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By Mike Anderson, NKU Sports Information EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - The Northern Kentucky University baseball team started the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament on a sour note, dropping its fifth game to Bellarmine, this time by a score of 1-0. The Knights (34-18) got on the board in the second after Jeff Dillman picked up a solid two-out single to center. Ben White followed up with a seeing-eye double to right-center field to bring the speedy Dillman around to score the game's only run. The Norse hit the ball solidly throughout the night, but just could not put together a run-scoring inning. Their best chance came in the fourth when Jon Back led the inning off with a sharply-hit single off third baseman Chris Wiedmar. Pat Muth sacrificed himself to move Back to second, then Jake Shaffer's ground ball to second moved the senior to third. Evan McDole followed up with a rocket down the right side that Dillman was able to spear on one hop to end the inning. NKU had life against in the seventh with Kevin Dusold's two-out triple, his fourth of the season, but Jeff Bohlen's offering grounded weakly to second to end the threat. The Norse tried once more in the ninth after Pat Muth laced a single into left field. Muth went on the first pitch to Shaffer, a breaking ball that the junior just couldn't get his bat on, and was caught stealing to clear the bases. The Norse went down in order and face elimination in tomorrow's action. Dave Middendorf (5-4) gave a Herculean effort on the mound, going the distance and retiring the final seven batters he faced in order to keep the Norse in the game throughout. He struck out seven Bellarmine batters against two walks, and surrendered just five hits. Derek Mattingly (8-2) got 15 ground ball outs from the Norse, including a pair of double-play balls, in the shutout. Mattingly struck out five and walked four while scattering four hits. Offensively, Dusold was 2-for-2 for the Norse, while Rusty Farris gave a 2-for-4 performance for the Knights. Northern Kentucky (33-22) will play Friday afternoon against Southern Indiana, which fell to Indianapolis by a 12-4 score in the tournament's opening game. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. Eastern time and can be heard live on nkunorse.com. |
