NORFOLK, Va. – In the final game of the series, WKU (11-8, 0-3 C-USA) dropped a hard-fought, 12-8 decision against Old Dominion (16-4, 3-0 C-USA) in Norfolk, Virginia, on Sunday to close out the opening weekend of Conference USA play.
The Hilltoppers scored four runs in the top of the sixth and three in the eighth to take the lead in both at-bats, but the Tops were matched in the sixth before allowing seven in the bottom half of the eighth to take the loss. Each squad racked up 13 hits and three errors in Sunday's match up, but the three misplayed balls by WKU led to three scores for the Monarchs.
In the sixth inning, Steven Kraft led off with a single to left field before Danny Hudzina launched his first home run of the year over the wall in left to put the Hilltoppers up 3-1. WKU would tack on two more in the at-bat as Kaleb Duckworth and Harrison Scanlon came around to score after both smacking singles, but Old Dominion would counter with four runs of its own in the bottom of the inning to tie the game at 5-5.
On the weekend, Hudzina registered six hits, which included a homer and a double, and drove in five runs, while also extending his hitting streak to 24 games. His best game of the series came on Sunday as he finished 3-for-5 from the plate with a pair of runs and RBI. Duckworth and Scanlon followed Hudzina in the lineup with two hits each in the series finale, with the two combining for three runs scored.
Duckworth was again involved in the big inning in the eighth for WKU as he scored the first of three runs on an RBI single by Ty Downing. Two batters later, Grant Malott slapped a single right back up the middle, scoring Downing and Paul Murray to give the Hilltoppers an 8-5 lead. The Monarchs responded with seven of their own runs in the bottom half to cap off the scoring in the fixture.
Ryan Thurston, who left the game with a 5-1 lead, tossed another strong outing as the starter on the mound, striking out four in 5.1 innings of work and only allowing two earned runs. Jackson Sowell, Kevin Elder and John Harman were all used out of the WKU bullpen in the contest, with Elder taking his second loss of the season.
WKU will return home for its longest homestand of the season after the series, starting with a game against Austin Peay on Tuesday at 6 p.m. CT.
