Box Score (PDF)
HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – Northern Kentucky (5-15, 1-1 Atlantic Sun) held North Florida (11-11, 3-2 Atlantic Sun) to just one run over their final four turns at the plate to come away with a 8-6 victory this afternoon. The Norse turned a double play in the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded to clinch their first conference victory of the season.
The two teams combined for 31 hits but not hit proved to be more important than a two-run home run by Northern Kentucky's Caleb Kellogg in the bottom of the fifth to break a 5-5 tie. Kellogg finished the day going 3-for-4 with three RBIs.
The Ospreys put the ball in play but were unable to cash in on opportunities. A total of four North Florida hitters had three hits in the ball game.
Alex Bacon and
Drew Weeks recorded three hits for the second-straight game.
Weeks drove in the Ospreys first run of the game and in the process etched his name in the UNF record books in the top of the third. With two outs he drilled his first triple of the season to right center field, scoring
Corbin Olmstead. He now has hit safely in 30-straight games, breaking the school record of 29 held by Kyle Caltrett. He ups his league leading batting average to a sizzling .456 this season.
Trailing 5-1 after four innings, the Ospreys made a statement in the top of the fifth with four runs, tying the game up at five. A lead-off single by
James Abbatinozzi put a runner on for the red-hot Olmstead. The sophomore crushed a no doubter over the right field wall for his third home run in 13 starts. Weeks followed up with his second hit of the game, a single that scored
Kyle Brooks to make the score 5-4.
Patrick Ervin tied the ball game up with an RBI ground out to second. In all the Ospreys strung together six-straight hits in the frame and sent nine men to the plate.
That would be all that Norse starting pitcher, Wendell Wright allowed in the game. He threw 118 pitches over eight innings to earn his first win of the season. The eight innings was the longest outing of the year for a Norse pitcher this season.
After the four-run inning by the Ospreys in the fifth, the Norse responded with two runs on one swing of the bat. With one out Kellogg followed a double by Josh Myers with his first career homer that cleared the right field, giving the Norse a 7-5 advantage. An unearned run in the next inning capped the Northern Kentucky scoring.
North Florida looked as though it might put together an improbable rally in the top of the ninth. Weeks found himself in the middle of another scoring inning, leading off the inning with a single and later scoring on Bacon's third hit of the game. The Ospreys loaded the bases with one out but Norse reliever Jake Shaw induced the game-ending double play for his third save of the season.
Abbatinozzi made his first start of the weekend behind the dish and produced a 3-for-4 effort on offense. Olmstead finished the day going 3-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBIs. He has recorded 13 hits in his last 30 at bats and driven in 8 runs in the last six games.
The win is the first for the Norse in six tries against the Ospreys who swept the season series last year.
The two teams will meet again Sunday for the rubber game of a three-game series. First pitch is scheduled for 12:00 p.m.
