Don Owen: Even-numbered years meant odd trends — and multiple GLVC titles — for NKU baseball

What do the years 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008 have in common with Northern Kentucky University baseball? Hint: It’s something odd — despite the fact each of those are even-numbered years.

An odd trend? Only if you classify winning conference championships exclusively during even-numbered years as unusual.

That’s what materialized on the baseball diamond during the first decade of NKU head coach Todd Asalon’s reign. Though NKU had been firmly established as a regional powerhouse at the NCAA Division II level for years, the Norse had never won a Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament championship entering the 2002 season.

That all changed in 2002 as Asalon — in his second year as NKU head coach — guided his alma mater to its first-ever GLVC crown. The Norse won the GLVC title again in 2004. Then again in 2006. And, again in 2008. Meanwhile, the odd-numbered seasons became gap years at NKU for championships. The odds weren’t kind to NKU.

“I was like, ‘What do we have to do to repeat?’ after those [odd-numbered] years,” said Asalon, now in his 20th season as head coach at NKU. “Looking back, repeating is really hard. It’s tough to do in any sport. In those odd years, we still had pretty good seasons. But you have to give credit to the teams that won it those years. But I was scratching my head about the odd years.”

NKU joined the GLVC in time for the 1986 baseball season. In 16 years, the Norse had never hoisted the GLVC Tournament trophy. Some of the great NKU teams under iconic head coach Bill Aker earned trips to the NCAA Division II Tournament, but never did they win a GLVC Tournament. That includes Aker’s 1989 squad that posted a 45-9 record and came within one pitch of claiming a berth in the NCAA Division II World Series.

It made the 2002 GLVC title particularly satisfying for Asalon, a three-year starting catcher for Aker and NKU’s team captain in 1982 and ‘83. “It was probably the most special one,” he said of the 2002 GLVC championship. “We were able to do it in front of the home crowd. It was against a really good opponent — Saint Joseph’s was a powerhouse back then. I think that’s when we put our footprint on the GLVC because we were really good after that for many years.”

The beginning of NKU’s even-numbered years domination almost never happened, though. A late-spring storm system drenched the area the day before the 2002 GLVC Tournament was to begin. The forecast didn’t produce much in the way of optimism for the weekend, either.

“I was really worried. I’d never hosted a tournament before,” Asalon said of the weather. “When I was the head coach at Thomas More, we were always on the road for the regionals. Now, here we are at NKU, hosting this thing with the weather not cooperating, and our field didn’t drain well back in those days.”

“There was a lot of pressure playing at home. We were lucky to get it in.”

NKU did more than just get it in. The Norse crushed Lewis by a 14-1 score in their opener. NKU then rallied from a 6-1 deficit to knock off Missouri-St. Louis, 10-7, and defeated Saint Joseph’s by a 5-2 score the following day to advance to the championship game.

A rematch with Saint Joseph’s awaited NKU on May 12, 2002. So did Norse history, courtesy of senior catcher Jason Martin.

MARTIN SETS RECORD WITH CLUTCH HIT

Martin’s run-scoring single in the eighth inning snapped a 3-3 tie and lifted NKU to a 5-3 win over Saint Joseph’s in the championship game. Martin also became NKU’s all-time career hits leader (264) with that RBI single.

“That was a clutch hit against Saint Joseph’s, but that’s Jason Martin,” Asalon said. “He was a great leader, outstanding defensive catcher and a tough kid. I’d take a player like him any day. Jason was such a good hitter, and you have to remember that all of his hits were with wood bats.”

Chad Anderson pitched 2 1/3 innings of two-hit baseball in relief and picked up the victory for NKU. Neither the weather nor the GLVC opposition stopped NKU that weekend in Highland Heights.

“We had all of our alumni there and it was a great crowd,” Asalon said. “I don’t know how we pulled it off, but we did. It was a really cool event. Fun to play at home, for sure.”

That marked the final time NKU would host the GLVC Tournament, as neutral-site locations were chosen for future events. But that didn’t stop the fun and celebrations for NKU. During even-numbered years, that is.

NORSE + SAUGET = CHAMPIONSHIP

The 2004 neutral-site location was Sauget, a city in Illinois located just 10 minutes from St. Louis. NKU won four straight games in 2004 to capture the GLVC Tournament in Sauget. In 2005, the GLVC Tournament shifted to O’Fallon, Mo., and NKU was eliminated early in the double-elimination event.

But an even-numbered season loomed, and so did NKU’s third GLVC title in 2006. This one again happened in Sauget. And this championship came the hard way as NKU battled out of the loser’s bracket to take the title with a 3-2 victory over Quincy.

Kory Lonergan’s two-out single in the bottom of the ninth inning drove in Josh Moulton with the winning run as NKU claimed its third GLVC Tournament championship in five years.

“That took a special group of guys to be able to come out of the loser’s bracket and win the tournament like that,” Asalon said. “We lost earlier and it forced us to beat Quincy twice.”

Despite a collection of talented arms in 2007, including GLVC Pitcher of the Year Matt Marksbury and eventual MLB All-Star reliever Nate Jones, the odd-year jinx struck NKU again. Indianapolis swept NKU in a season-ending doubleheader to deny the Norse a spot in the GLVC Tournament. But in 2008, NKU again continued the trend by claiming the GLVC Tournament championship for the fourth time in that decade.

“We had a lot of power and great pitching coming back,” Asalon recalled, “so I thought if we’re ever going to repeat and get this odd-year thing off our backs, 2009 was going to be it.”

Indeed, it was. NKU defeated Quincy, Rockhurst and Indianapolis to advance to the championship game of the double-elimination tournament in Sauget. The Norse met Indianapolis — NKU’s biggest GLVC rival — for the title on May 10, 2009. And NKU finally got even with the odd-year jinx.

Kevin Dusold’s two-run single in the top of the ninth inning snapped a 3-all tie and lifted NKU to a 5-3 victory over the Greyhounds in the GLVC championship game.

“Those were really good baseball teams, both in 2008 and ’09,” Asalon said. “We were loaded in 2009 with big bats like Evan McDole, Kevin Dusold and Jason Cisper. Our pitching was very solid. We beat a really good Indianapolis team in the championship game.

“That was our fifth GLVC championship of the decade. And we proved we could win a championship in an odd year.”

Here’s another oddity in the history of the even-keel Norse baseball program: Aker guided NKU to a pair of World Series appearances in odd-numbered years. In 1979, NKU advanced to the NCAA Division II World Series in Springfield, Ill., after winning the regional with a 9-2 victory over Bellarmine. In that game, Dave Conradi pitched a four-hitter and added a three-run double to ignite the NKU victory.

And in 1985, NKU battled back from a 1-9 start to eventually claim a spot in the NAIA World Series in Lewiston, Idaho. That also marked the final season of NKU’s four-year stay in the NAIA.

Also, NKU won a school-record 49 games in 1977. And that’s not to mention the 1989 NKU squad, which ran off a school-record 21 consecutive victories during a 45-9 season.

Call it an odd trend.

Contact Don Owen at don@nkytrib.com and follow him on Twitter at @dontribunesport