BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — Despite taking a lead in the first inning, WKU Baseball allowed the next eight runs to UTSA in a 10-4 loss to the Roadrunners on Friday evening. Steven Kraft went 2-for-3, walked twice and stole a base, extending his on-base streak to a team-high 17 games.
UTSA (14-10, 5-2) starter Steven Dressler walked Kraft and Jacob Rhinesmith to begin the bottom half of the first, and Kraft ended up scoring on a sacrifice fly by Richard Constantine. Just like that, the Hilltoppers had outscored their Thursday output.
But back came the Roadrunners, scoring a pair of runs in the next half-inning off WKU (13-14, 3-5) starter Colby Taylor. The visitors struck for four more in the third on a three-run homerun by Ben Brookover and a solo shot on the next pitch by Chase Keng for a 6-1 lead.
It was the second homerun of the series for Brookover, who hit an eighth-inning grand slam in UTSA's 5-0 win the night before.
Evan Acosta replaced Taylor out of the bullpen and finished the rest of the third with no damage, but loaded the bases with one out in fourth. Maddex Richardson allowed two of those Roadrunners to score, but retired 3-of-4 batters faced in the inning.
The freshman proceeded to post zeroes in the fifth and sixth frames, capping his outing with a career-high 2.2 scoreless while tying a season-best with four strikeouts. He threw 23-of-34 pitches for strikes and lowered his 2018 ERA by a 1.83 mark.
WKU scored run in the fifth, as Tyler Robertson led off the inning with a single up the middle and Luke Brown knocked him home from third base with a two-out double off the right-field wall. Both Hilltoppers extended their team-best hit streaks to five with their base-knocks.
Hits by Kevin Lambert and Kraft brought home one in the seventh, then two more by Ray Zuberer III and Jake Ryan scored a fourth WKU run in the eighth to make the score 10-4.
Troy Newell pitched the final three innings and allowed two runs - one earned - while tying a season-high with three strikeouts. He allowed only one hit and issued one walk. The lefty has allowed only four earned runs in his past 13 innings of work.
Up Next
Game 3 between the Hilltoppers and Roadrunners will get started at 11 p.m. on Saturday, March 31. Coming off his Conference USA-leading second complete game of the season, righty Paul Kirkpatrick of WKU faces off against righty Chance Kirby from UTSA.
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