BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Junior Lucas Water tallied a season-high three hits but it wasn't enough as the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers pounded out 15 hits on its way to a 16-7 victory over the Eastern Kentucky baseball team on Wednesday night. EKU fell to 14-14-1 with the loss while the win moved WKU to 14-16.
The Colonels quickly plated a pair of runs against WKU starter Peter Wiggins in the top of the first on a two-out two-run single from sophomore Matt Davis driving in junior Tyler Barnett and senior Shawn Flora.
WKU came right back in the bottom of the inning as Kaskie was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, and eventually came around to score on a balk by EKU starter Chris Hord. A one-out double off the bat of Scott Colt later in the inning drove home two to put WKU in front 3-2.
Eastern jumped back in front though with a pair of runs in the third. Barnett led off with a single, moved to third on a Waters single and then came home on a balk. Waters scored a batter later on a Western error to give EKU a 4-3 lead.
But again the Toppers would answer in the bottom of the inning. A one-out triple by Matt Hightower plated Troy Frazier to tie the game, and a sacrifice fly brought home Hightower to give Western a lead it would not relinquish.
The Hilltoppers would give themselves some breathing room the very next inning as Scott Kaskie led off the fourth with a double and scored on a Dayleg RBI single. A Hamilton single to left was misplayed, allowing Dayleg to score the second run of the inning, and a Colt sacrifice fly brought home Hamilton to stretch the WKU lead to 8-4.
EKU cut its deficit in half in the sixth taking advantage of poor Western defense. Davis walked to begin the inning and junior Joe Oliver followed with a single to push sophomore Frank Krailler, who pinch ran for Davis, to second. Krailler then came around to score a batter later on a Western throwing error which left Eastern with first and third and none out. Freshman Zach Monroe then bounced into a double play which scored Oliver but ended a potential big Eastern inning as sophomore Aaron Barrows grounded out a batter later to end the threat.
Western once against responded as Hamilton and Wade Gaynor led off the bottom of the inning with a double and single, respectively. Colt then cleared the bases with a triple to center, and came in to score on a Hightower sacrifice fly to stretch the lead back out to 11-6. The Colonels did not threaten again as Western won its sixth straight game over Eastern.
EKU added a run in the ninth on an RBI double from Waters driving in junior Tyler Barnett. The Colonels used eight pitchers in the game, with Chris Grider (3-3) taking the loss.
The Colonels return to conference play with a three-game series at Murray State this weekend. The series begins with a doubleheader on Saturday at 2 p.m.
