Feb. 15, 2003
Orlando, Fla. - Freshman Tim Grogan (Villa Hills, Ky.) hit a grand slam in the first inning for his first collegiate hit at Western Kentucky, but it wasn't enough as the Hilltopper baseball team fell short 6-5 to the University of Central Florida Saturday afternoon at Jay Bergman Field. The loss evened WKU's record at 1-1, while UCF went to 2-2.
Grogan's grand slam off Mark Michael (1-0) in the first came on a 3-2 pitch with one out and nailed the scoreboard in right. The blast drove in Matt Gunning (Jr., Victoria, British Columbia), Antone Towns (So, Louisville, Ky.) and Brent Miller (So., Muncie, Ind.), who each reached on singles with one out. The homer was the first by a Western Kentucky batter this season. Gunning, who was 2-for-5, got things started with a single to right. Towns and Miller followed with hits to left and left-center, respectively, to load the bases.
The slam was enough as Western found itself down 6-4 heading into the final two innings. With one out, senior Matt Wilhite (Franklin, Ky.) lined a pinch-hit single to center and moved to second when Grogan walked. Wilhite was picked off at second when he got caught going to third on a double steal. Grogan, who was safe at second, scored on David Lower's (Sr., Anderson, Ind.) single to right to make it 6-5.
In the ninth, Western tried to rally with two outs. Matt Johnston (Jr., Clarkson, Ky.) singled to right to get things going. Gunning followed with a single up the middle, but Clay Timpner threw out Johnston at third.
Single runs in the fourth and sixth gave UCF the 6-4 lead. In the fourth, Ryan Bono drew a walk off of starter Andy Baldwin (Jr. Campbellsville, Ky.) (0-1), who took the loss, and advanced to third on singles by Matt Fox and David Mann. A sacrifice bunt by P.J. Lehman drove in Bono to give the Golden Knights a 5-4 lead. A solo home run by Fox off of Adam Prida (Jr., Tampa, Fla.) in the sixth gave the hosts a 6-4 advantage.
The Golden Knights tied the game in the third with a two-run bloop single by Dave Lambert between shortstop Travis. With one out, P.J. Lehman and Dee Brown reached on back-to-back singles and Baldwin walked Clay Timpner to load the bases for Timpner.
UCF got a run back in each of the first two innings. In the first, leadoff hitter David Mann singled and stole second. Mann moved to third on ground ball. Dee Brown drove in Mann with a sacrifice fly to center. The second saw Bear draw a walk to start the inning and steal second. After striking out Rich Wallace, Baldwin appeared to have gotten out of the inning when Ryan Bono lifted a ball to left. Lower lost it in the sun allowing Bear to score from second on Bono's double.
Western and UCF close out theier series with a single game on Sunday at Noon (EST).
