Box Score March 11, 2018 Box Score (PDF) | Box Score (HTML)
HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. - The RedHawk baseball team pushed its unbeaten streak to nine games when it topped Northern Kentucky, 11-9, Sunday on the road in 10 innings. The win moved Miami to 11-3 on the season, the team's best start to a campaign since 1983 and the third-best ever in program history.
The Red & White had a 9-6 lead entering the bottom of the ninth, but three-straight RBI doubles by the Norse knotted the game at nine apiece to force extras innings. Miami fired right back in the top of the 10th and took the lead back for good on a Brooks Urich two-run single that brought in Cal Elvers and Kyle Winkler. Cole Gnetz took the mound in the bottom half of the inning to close it out, tossing a 1-2-3 frame with two strikeouts to pick up the save.
After scoring in innings one through five on Saturday, the RedHawks managed to get another solid start again by plating tallies in the first four frames Sunday. In the first, a Landon Stephens RBI single scored Parker Massman. NKU managed a run in the home half of the inning on a solo shot to right.
In the second, with one out, Brooks Urich and Adrian Texidor stole third and second base, respectively, before a Will Vogelgesang walk chucked the bases. Parker Massman came through with a two-run single to right center, bringing in both Urich and Texidor. Ross Haffey followed with a one-run single through the left side to bring in Vogegelsang and give Miami a 4-1 lead through one and a half.
The `Hawks pushed the advantage to four in the third thanks to a Vogelgesang single that brought Winkler around to score. However, the Norse would narrow the lead to two with a two-run bottom half via a one-run double and a wild pitch with a runner on third.
Miami got one of the runs back in the fourth when Stephens crossed home plate courtesy of an Elvers RBI groundout, but a bases-loaded walk in the Norse part of the inning made it 6-4 RedHawks entering the fifth.
An RBI triple and another wild pitch with a runner on third allowed NKU to tally two more runs, pulling the game even at six apiece after five innings.
In the top of the seventh, with the bases loaded, it was Miami capitalizing on a Norse miscue as Stephens hustled home thanks to a wild pitch. The run put the RedHawks back up, 7-6, before they got some insurance runs in the ninth on a Haffey two-run shot, his second homer in as many games and fourth on the season. The senior's blast proved to be more than insurance runs, but a necessity, as NKU had its three-run ninth before Miami won it in the tenth.
The RedHawks are back at it on Tuesday when they host Dayton in a doubleheader beginning at 3 p.m.