NKU baseball made their presence known and flexed their muscles during their historic tournament games at the NCAA Regional Opener versus the University of Tennessee and the University of Southern Mississippi.
It opened on Friday night in Knoxville, Tennessee against the overall number one-seeded Tennessee Volunteers.
To say it was a hot start is an understatement, as senior third baseman, Cleary Simpson, gave the Norse an early one-run lead. He took the third pitch of NKU’s first ever NCAA tournament at bat deep to right field for a home run at the top of the first inning, energizing the Norse in the dugout.
After a two hit bottom of the first inning by Tanner Gillis, the power of the Volunteers began to show. Tennessee posted three consecutive scoring innings, beginning at the bottom of the second inning with Reese Chapman’s lone hit of the day, leading to a Kavares Tears run to tie the game at one.
At the bottom of the third inning, Gillis experienced the worst series of pitches he could, as he walked four of the seven batters that he faced. Gillis walked Tears again, which led to Blake Burke scoring the leading run. Only a few pitches later, Dean Curley flew out to left field which brought in Billy Amick to score one of his three runs he scored on the day.
The Norse again went hitless at the top of the fourth inning and Gillis faced his last few batters, as he surrendered a double to Christian Moore, walked Burke and brought up Amick to the plate with two runners on. Amick brought home all three of his RBIs on the day with a fierce smash to center field to push the Vols lead up to 6-1.
To start the sixth inning, Treyvin Moss was picked off at first after his single to center, but Liam McFadden-Ackman sent a missile to right field to chip away at the deficit, setting the game at 6-2.
Nick McClanahan continued his dominance on the mound to the bottom of the sixth, not allowing a hit since he entered in the bottom of the fourth. The Norse continued to pick away at the Vols, as a Jake Paulick groundout brought in Brennan Rowe to score the third and final run for the Norse.
McClanahan’s no-hitter was quickly brought to an end, as Hunter Ensley’s lone hit on the day was a shot to right field to add on to the Vols lead, 7-3.
Jared Teke’s entrance would be less than ideal for NKU, as an Amick walk and a Dylan Dreiling home run would seemingly put the dagger in the Norse’s graves, as a Kirby Connell no-hitter at the top of the ninth would end the game at Rocky Top with a final of 9-3.
The next day was filled with hope, but was quickly shut down after both NKU and Southern Mississippi could only muster up a total of two hits through the opening three innings.
The top of the fourth is when Southern Miss began to bust the game open, as a Ben Gerl walk of Dalton McIntyre was shortly followed by a Davis Gillespie home run to left center to give the Golden Eagles a 2-0 lead.
The top of the sixth brought more trouble for the Norse, as back-to-back singles by Slade Wilks and Gillespie were followed by Nick Monistere slapping a double to left field, bringing home Wilks to add to the lead, 3-0. Shortly after, a Braden Luke single would bring home both Gillespie and Monistere to give Southern Miss a 5-0 lead and end Ben Gerl’s day.
The top of the seventh was seemingly the ending for the Norse, as a Wilks pop fly brought home McIntyre to round out the scoring for the afternoon and set the score at what it would end up being as a final, 6-0.
The Norse had a less than expected day, as they could only get two hits and finish with four total on base.
“It’s just a great experience, but you know, we’re going to use this as, kind of, a catapult,” said head coach Dizzy Peyton about the Norse making it to such a high stage in collegiate baseball.
NKU finished their season with a record of 35-24, and won their first ever Horizon League championship.