The Northern Kentucky University baseball team could not overcome an eight-run inning by Morehead State University Wednesday as the Norse suffered a 20-4 setback in non-conference action.
Dominic Mercurio drove in two runs for NKU (16-25) and was one of eight Norse batters to record a hit against Morehead State (28-17). Josh Myers and Nate DeNicola each collected doubles for the Norse, who finished with eight hits and left 11 base runners stranded.
Trey Ganns (1-2) took the loss on the mound for NKU, surrendering four runs on five hits with two strikeouts and two walks in 2.2 innings of work. Pierce Knisley allowed just one walk in one hitless inning of relief for the Norse.
NKU took a 1-0 lead after the first inning. David Head sent a one-out single up the middle, and Cody Kuzniczci followed with a single through the left side. Logan Spurlin was hit by a pitch to load the bases before Kyle Colletta drew a walk to bring Head home.
Morehead State gained the lead in the third after stringing together three straight RBI doubles from Chris Robinson, Robby Spencer and Brandon Rawe, taking a 4-1 advantage, but the Norse pulled to within one (4-3) with two runs in the fourth. Colletta hit a one-out single and proceeded to steal second. An Anthony Vagnier single to centerfield sent Colletta to third.
Colletta then took advantage of an error by third baseman Blaine Tanner to put the second NKU run on the scoreboard as Josh Myers reached on a fielder’s choice. Dominic Mercurio singled to left-center field to bring Vagnier home.
The Eagles, however, responded with an eight-run bottom of the fourth, highlighted by a Clayton Meyer grand slam to take control of the game. A two-run home run from Rawe pushed the Morehead State lead to 14-3.
Josh Myers added to the Norse total on the sixth. He hit a lead-off double to center field and went to third on a wild pitch. Mercurio grounded out to shortstop, but Myers came home to cut the NKU deficit to 14-4.
Meyer led the Morehead State offense, going 4-for-6 with four RBIs and four runs scored, while Robinson and Spencer each recorded three hits, drove in three runs and scored twice. Both Robinson and Spencer collected a pair of doubles as did Nick Newell, who finished 3-for-5 with one RBI and two runs.
Aaron Leasher (3-3) claimed the victory after pitching two scoreless innings of relief. He struck out two Norse and did not walk a batter. Starter Patrick McGuff allowed three runs on five hits, and he struck out five batters and walked two in four innings.
NKU returns to the Bill Aker Baseball Complex on Friday to open a three-game Atlantic Sun Conference series against Jacksonville. First pitch for the opener is scheduled for 3 p.m. Saturday’s contest was originally slated for a 1 p.m. start time but has been pushed back to 3 p.m. as well.
The two teams wrap up the weekend at noon on Sunday.
Live stats for each contest are available at nku.statbroadcast.com, and John Asalon’s audio broadcast can be found at NKUNorse.com. Sunday’s game will be shown on ASun.TV.
From NKU Athletics