The win moved Troy to 22-9 on the year and 4-0 in the Sun Belt, while WKU dropped to 14-11 and 2-5 in the conference.
The Hilltoppers started the day with a 6-2 lead after it scored six times in the bottom of the first inning before the rains came. However, it was the Trojans that came out swinging right out of the gate on Saturday.
The first four Troy batters collected hits in the top of the fourth inning off Liam Shanahan, including a two-RBI double from Mike Felix. A pair of run-scoring groundouts by Josh Blackwell and Ian Craze quickly tied things up at 6-6.
However, WKU responded in its half of the fourth, sending 10 men to the plate. A Corteze Armstrong leadoff double set the table for the Toppers as he scored one out later on Jordan Newton’s double off the wall. Casey Hamilton drew a walk, and Dennis Winn singled to score Newton and give WKU a two-run lead. The Hilltoppers added two more when a fielder’s choice by Eric Scriven drove in Hamilton and a Brandon Embry single plated Winn to make it a 10-6 game.
The lead held until the sixth when seven unearned runs by the Trojans gave them their first lead of the afternoon. With two outs and a runner on first, a ground ball by Tom King was misplayed, leading to the big inning for Troy. Edgar Ramirez followed with a bases-clearing double Josh Dew then tied the game with a home run off the scoreboard in right-center against reliever J.C. Faircloth. Faircloth then hit the next two batters, and Mike Felix homered to right to cap off the frame and give Troy a 13-10 lead.
The Trojans added another run in the seventh when a Ramirez groundout plated Blackwell to stretch the lead out to four. The Hilltoppers threatened in the bottom of the ninth as they loaded the bases and brought the tying run to the plate with one out, but Felix posted back-to-back strikeouts to finish off his inning of relief work and seal the victory for Troy.
Newton led the Hilltopper offense as he went 4-for-5 with three doubles and four RBI in the contest. Armstrong, Winn and Scriven each collected two hits. Felix finished with three hits and five RBI for Troy.
Jonathan Sabat (2-1) earned the win in relief as he held the Toppers scoreless on just two hits over 3.0 innings of relief. Faircloth (1-2) suffered the loss out of the WKU bullpen.
