Both Hilltopper starter Rye Davis and YSU hurler Aaron Swenson found themselves locked in a pitcher’s duel through the first five innings. Each held the opposing scoreless and scattered just a handful of hits in the early innings. In fact, Davis did not allow a Penguin runner past first base in his 5.1 innings of work.
WKU finally broke through in the bottom of the fifth as Matt Bracken reached on an infield single, and moved to second on a wild pitch. After a walk to Matt Payton, Scott Kaskie reached on an error, allowing Bracken to come in to score the first run of the game.
The Topppers were finally able to string some hits together in the sixth when Chad Cregar led off with a single, and a one-out walk to Jake Wells put a pair on. Terrence Dayleg followed with a double down the left-field line to drive in both runners and stretch the WKU lead to 3-0. Swenson gave way to Corey Vucovic, who gave up a two-out single to Bracken that allowed Dayleg to score the fourth run of the game.
Youngstown State mounted their first threat of the game in the seventh as Sean Lucus was hit by a pitch from WKU reliever Travis Adams to start the inning before back-to-back one-out walks by Evan Teague loaded the bases. However, Teague came back to strike out both David Leon and Tom Clayton to get out of the jam and keep the Penguins scoreless.
WKU responded by breaking the game open in the bottom of the seventh, scoring five runs. Kaskie started things off with a leadoff triple, and after a walk to Matt Hightower, Kaskie scored on a Cregar sacrifice fly. After Wade Gaynor was hit by a pitch, a two-out single from Dayleg plated Hightower to stretch the lead to 6-0. J.B. Paxson followed with a line-drive three-run home run to left as WKU opened up a 9-0 lead.
The Penguins collected just one hit off the WKU bullpen as Adams, Teague, Ben Paxton and Colby Beach combined for six strikeouts in 3.2 innings of work. Davis (1-4) earned the win as he allowed just four hits in 5.1 innings of work. Swenson (1-2) suffered the loss as he gave up four runs on seven hits in 5.1 innings.
Offensively, Dayleg and Bracken both finished 3-for-4 at the plate, with Dayleg and Paxson each collecting three RBI.
WKU concludes its five-game homestand Tuesday night when it hosts Louisville at 6 p.m. (CDT).
