In the bottom of the ninth with one out, Jake Paulick stepped up the plate facing Elijah Green. This was Green’s third inning of work in which he had already given up two runs but was determined to force the game to extra innings.
Paulick had other ideas, as he launched a towering home run to deep right center field and won it for the Norse, 6-5. The Norse would go on to win the series, taking two games out of three against Eastern Illinois in their last series before conference play.
After losing the first game of the series to the Cougars 8-5, NKU did not give up and responded with back-to-back walk-off wins to improve their record to 8-6.
“Just stick with our process. And, you know, just stack up cues and, you know, make plays and do all the things that we need to do to win,” NKU Head Coach Dizzy Peyton said about getting his team fired up to rally back.
In game one of the series, NKU starting pitcher Kaden Echeman gave up four runs over four innings of work. This was cleaned up with a strong pitching performance in the second game by Conner Linn, who gave up just two runs and struck out five over 5.2 innings. Noah Sackenheim and Aaron Massie also gave up one run and struck out seven over 4.1 innings of relief in the third game.
The Norse offense also woke up with Logen Devenport going 3-4 with two RBIs and Paulick hitting a walk-off home run in the ninth inning of game two. Paul Bauerle also had a quiet 3-4 day with two RBIs in game three, which was followed up by a Braydon Rogers RBI single that capped off the game and the series in NKU’s favor.
The Norse battled in every at bat and made sure the next man up got an opportunity to keep the line moving.
Eastern Illinois had their pitching staff focused in this series, as both starters went six innings or more. However, NKU battled and put themselves in a position to win.
“We’re a pretty resilient group, and they love challenges. So I think all of the stuff that we’ve done up to this point is going to be getting us ready for the conference,” Peyton said about his team getting ready for their first conference series against Purdue Fort Wayne.
NKU has gotten off to a start that has allowed them to experiment with their competition. To start the season, they were swept by East Tennessee State. However, in the following series against Bellarmine, they returned the favor and got a sweep of their own.
“You know, I think we’ve been searching for our identity, and I just told them that, you know, pretty sure that we found our identity,” Peyton said regarding his team finding their identity.
The Norse continue to shape this identity with competitiveness and resiliency. They respond to tough losses with clutch performances and late-game heroics that make them a tough team to put away.
NKU will take on the Eastern Kentucky Colonels at home next Tuesday at 3 p.m. as they prepare for conference play against Purdue Fort Wayne at home next Friday at 3 p.m.