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By Chad Hensley, NKU Sports Information Game 1 box score | Game 2 box score HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – A three-run top of the ninth inning propelled the Northern Kentucky University baseball team to a 9-6 extra-innings victory over the University of Wisconsin-Parkside in Game 2 of the afternoon doubleheader at the Bill Aker Baseball Complex. The Norse took the first game by a 10-0 margin in a scheduled nine inning game. Game 2 was scheduled to be a seven inning affair between the two clubs. Yes. That is correct. NKU scored three runs in the top of the ninth inning while at home. The weekend series was originally scheduled to be played at UWP’s Oberbruner Field but was moved to the NKU campus to circumvent the potential for bad weather is Wisconsin. With the doubleheader sweep, NKU stays atop the Great Lakes Valley Conference East Division standings. Bellarmine and Kentucky Wesleyan, who are tied for second place in the East Division at 3-1 each, will begin their weekend tilt Saturday in Louisville, Ky. UWP (1-22, 1-5 GLVC East) took an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first of Game 2 on a RBI groundout and a Norse throwing error. It took seven batters before a Norse batter could reach base, but in the top of the third, Shannon McCormick singled to the Ranger third baseman and was instantly followed by Brian Erie’s single up the middle. Erie advanced to second when the UWP centerfielder tried to gun down McCormick at third. NKU (17-10, 6-0 GLVC East) then received a gift as Jack Larsen balked in McCormick and giving the Norse their first run of the game. Erie would score courtesy Jake Morris’ RBI sacrifice fly to centerfield. The Norse would add two more in the stanza when Kevin Dusold smacked a two-RBI double to center field allowing Evan McDole and Brett Hofmann to score. NKU added two more runs in the top of the fourth before the Rangers scored four runs, including a steal of home in a rare triple steal, knotting the game in the bottom of the fifth at 6-6. Both teams squandered opportunities before the Norse would tally the game winning markers in a peculiar fashion in the top of the ninth inning – three runs without the help of a hit. NKU tallied the deciding runs on two walks, three Ranger errors, and two fielder’s choices. Matt Winterhalter (3-2) picked up win going 3 1/3 innings while allowing just one hit and striking out four. Nic Larson (0-2) took the loss for the Rangers. In Game 1, NKU gained an early advantage on the scoreboard when Jack Ambrose’s two-out RBI double scored McDole, who also doubled with two outs, from second base. The RBI was Ambrose’s first RBI since tallying eight in a doubleheader sweep over West Georgia on March 8. McCormick led off the bottom of the second with a triple and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Jason Cisper, who went 2-for-3 with three RBIs and a run scored in Game 1. The Norse would add single runs in the fourth and sixth innings en route to knocking Ranger starting pitcher John Olson (0-5) out of the game before blowing the game wide open with six runs in the bottom of the seventh. Kleinmeyer came on in relief of Olson to start the bottom of the seventh and allowed six runs on four hits but was hurt by three more errors on the way to giving up just one earned run in the inning. |
