April 3, 2002
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - Antone Towns (Fr., Louisville, Ky.) hit his first career grand slam in the bottom of the first inning, and Patrick Ransdell (Sr., Bowling Green, Ky.) broke open a close ballgame with his second home run of the season in the seventh as the Western Kentucky University baseball team defeated Vanderbilt, 13-6, Wednesday at Nick Denes Field. The Hilltoppers (19-8) improve to 16-3 at home with the win, while the Commodores (14-9) have dropped five of their last six.
Vanderbilt began the scoring in the top of the first when Karl Nonemaker scored on a passed ball with the bases loaded, and Tony Mansolino crossed home plate when Topper starter Grady Hinchman (Fr., Pendleton, Ind.) hit John Kaye to give the Commodores a 2-0 lead.
WKU answered in the bottom of the inning, putting two on with no outs as David Lower (Jr., Alexandria, Ind.) drew a lead-off walk and Tanner Townsend (Sr., London, Ky.) reached first after being hit by VU starter Steven Faulkner. After Jeff Pacholke (Sr., Prairie DuSac, Wis.) walked to load the bases, Towns smashed the grand slam over the right field wall to put Western ahead, 4-2.
After a scoreless second and third, the Commodores cut the lead to one when Chris Broadus doubled down the left field line and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Worth Scott. Scott Vanderhoff stepped up and hit a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Broadus to make it a 4-3 game.
The Hilltoppers matched Vandy's run in the bottom of the fourth, courtesy of a Ransdell RBI single to right to extend the Topper advantage to 5-3.
The Commodores cut the lead to 5-4 in the top of the fifth, and then moved ahead in the top of the sixth, scoring two more runs to give VU a 6-5 lead.
WKU once again responded, plating two runs in the bottom of the inning thanks to a pair of RBI singles by Townsend and Ryan Cattell (Sr., Minnetonka, Minn.) to regain control, 7-6.
After the Commodores were unable to muster any runs in the top of the seventh, the Toppers added to their lead in the bottom of the inning when Nick Turner (Sr., Louisville, Ky.) walked and Trevor Keesling (Jr., Pendlton, Ind.) singled to right to put two on with one out. Ransdell stepped to the plate sent reliever Jeff Sues pitch over the left field wall, giving the Toppers a 10-6 lead.
WKU scored two more in the seventh and another in the eighth, while Andy Baldwin (So., Campbellsville, Ky.), J.C. Faircloth (Fr., Jacksonville, Fla.) and Matt Wilhite (Jr., Franklin, Ky.) combined to hold the Commodores scoreless in the final three innings.
Hinchman went 3.0 innings, giving up two runs on four hits, while Baldwin earned the win, tossing 1.2 scoreless with one strikeout to improve to 3-3 on the year.
Vanderbilt used four pitchers to give up a combined 12 hits, with Sues earning the loss to drop to 2-1 on the season.
The Hilltoppers return to action Friday as they host Florida International in a 6 p.m. (CST) start.
