May 13, 2003
Lexington, Ky. - Western Kentucky senior catcher Kevin Bearden (Tallahassee, Fla.) had two of the Hilltoppers four home runs as they defeated Kentucky 10-3 Tuesday night at Cliff Hagan Stadium for their fourth straight win.
The victory improved Western's record to 28-20 on the season, while Kentucky fell to 22-30.
Back-to-back home runs off Kentucky starter Mark Galvin with two outs in the first put Western on the board with a 3-0 lead. After Matt Gunning (Jr. Victoria, B.C.) singled to right, Tim Grogan (Fr., Villa Hills, Ky.) homered to left-center field. Antone Towns (So., Louisville, Ky.) followed with a home run over the trees in right-center field. The homers were the fifth of the season for each batter.
After giving up a run in the bottom of the first, the Hilltoppers added a pair of runs in the top second off Galvin for a 5-1 lead. Bearden led off the inning with his second homer of the season and the third of his career. With two outs, Matt Johnston (Jr., Clarkson, Ky.) doubled to left-center field off reliever Matt Scott driving in David Lower (Sr., Anderson, Ind.), who walked and went to second on a sacrifice bunt by Rafael Vallejo (So., The Bronx, N.Y.).
The Wildcats got a run back in the bottom of the third when Brad Pickrell led off the inning with a home run off WKU starter Kenny Hughes (Sr., Indianapolis, Ind.).
Western scored its final run in the top of the sixth to take a 6-2 advantage. With one out, Lower reached on an infield single and went to third on a hit by Vallejo. A sacrifice bunt by Johnston brought in Lower.
Bearden got his second home run of the game to lead off the eighth inning. He now has three home runs on the season and is the second Topper to have two homers in a game. Johnston had two home runs in the contest with Lipscomb on April 18.
In the ninth, WKU added three runs. Travis Brown (Sr., Kankakee, Ill.) drew a bases loaded walk scoring pinch hitter Dennis Winn (Fr., Bowling Green, Ky.), who led off the inning with a double to right. Grogan scored the second run on a wild pitch. Vallejo drove in Trevor Keesling (Sr., Hagerstown, Ind.) for the final run with a single for his third hit of the game.
Hughes tossed four innings allowing two runs on five hits before being replaced by Igor Roiberg (Jr., Toronto, Ontario) in the start of the bottom of the fifth. Roiberg allowed one run on one hit in 3.2 innings of work to improve to 2-3. Matt Wilhite, (Sr., Franklin, Ky.) pitched the final 1.1 innings to record his tenth save of the year, setting a new WKU season saves record.
It was second time the Toppers have hit four home runs in a game this season. The other time was April 18 against Lipscomb.
The Hilltoppers close out their home schedule on Wednesday with a 6 p.m. (CST) game with Eastern Kentucky. Western closes out the regular season next weekend with a three-game series in New Orleans.
