By Derek Terry

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UK defeated Northern Kentucky twice on Sunday to complete a three-game sweep of the Norse, winning Game One 7-6 and Game Two 9-4.

The two wins pushed the Cats’ streak to ten in a row as UK won Saturday’s game against NKU 6-0. Head coach Gary Henderson credited the starting pitching as a big reason for the Cats’ victories over the weekend.

“The goal was to get at least seven innings out of those guys,” Henderson said. “In terms of throwing strikes and keeping walks and base runners to a minimum, I thought they did a nice job this weekend.”

In Game One, UK got on the board in the bottom of the third inning when junior left fielder Ka’ai Tom hit a two-out single to score sophomore shortstop Connor Heady and junior designated hitter Dorian Hairston.

Tom finished the day with five runs batted in on a 3-for-7 hitting performance. The left fielder said the offense was focused on letting the game come to them.

“We have a team approach not to do too much and not to swing too hard,” Tom said. “We’re focused on hitting line drives and below.”

NKU got a run back in the next frame when centerfielder Cole Bauml hit a home run off UK starting pitcher Dustin Beggs.

The Cats added their third run of the game in the bottom of the fourth when sophomore right fielder Marcus Carson grounded into a double play that scored Heady.

After another Norse score, UK responded with four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning thanks to two costly errors from NKU.

The Norse cut the lead to 7-6 by the ninth inning, but senior right-hander Spencer Jack struck out the only batter he faced to earn his second save of the season.

Beggs finished the day with seven innings pitched, allowing three runs on five hits and striking out a career-high eight batters.

UK scored its first run of the second game on a balk in the bottom of the second inning. The Cats then added another run when Hairston hit a sacrifice fly to score junior catcher Greg Fettes.

UK stretched its lead out to 4-0 off two, bases-loaded free passes in the bottom of the fourth, scoring sophomore second baseman JaVon Shelby walked and Tom.

Bauml hit his second homer of the day in the top of the sixth to put NKU on the board, this time off of UK starter Kyle Cody. But it wasn’t enough to top a seven-inning, eight-strikeout day from Cody.

The junior right-hander has now allowed only one run in his last 14 innings pitched.

“It was another good start today,” Cody said. “It wasn’t as clean as my last start, but I was still able to get outs when I needed to.”

UK will return to Cliff Hagan Stadium on Tuesday to take on Cincinnati (3-9). The Bearcats have not won an away game this season, and are 58-29-2 all-time against UK. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m.