Karpowicz went 4 2/3 innings in the start, striking out two without factoring into the decision. Kevin Jordan (1-0) picked up the next 3 1/3 innings, fanning four batters for his first win of the season. Eric Braeckel pitched a scoreless ninth to close the game out. The Norse (8-10, 5-2 GLVC) are on a roll, having won seven of their last nine contests, and are in the thick of a battle for first place in the GLVC East division, standing a half-game back of division leader Bellarmine. NKU will return to action on Monday, hosting Findlay in a non-conference showdown. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. |
