Northern Kentucky University wraps up its 2015 baseball schedule with a three-game Atlantic Sun Conference series against Lipscomb at the Bill Aker Baseball Complex.
The final series will start with a 3 p.m. contest on Thursday. Friday’s first pitch is set for 1 p.m., and Saturday’s Senior Day will begin at noon. Links to live stats for each contest are available at nku.statbroadcast.com, and John Asalon’s audio broadcast for Thursday and Friday can be found at NKUNorse.com. Saturday will be featured on ASun.TV.
NKU fell to 17-31 overall after dropping a 5-1 decision on the road to Kentucky on Tuesday. Quint Heady finished 3-for-5 to lead the offense while Trey Ganns went 2-for-4 with a double and set up the scoring play for the Norse. Jake Shaw allowed five runs on 11 hits in 7.1 innings of work on the mound, and Kevin Herren pitched 0.2 hitless innings of relief with one strikeout for NKU. The Norse are 5-13 in the Atlantic Sun.
ABOUT LIPSCOMB: The Bisons are 32-18 on the year after a 2-1 loss to Austin Peay on Tuesday. Mike Korte went 2-for-3 for Lipscomb as Grant Massey brought home the lone Bisons run in the fifth inning with Michael Gigliotti scoring on Massey’s single. Nick Andros gave up one unearned run on two hits over two innings of relief for his first loss of the season. The Bisons are 10-8 in the Atlantic Sun.
Massey leads three Lipscomb players who boasts averages over .300, batting .344 on the year with nine doubles, one triple and two home runs. He has successfully stolen 16 bases in 19 tries. Gigliotti holds a .333 batting average, and he has recorded four doubles, three triples, three home runs and 14 stolen bases. Jonathan Allison rounds out the over-.300 hitters as he is hitting .314 and leads the team with 13 doubles to go along with one triple, five home runs and 12 stolen bases.
As a team, the Bisons lead the Atlantic Sun with 78 stolen bases, and their pitchers have only surrendered 226 runs to top the conference as well. Lipscomb’s 15 doubles is second in the league, and the pitching staff boasts a 3.89 earned run average to land third in the Atlantic Sun.
NKU-LIPSCOMB SERIES: Lipscomb holds a 5-1 lead in the all-time series with NKU. The Bisons swept the Norse during NKU’s inaugural season as an NCAA Division I program, taking a 1-0 victory in the first-ever meeting on May 3, 2013, at the Bill Aker Baseball Complex before handing NKU a 3-2 loss in 10 innings the next day. Lipscomb completed the series sweep with an 11-6 win in a weather-shortened, 11-inning effort.
Last season, Lipscomb opened the series in Nashville, Tennessee, with a 3-5 victory on April 25 before posting a 2-4 win on Saturday. NKU then claimed its first-ever victory over the Bisons in Sunday’s finale, defeating Lipscomb, 2-0.
LAST YEAR AGAINST LIPSCOMB: Quint Heady went 3-for-8 (.375) with one stolen base and one run scored over two starts against Lipscomb to lead the NKU offense, while Jordan Procyshen recorded two doubles on three hits and scored twice for the Norse.
Cody Cooper pitched four innings of scoreless relief in the NKU victory one year ago, giving up just one hit to go along with four strikeouts and four walk, to earn his third win of the season. Jake Shaw struck out two, walked one and scattered three hits across three innings for the save.
Jonathan Allison finished 4-for-9 (.444) with one home run, and he drew four walks to pace Lipscomb last season. Tyson Ashcraft batted .429 (3-for-7) with two RBIs, one run scored and one stolen base, while Tyler Bethune went 2-for-5 (.400) with one home run, two runs scored and two walk over two starts for the Bisons.
Ian Martinez-McGraw surrendered two runs on seven hits with six strikeouts and three walks in 6.2 innings of work in the opening-game victory. Nick Andros struck out two batters in four hitless innings of relief to earn the win for Lipscomb in the second game of the series.
RIGHTIES VS. LEFTIES: NKU will send three left-handed pitchers to face a trio of right-handers from Lipscomb this weekend. The Norse are expected to start sophomore Evan Korson, who holds a 5.04 ERA over 60.2 innings of work with 40 strikeouts, in Thursday’s opener before senior Cody Cooper takes the mound on Friday. Cooper is 5-4 on the year with a 5.20 ERA with 34 strikeouts. Senior Matt Jefferson will earn the start on Senior Day, taking three wins and a 6.20 ERA to the mound with him. He leads the team with 43 strikeouts, and he has walked just 26 batters in 81.1 innings.
Ian Martinez-McGraw will take to the bump on Thursday for Lipscomb. Martinez-McGraw is 6-3 over 13 starts, and he holds a 2.45 ERA to go along with 49 strikeouts. Friday’s projected starter is Jeffrey Passantino, who is 3-1 on the year and boasts a 2.29 ERA. He has struck out 57 batters and walked just 13 this season. Brady Puckett will earn the start in the final regular-season contest for both teams on Saturday. Puckett has recorded a 5.40 ERA and 5-4 record, and he has struck out 36 batters over 58.1 innings of work.
FINISHING STRONG: Quint Heady finished 3-for-5 against Kentucky to lead the NKU offense. He has recorded six multi-hit games over the last 11 games for NKU. Over that span, he has recorded a .388 batting average to go along with six stolen bases. He has posted three or more hits in three contests, including a 4-for-4 effort against USC Upstate on April 26 to lead the Norse to their first Atlantic Sun series sweep. Heady also stole three bases in that contest as well.
The redshirt junior from Louisville, Kentucky, holds a .293 batting average on the year, and he has recorded five doubles, one triple and two home runs. He has successfully stolen 11 bases in as many tries, and he has driven in 17 runs and scored 16 times.
SENIOR DAY: NKU will honor seven senior and three juniors who will wrap of their careers in the Black and Gold prior to Saturday’s contest, which is scheduled to start at noon. Cole Bauml, Cody Cooper, David Head, Matt Jefferson, Caleb Lonkard, Josh Myers Drew Campbell, Taylor Sears, Ryan Hinz, and Dominic Faron will conclude their collegiate careers against Lipscomb.
From NKU Athletics