BOWLING GREEN, Ky. -- Completing the midweek sweep, WKU (7-1) continued its fabulous start to the 2016 season by shutting out Lipscomb (6-3), 6-0, to extend its current winning streak to six games.
Final Box Score 
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With the victory, the Hilltoppers are now off to their best start since also opening the 1985 campaign with a 7-1 mark. It is also the first time WKU has won six consecutive contests since winning six in a row in March of 2011.
Pitching was the theme for the midweek success for WKU as head coach John Pawlowski only had to use five total pitchers in the pair of games, with Wednesday's starter Josh Bartley tossing six innings of shutout baseball with five strikeouts to earn the win. Redshirt-junior Jackson Sowell was almost perfect in relief, surrendering only one hit in 2.2 innings of work to pick up his second save of the year. Caleb Bruner also made an appearance against the Bisons.
Overall, the WKU pitching trio limited Lipscomb to six hits, which were the lowest of the year by the Bisons, while the Hilltoppers out-hit their opponent for the seventh time this season with nine. The Tops also hit a homer run for the fourth straight game, which started the scoring in the crucial three-run second inning for WKU.
Sophomore outfielder Kaleb Duckworth hit his second long ball in as many days with a solo shot to left field for the first run of the game. Duckworth has three home runs on the year as he went 1-for-2 with two runs scored and was hit by two pitches in the game. Zach Janes followed that with a single to left to bring home Ty Downing from third before Leiff Clarkson came home on a balk to give WKU a 3-0 lead.
The Hilltoppers would add a run in the sixth and two more in the eighth for all of the scoring they would need in the game. In the eighth inning, Grant Malott stole second and third as a pinch runner and was later brought home on a squeeze play by Downing. Clarkson then smacked a double down the left-field line and plated the final run of the fixture on Steven DiPuglia's single up the middle. Clarkson had his best night at the plate in 2016, going 2-for-4 with a pair of runs.
The seven, eight and nine spots in the lineup were very productive for WKU in the win, combining to go 6-for-10 with a pair of runs and two more driven in. Clarkson, DiPuglia and Janes all had multiple hits in the contest.
Senior third baseman Danny Hudzina delivered a hit in the third inning to extend his hitting streak to a career-long 13 games. For the year, Hudzina has a team-best .500 batting average, while also leading the team in hits (17) and runs scored (11). Leadoff hitter Steven Kraft has now reached base safely in nine-straight, spanning back to last year as he was hit by a pitch.
WKU will be back on the road this weekend in Jacksonville, Alabama, to play Jacksonville State in a three-game series, with the first game set to start at 3 p.m. CT on Friday.
