HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – Down by three entering the ninth inning on Saturday, the Western Michigan baseball team rallied to tie the game and send it into extra innings, but for the second straight day it was Northern Kentucky who came out on top, 9-7.
FINAL SCORE: Northern Kentucky 9, Western Michigan 7 (F/10)
LOCATION: Bill Aker Baseball Complex (Highland Heights, Ky.)
RECORDS: Western Michigan (0-5) | Northern Kentucky (5-1)
W: Joey Perkins (1-0)
| L: DJ Thompson (0-1)
Entering the ninth inning trailing 7-4, the first two Broncos reached in front of
Jackson Kitchen, who tripled in a pair to put the tying run 90 feet away. Western Michigan then loaded the bases for
Dylan Nevar, who notched a sacrifice fly to tie the game at 7-7.
Jake Gernon and
DJ Thompson then combined for a scoreless bottom of the ninth to send the Broncos and Norse into extra innings for the second consecutive day.
The Broncos started the 10th inning with back-to-back singles by
Will Morrison and
Brendan Harrity. One out later however, a double play ended the Western Michigan threat. NKU then hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the inning for its second straight walk-off win.
Northern Kentucky got out to a 3-0 edge with a run in the second inning and two more in the third.
WMU got its first run of the afternoon in the fifth, as Kitchen brought in
Josh Swinehart with a sacrifice fly. NKU countered with a run of its own in the bottom of the inning.
Morrison briefly got the Broncos within two, 4-2, with an RBI single in the seventh, but the Norse restored their three-run cushion with a tally in the home half of the frame.
In the eighth,
Gavin Doyle launched a two-run homer, his first of the season, to bring the Broncos to within one, 5-4. Once again NKU answered, as the home team pushed across two of its own in the next half inning.
The five through nine spots did the majority of the damage offensively for Western Michigan, as all five of those hitters had multi-hit games and combined to score six of WMU's seven runs. Harrity and Morrison tallied three knocks apiece, while Doyle, Kitchen and Swinehart each had a pair of hits. Kitchen led the Broncos with three RBIs for the day, while Doyle added a pair.
On the mound, left-hander Dane Amrbrustmacher racked up a season-high eight strikeouts over the course of six innings in a no-decision.
The Broncos and Norse close out their three-game weekend series on Sunday. First pitch is scheduled for 12 pm.
