The Hilltoppers improved their record to 9-14 on the year as Kentucky State dropped to 4-7.
The Western offense put together 20 unanswered runs in the first three innings, scoring eight in the second frame and seven in the first to put away the Thorobreds. Before the first Hilltopper hit Western already collected three runs on four walks, one balk and one error. Antone Towns, Eric Scriven, Matt Ransdell and Tim Grogan each finished the inning with an RBI as 13 Topper batters came to the plate.
In the second inning Towns and Casey Hamilton hit back-to-back triples to score three runs. Scriven scored Hamilton on a single to left field with Ransdell adding his second RBI of the game to put the Hilltoppers up 15-0.
The third inning was highlighted by a Jordan Newton two-run home run that landed directly over the left field foul pole, scoring Ransdell.
Clarence Young singled to center field in the sixth inning to score two runs for Kentucky State with Jason Rogers hitting a single in the first inning to score Lamont Harris.
Kyle Smith (1-0) got the victory for Western going three innings, giving up one run on four strikeouts. Ransdell went 3-for-5 with three runs and two RBI, Hamilton went 2-for-2 with two runs scored and two RBI and Scriven finished 2-for-2 with three runs and two RBI.
David Armstrong (1-1) gave up six earned runs while striking out two Topper batters. Raynard Goodson went 2-for-3 with Harris going 2-for-4 and scoring one run.
WKU returns to Sun Belt Conference action Friday (April 1) as they host Arkansas-Little Rock in a three-game set starting at 6 p.m. (CST).
