NKU Uses Long Ball to Down Xavier

Wednesday, March 2

Highland Heights, Ky.

2 PM

Xavier University

0-8

Northern Kentucky

3-5

Xavier

Northern Kentucky

Photo by: Rooted Creative

03.02.22 | Baseball

Box Score

Franzoni hits his fourth home run of the season in loss

By: Mark Leopold, Xavier Athletics Communications

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. - Xavier's midweek matchup with Northern Kentucky didn't go as planned as they saw six balls leave the yard in the hitter-friendly Bill Aker Baseball Complex. The Norse used 6-run innings in the first and seventh to take the victory by a score of 16-6.

The Musketeers didn't waste anytime getting on the scoreboard, as Jerry Huntzinger doubled on the first pitch of the game, and after he stole third, Franzoni promptly drove him in. However, that woke up the NKU offense as the piled on 10 unanswered runs with the help of six home runs. Xavier chipped away with a two-run homer from Luke Franzoni, and Aedan Anderson scored after his first hit of his career, but Northern Kentucky broke it open by hitting around in the seventh to take a 16-4 lead. Jeff Holtz's two-run bomb in the ninth brought Xavier closer, but 6-16 was the final from NKU's campus.

Xavier will embark on a two-week road trip starting with USC-Upstate this weekend. The Games will be Friday-Sunday with first pitches at 3, 2, and 1:00 pm ET respectively.

XU AT THE PLATE

Xavier had 10 hits in the game, two coming from Luke Franzoni. He homered for the fourth time this season in a 3-RBI effort.
Jeff Holtz hit his first home run of the season with a two-run blast in the 9th to bump Xavier to their highest scoring output so far in 2022.
Aedan Anderson had his first career hit- a double off the wall in left-center- and later scored on an infield groundout.
Jerry Huntzinger hit a double to lead off the game and later scored in his 1-4 contribution.
Teddy Deters stepped in to pinch hit and promptly rifled a single to the gap in the eighth.
Housinger, Stephenson, Kelly, and Schultz round out the Xavier offense.

XU ON THE MOUND

Luke Hoskins drew the start but gave up four runs to the white hot Northern Kentucky offense.
Miles Halligan was first to relieve, but he also gave up four runs while striking out one.
Jared Gadd came on in the third to try and slow things down, going two innings and giving up two runs on three hits while striking out a pair.
Bobby Jones was great on the mound, pitching a scoreless fifth and sixth frame while striking out two and only allowing one baserunner.
Luke Bell started the seventh and got two strikeouts, Lane Flamm finished it as NKU's bats kept missing Musketeers' gloves.
Justin Loer pitched a scoreless eighth frame that saw him pick up two more strikeouts of the Norse.