Senior Riley Garcia, who entered the series ranked third in the Sun Belt with a .379 batting average, hit safely in each game to push her hit streak to seven games. WKU returns to action on Sunday with another two-game set against the Aggies (9-35, 0-5 SBC).
Western Kentucky 5, New Mexico State 1 (game one)
The Hilltoppers plated a run in each of the first four innings, going on top 2-0 after the first and never trailed on the way to a 5-1 win in game one. Senior Allison Silver (14-8) went the distance, allowing five hits (three in the first inning) with five strikeouts and retired 12 Aggies in-a-row at one point. Senior Jessie Richardson tallied a game-high two RBI, while junior Renita Pennington scored a pair of runs for Western.
Western jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first as back-to-back singles by Garcia and sophomore Bailey Rolfs set the table for a two-run inning by the Hilltoppers. Garcia’s single marked her eight straight plate appearance without making an out (seven singles and a walk). A pair of errors on the next play allowed Garcia to score from second, then Richardson followed with a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Rolfs from third to make it 2-0.
NMSU retaliated by pushing across a run in the bottom half, as Veronica Owens led off with a bunt single, then stole her 18th base of the season before scoring off an RBI base knock by Breana Bohls.
Pennington utilized her speed in the top of the second to make it 3-1 Western. Pennington reached on a bunt single with no runners on, then advanced all the way home after an errant throw by Cassandra Gonzalez sailed all the way to the outfield wall. WKU manufactured another run in the third, as singles by Rolfs and senior Sam Hansen led to Richardson picking up her second RBI of the game (scoring pinch runner Becky Minnis from third) off a sacrifice bunt.
The Aggies’ fourth error of the game allowed Western to make it 5-1 in the fourth, as a throwing error to first by relief pitcher Stephanie Carrasco on a grounder by Garcia led to Pennington scoring her second run of the game from second.
Silver retired 12-straight Aggie hitters from the first inning into the fifth before surrendering a two-out double to Sarah Stansberry. Another bunt single by Owens moved Stansberry over to third, but NMSU could not capitalize as Owens was called out at first after leaving early on a steal attempt.
Carrasco pitched the final 4.0 innings for NMSU, allowing just two hits and one unearned run while striking out four. Rolfs and Pennington registered a team-high two hits in the win.
Western Kentucky 8, New Mexico State 3 (game two)
Floyd drove in a career-high five runs and registered a season-high three hits (including a three-run homer) in Western’s 8-3 game-two victory. The Hilltoppers tallied a season-high 13 hits in the win, the last of which came from junior Becky Minnis (her first career hit). Sophomore Adrienne Lathrop allowed one run over 6.2 innings of work to pick up her 10th victory of the year.
After stranding a runner at third in the second inning, the Hilltoppers used five-straight hits, including back-to-back doubles, to take a 4-0 lead in the top of the third. WKU got singles from Pennington and Garcia to open the inning before Rolfs plated the Western’s first run of the game with an RBI double. Floyd followed with a two-run double to put WKU on top 3-0, then scored the fourth run of the inning off an RBI single by Richardson.
Floyd’s fourth home run of the season, a three-run shot in the fourth, pushed Western’s advantage to 7-0. It was Floyd’s third hit of the game and scored Pennington and Garcia who reached on a single and an error, respectively. NMSU scratched across a run in the bottom half as a single by Rose Tierre and a double by Stansberry led to an eventual RBI groundout by Princess Moore, which made it 7-1.
Richardson led off the seventh with a single and went on to score WKU’s eighth run of the game off a bases-loaded fielder’s choice by junior Dana Rey, in which Richardson beat the throw to the plate.
Sevco came on in the bottom of the seventh to close out the game but ran into control problems, as three walks and a wild pitch allowed the Aggies to load the bases with one out. Lathrop reentered the game and recorded the final two outs, though NMSU did manage to push across two of the runners that reached off Sevco.
WKU had four players post multi-hit games led by Floyd’s three-hit showing. Garcia, Richardson and Pennington each chipped in two hits a piece.
