Niles, Ohio – A pair of Northern Kentucky pitchers limited the Youngstown State baseball team to two hits as the Norse defeated the Penguins 13-1 on Saturday afternoon at 717 Credit Union Field at Eastwood.
The Norse evened the three-game Horizon League series at a game apiece after the Penguins won the series opener 11-6 on Friday evening. NKU improved to 10-10 in Horizon League play with Saturday's victory while YSU dropped to 7-10 in league action.
NKU starter EJ Miramontes allowed one hit with five strikeouts and one walk over five scoreless innings to earn the win. The senior left-hander retired seven straight batters between the second and fourth frames. YSU's first hit of the game came when Brady Shannon led off the bottom of the fifth inning with a single. Elijah Green allowed one run on one hit and struck out four batters over four innings of relief.
Garrett Cutting belted his fourth home run of the season to extend his hitting streak to nine straight games while Shannon added a base hit for the Penguins offensively.
The Norse scored once in the first inning and once in the fourth before striking for three tallies in the top of the fifth. Northern Kentucky added three insurance runs in the top of the eighth inning before Cutting's solo homer in the bottom half of the frame. NKU pulled away with five runs in the top of the ninth to produce the final margin.
YSU starter Jack Messmore surrendered five runs on seven hits and three walks over 4.1 innings in a losing effort. Tyler Heflin retired the first seven batters he faced out of the bullpen after taking over for Messmore with one out in the top of the fifth. The sophomore right-hander sat down the Norse in order in both the sixth and seventh innings. Heflin was responsible for three runs over 3.1 innings of relief while Kale Wemer allowed five runs in 1.1 innings of work.
The Norse struck first with a single run in the top of the first inning. Pierce Bauerle drew a leadoff walk and scored from second on a two-out RBI double by Ethan Thomas. NKU pushed across another single run in the top of the fourth as Mark Nowak drew a leadoff walk, advanced to third on a single by Peter Krumins and scored on Landon Springmeyer's RBI single.
Northern Kentucky pushed its lead to 5-0 with three runs in the top of the fifth. Jake Paulick led off the inning with a home run to right center before Josh Williams reached with a bunt single and swiped second. After Marcus Harrison was hit by a pitch, Thomas doubled home Williams and Nowak followed with a sacrifice fly that plated Harrison.
The Norse added a pair of runs in the top of the eighth to build an 8-0 advantage. Nowak hit a leadoff single and scored on Alex Brazer's RBI double while Springmeyer walked and scored on a sacrifice fly from Bauerle. Brazer raced home on an RBI double by Paulick for the final run of the inning. NKU tacked on five runs on six hits in the top of the ninth inning.
Springmeyer and Brazer each recorded two hits and three RBIs from the eighth and ninth spots, respectively, in Northern Kentucky's lineup to pace the Norse offensively.
The Penguins and Norse will play the rubber match of their three-game Horizon League series on Sunday afternoon. First pitch at 717 Credit Union Field at Eastwood is scheduled for 1 p.m. and the game will be broadcast live on 1390 WNIO and the iHeartRadio app.
