March 22, 2003
Bowling Green, Ky. - A night after winning a game in the ninth inning, the tables were turned Saturday afternoon on the Western Kentucky baseball team as the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns scored the game's lone run in their final at bat for a 1-0 win at Nick Denes Field. The loss ended a 4-game winning streak for the Hilltoppers who fall to 11-7 and 1-1 in the Sun Belt). Louisiana is now 7-19 overall and 1-1 in the conference.
Western starting pitcher Andy Baldwin (Jr., Campbellsville, Ky.) walked Bryan Sneed to lead off the ninth. Pinch runner Kevin Preau moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt by Phillip Hawke. Preau advanced to third on a fly ball to center by Rhett Buras and came in to score on a base hit Brad Saloom off reliever Matt Wilhite (Sr., Franklin, Ky.). Saloom finished 3-for-4 in the game.
The run in the ninth was the only blemish in a contest that proved to be a pitcher's duel between Baldwin and Ragin' Cajun starter Andy Gros. Baldwin fell to 1-4 with the loss despite allowing just four hits and walking two batters. He struck out seven batters missing his career-high by one. Baldwin retired 11 straight batters at one point. Gros was strong as well scattering six hits, while fanning eight. He let just one WKU batter reach second.
Offensively, Western missed chances to score in the first and fourth innings. In the first, Matt Johnston (Jr., Clarkson, Ky.) led off with a single and stole second. Johnston's single extended his hitting streak to 17 games - seven shy of the school record. The best chance for the Hilltoppers was in the fourth when two base running mistakes were costly. Tim Grogan (Fr., Villa Hills, Ky.) led off the inning with a single to right but was picked off at first by Gros. After reaching on an infield error with one out, sophomore outfielder Antone Towns (Louisville, Ky.) was sent back to the dugout on another pick off. Without the errors, WKU would had runners on first and second or first and third with no outs.
The two teams close out their series on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Nick Denes Field.
