March 12, 2002
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - Ryan Cattell's (Sr., Minnetonka, Minn.) double to left-center in the bottom of the eighth inning scored both David Lower (Jr., Alexandria, Ind.) and Tanner Townsend (Sr., London, Ky.), leading WKU to a 3-2 comeback win over Eastern Kentucky Tuesday at Nick Denes Field. With the victory, the Hilltoppers (11-5) snap a two-game losing skid, while EKU dropped its sixth-straight contest to fall to 1-8 on the season.
Eastern Kentucky got on the board first when Josh Anderson led-off the game with a single to right off Western starter Grady Hinchman (Fr., Pendleton, Ind.). He would later score after reaching third on a sacrifice fly to right by Adam Visnic to put the Colonels in the lead, 1-0.
WKU made it a 1-1 contest, plating a run of its own in the bottom of the first as Antone Towns (Fr., Louisville, Ky.) scored Townsend from second base with an RBI single to left off EKU starting pitcher Scott Santa.
After neither squad was able to plate any runs in the second, third and fourth, EKU regained the lead in the top of the fifth when Anderson knocked an RBI single up the middle, scoring Justin Czorny to give the Colonels a 2-1 advantage.
The game would remain a pitcher's duel until the bottom of the eighth when Cattell took advantage of two Topper base-runners and launched a double off Colonel reliever Scott Goetz, deep to left-center, scoring both Lower and Townsend to put WKU ahead, 3-2.
Ryan Bicondoa (Sr., Lovelock, Nev.) came in and shut the door on the Colonels in the ninth to earn his first save of the season, preserving the win for the Toppers.
Hinchman tossed 6.0 innings, giving up two runs (one earned) on two hits, while Chris Conley (Fr., Somerset, Ky.) pitched a scoreless seventh and eighth to earn his second win and improve to 2-0 on the year.
EKU used six pitchers to give up a combined three hits, with Goetz earning the loss to drop to 1-1 on the season.
The Hilltoppers will be back in action Wednesday (March 13) as they host Valparaiso in a 2 p.m. (CST) start at Nick Denes Field.
