NKU notebook: Baseball battling, softball chasing, tennis numbers up, track & field look to Horizon meet

By Dan Weber NKyTribune sports reporter With the loss of three straight weekend series, all by two games to one, against Wright State at home and then to Oakland and Milwaukee on the road, the NKU baseball team has slipped from the Horizon League lead by a game after the Wright State series to trailing the Raiders by a game. Both teams are 25-18 overall but NKU is 13-8 in the league to Wright State’s 14-7. NKU heads to ACC team Louisville for a 6 p.m. game Tuesday after dropping a 7-6 game at the Big East’s Xavier last week. NKU has three Horizon series the next three weekends – hosting Youngstown State this weekend in Friday, Saturday, Sunday games, then Purdue Ft. Wayne next weekend (May 10-12) and a season-ending road series at Wright State Thursday-Saturday (May 16-18).

The home series games start at 2 pm. Fridays, 1 p.m. Saturdays and noon Sundays. The Wright State series games will start at 3 p.m. Thursday, 2 p.m. Friday and 1 p.m. Saturday. Pitching is still a big issue for the Norse who outscored Oakland 36-17 in the three games and still lost two of them. Then NKU gave up 37 runs in the three-game Milwaukee series, allowing double-digit runs in all three. And yet, in the pitching-free zone that the Horizon is, NKU, with a 7.63 team earned run average, is No. 3 in the league behind Milwaukee’s 6.60 and Oakland’s 7.38. But it’s on offense where NKU shines with a .321 team batting average, second only to Wright State’s .324. As far as individuals, NKU’s Liam McFadden-Ackman, a 6-foot-1, 195-pound senior from Mason, Ohio, is the Horizon’s top hitting threat across the board, leading the league in seven categories starting with his 17 home runs. Mcfadden-Ackman also leads the league in slugging percentage (.633), on-base percentage (.539), OPS (combining the two of 1.372), RBI (68), walks (47) and sacrifice flies (5). He’s also second in the league in batting average (.414) just behind the .415 of Wright State’s Julian Greenwell and third in runs scored (53) and base hits (67). NKU’s Tanner Gillis, who has been out with an injury the last month, has four wins (against four losses) which is tied for fourth in the league in that category and is No. 2 in the league for opposing batting average of .243.

NKU SOFTBALL HAS BIGGER CHALLENGE With the same Horizon record as the baseball team at 13-8, the NKU women’s softball team – like the rest of the league – finds itself chasing league-leading Youngstown State (17-4 Horizon, 33-15 overall). NKU (21-18 overall) is third in the league behind second-place Oakland (22-16, 14-6 Horizon). The Lady Norse do have the distinction of beating Big Ten Michigan, 3-2, earlier in the season. NKU’s Ella Lemonie is third in the Horizon in batting average (.394), on-base percentage (0.441) and hits (52). NKU’s Olivia Pasti is fifth in batting average (.360), fourth in OPS (1.102), fourth in RBI (29) and doubles (12). NKU’s Lauryn Hicks’ nine wins are fourth-best in the league and her 2.76 ERA is No. 5 in the Horizon. Her .198 opposing batting average is No. 1 in the league and her five saves are second-best in the league.

WINNINGEST TENNIS SEASON FOR NKU MEN ENDS With a 5-1 loss to Tennessee Tech in the Horizon League quarterfinals Friday, the NKU men finished with a record six conference wins and a Division I school record 12 NCAA wins in a 12-8 season. Cleveland State’s 8-0 league mark (21-6 overall) won the league. An almost completely international roster at NKU has athletes from Hidalgo and Jalisco, Mexico; France, Germany, Canada and the Czech Republic in addition to one team member from Westerville, Ohio. WOMEN’S TENNIS TEAM REACHES HORIZON QUARTERFINALS For the first time, the NKU women made it to the Horizon quarterfinals last week before falling to champ Cleveland State, 4-3. The NKU women, who finished 2-4 in the league, good for fifth place, ended up with a 6-12 overall season – the most wins for the NKU women in Division I. Like the men, the NKU women sport a near complete international roster with six of the seven athletes from Australia, Brazil, Kazakhstan, Guatemala, Italy and the Netherlands in addition to one from Greenwood, Indiana. TRACK & FIELD HEADS to HORIZON OUTDOOR MEET

After the NKU women finished fourth in the Horizon League Indoor Championships with 55 points and the men finished eighth with 10 in late February, both are headed to the Horizon Outdoor Championships May 3-5 at Oakland U. in Rochester, Mich. The indoor finishes are the best-ever finish for the women, who came in second at the EKU Invitational and won their inaugural NKU Invitational this spring. For the men, that Indoor number marks the most points ever scored by the men. Leading the women is high-jumper Julia Pohl, a sophomore from Winchester, with a school-record 1.73-meter high jump that is also the best mark in the Horizon League. For the men, who are expecting the biggest recruiting class ever next fall, sophomores Natnael Weldemichael, from Beechwood High, and Jacob Line, from Ryle, finished 1-2 in the mile in the NKU Invitational with Weldemichael’s personal record of 4:16.17 and Line’s personal best at 4:18.46. Contact Dan Weber at dweber3440@aol.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @dweber3440.