NKyTribune staff
Northern Kentucky University baseball standout Griffin Doersching has been named the Horizon League Freshman of the Year.
Doersching also earned a spot on the All-Horizon League first team. The freshman batted .302 with 10 home runs and 32 runs batted in against Horizon League foes this season. He led NKU in total home runs (13) and ranked second on the team in RBI (49).
In a 16-13 win over Youngstown State on May 11, NKU’s Griffin Doersching was 4-for-5 with three homers and nine runs batted in. The nine RBI tied a Norse single-game record.
In a 16-13 win on May 11, Doersching was 4-for-5 with three home runs, four runs scored, and nine RBI. He tied the NKU record for most RBI in a game with former Norse player Matt Mason, who accomplished the feat in 2001.
NKU’s Will Haueter also made the All-Horizon League first team, while the Norse’s Chad Roberts was named to the All-Horizon League second team.
Haueter led NKU in batting average (.357), slugging percentage (.597), on-base percentage (.451) and a Horizon League-leading doubles (18). Haueter has 45 doubles in his career, which puts him in sole possession of sixth place in the NKU record book. In addition to his on-the-field accolades, Haueter was also named to the All-Horizon League Academic team and the Google Cloud Academic All-District Team selected by CoSIDA.
Roberts batted .290 on the season with nine doubles, 12 home runs, 38 runs scored and 50 RBI. He ranked first on the team in RBI and third in the Horizon League. In the team’s 8-6 win over then-No. 6 Kentucky on March 7, Roberts went 3-for-5 with a double, a home run, and two RBI help the Norse get the victory.
Two other NKU players, Andrew Bacon and Collin Hohman, were named to the Horizon League’s All-Freshman Team. Bacon made 38 starts in 43 appearances in his first collegiate season. He hit at a .236 clip with five doubles, six home runs, 20 RBI and 29 runs scored, while primarily playing in the outfield. He also hit a grand slam against Oakland on April 13, which helped NKU post a 9-6 victory.
Hohman started in 40 of the 44 contests that he appeared in behind the plate. He had four doubles, 10 RBI and 15 runs scored in his first collegiate season with the Norse. In the first game of his collegiate career against East Tennessee State on Feb. 18, Hohman went 3-for-4 at the plate with a double, an RBI, and a run scored to help the Norse to a 5-4 win.
NKU is 14-38 overall, and the Norse posted a 9-21 record in the Horizon League. Sixth-seeded NKU will meet third-seeded Milwaukee in the first round of the Horizon League Tournament at 4 p.m. on Wednesday. Wright State is the top seed and host for the event, which will be held at Nischwitz Stadium.
