April 30, 2003
Bowling Green, Ky. - The Western Kentucky baseball team fell behind 3-0 to Murray State early on Wednesday, but scored four runs in the second and five in the third and tied a season-high 17 in a 13-7 win. Western improves to 24-16 with the win, while the Thoroughbreds fall to 17-21.
Western got its first lead of the game when it rallied for four runs with two outs in the seond. Travis Brown's (Sr., Kankakee, Ill.) single to left got the rally started. Matt Robinson's (Fr., Louisville, Ky.) double moved Brown to third and both crossed the plate on David Lower's (Sr., Anderson, Ind.) blooper to right. Following a walk to Rafael Vallejo (So., The Bronx, N.Y.), Matt Johnston (So., Clarkson, Ky.) drove in both with a double.
Western extended its advantage to 9-3 with five more runs in the fifth inning. With one out, Trevor Keesling (Sr., Hagerstown, Ind.) doubled and stole third. He scored on a single by Tim Grogan (Fr., Villa Hills, Ky.). Grogan stole second and scored on the first of two doubles by Brown. Robinson kept things going by reaching on an error and moving Grogan to third. Lower drove in Grogan with a sacrifice fly to right. After Vallejo doubled, Johnston singled to driving in Robinson and Vallejo.
After Murray State got a run back in the fourth, Western added three in the bottom of the fifth. Brown led off the inning and went to third on a single by Robinson. Lower loaded the bases when a pitch hit him. A single by Vallejo drove in Brown, while Robinson scored when Johnston hit into a double play. Brent Miller (So., Muncie, Ind.) singled to drive in Lower for a 12-4 lead.
In the seventh, the Thoroughbreds got three runs off Travis Sewell (So., Utica, Ky.). Brett McCutchan drove in Charlie Ward for the first run with a single. Garner Byars, who walked scored on a groundout. A double by Dan McLeavey drove in Jared Allsbrooks to make it a 12-7 contest.
Freshman Dennis Winn (Bowling Green, Ky.) closed out the scoring in the eight when he led off the bottom of the inning with his first collegiate home run off Chandler Shepherd. Winn finished 2-for-3.
Five players finished the game with multiple hits for WKU led by Brown and Robinson with three a piece. Johnston set a career-high with four RBI, while Lower drove in three.
The Thoroughbreds got a quick start out of the gate scoring three runs on two hits and three walks in the top of the first inning on starter Igor Roiberg (Jr., Toronto, Ontario). After Ward led off the game with a walk, Byars doubled to left to put runners on second and third. Roiberg loaded the bases when he walked McCutchan. With one out, Geoff Kirksey singled to left center to score Ward and Byars, Vallejo nearly threw McCutchan out at third, but he knocked the ball out of Tim Grogan's glove with his slide.
Roiberg would not allow a run in the next two innings and left with a 4-3 lead to get his first victory of the season. The Hilltoppers used six pitchers in the contest. The final three - Adam Prida (Jr., Tampa, Fla.), Joe Shortt (Jr., So. Hempstead, N.Y.) and Matt Wilhite (Sr., Franklin, Ky.) - combined to throw 2-2/3 innings of scoreless baseball.
Western hits the road this weekend as it travels to Las Cruces, N.M. for a three-game series with Sun Belt Conference leader New Mexico State. The first game is at 8 p.m. (CST) on Friday with a doubleheader on Saturday. WKU returns home on Tuesday to host Vanderbilt at 6 p.m.
