BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — Middle Tennessee broke open a 3-2 game with four runs in the ninth inning and went on to beat WKU, 7-2, Friday night in Bowling Green, Ky. The Blue Raider win evens the final Sun Belt Conference series at one game apiece, ahead of Saturday night's regular-season finale. The loss drops WKU to 34-21 on the season and 15-14 in conference play. Middle Tennessee is now 34-20 overall and 18-11 in the conference.
The Hilltoppers have lost seven-straight games when trying to claim a series victory.
One night after recording 15 hits, WKU was held to six on Friday by Middle Tennessee's Chad Edwards and Kevin Whittaker. Edwards worked eight innings and gave up five hits and two unearned runs. Six Hilltoppers each had a hit, and Jake Wells drove in a run. Logan Robbins and Matt Payton scored the two WKU runs. Bryce Brentz was 3-for-5 with a run and an RBI for Middle Tennessee.
Shane Cameron was solid in seven-and-one-third innings for the Hilltoppers but was saddled with the loss. He surrendered just six hits and three runs while striking out five. It was Cameron's first decision since April 10 and first loss since March 7. He is now 4-2 on the season.
The game was scoreless through three innings as each starting pitcher came out firing, with Cameron surrendering just two hits and Edwards allowing just one. Middle Tennessee then scored three runs in the top of the fourth to take a 3-0 lead. Justin Guidry had an RBI single and Justin Miller followed with a sacrifice fly, before Tyler Burnett knocked a run-scoring single for the third run of the inning. Rice ending the inning by cutting down Burnett on a stolen base attempt.
Rice, one of 16 semifinalists for the 2010 Johnny Bench Award, threw out two attempted base-stealers on the night.
But the Hilltoppers answered right back with two runs of their own in the home-half to cut the Blue Raider lead to one run. Robbins doubled to right-center field to lead off the inning, and he came around to score when Miller botched a ground ball of the bat of Payton for an error. Payton advanced to second base on the throw to the plate, and he scored three batters later when Wells singled.
That would be all the scoring until the ninth inning, with both pitchers on top of their games after the offenses opened the scoring in the fourth inning. Cameron had a pair of one-two-three innings in the fifth and seventh frames, and Edwards had two of his own in the sixth and seventh.
Rye Davis relieved Cameron in the eighth and headed back out for the ninth inning, and Middle Tennessee scored four times off him and Bart Carter to turn a one-run lead into a five-run advantage and put the game out of reach. Faced with a five-run deficit in its final at-bat, WKU managed a two-out single off Whittaker before Matt Borgschulte was retired for the final out of the game.
Up Next: WKU will wrap up the 2010 regular season with a 6:00 PM game against Middle Tennessee Saturday night. The game will go a long way in determining seeding for the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, which opens Wednesday in Murfreesboro, Tenn., and will also decide the season series between the two rivals. It is Senior Night, and the Hilltoppers will recognize the contributions of six senior players and two support staff members in a pre-game ceremony.
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