BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — Behind senior Ryan Thurston's eight-inning, nine-strikeout, one-run outing, WKU Baseball defeated Louisiana Tech by a score of 6-1 on Friday night.
Ray Zuberer III and Colin Butkiewicz homered for the Hilltoppers, who improved to 10-9 in Conference USA play and 20-21 overall in 2018.
After the first two Bulldogs reached base in the top of the first, Thurston retired the next three batters to keep it a scoreless game.
It stayed that way until the bottom of the second, when Zuberer took a first-pitch offering from Louisiana Tech starter Matt Miller over the right-field fence for a solo homerun. It was the sophomore's third long ball of the season and fourth of his career to give WKU a 1-0 lead.
Thurston thwarted another Bulldog scoring threat in the third, when Mason Mallard doubled to put two runners in scoring position with one out. But a strikeout and fly out kept the slim Hilltopper lead, then the hitters rewarded the lefty with some cushion in the bottom half of the frame.
Steven Kraft led off with a double off the wall in left-center, then Jacob Rhinesmith followed with a single to put WKU runners on the corners. With one out, Rhinesmith was caught stealing second, but Kraft hustled home to put a second run on the board for a 2-0 advantage.
But that was not all for the Hilltoppers, as Zuberer started a two-out rally with a double down the right-field line, which Luke Brown followed with a four-pitch walk. Up stepped Butkiewicz, and out went a 1-0 pitch over the wall in right-center. The three-run homerun was the backstop's second long ball on The Hill and gave WKU a 5-0 lead.
Louisiana Tech got on the board with Parker Bates' solo homerun to begin the sixth inning, but that would be all the damage off Thurston. The Madison, Ind., native stranded two runners in each the fifth, sixth and eighth frames, finishing his night at 120 pitches, 80 of them strikes.
Brown brought home Rhinesmith with an infield single in the eighth inning for a 6-1 lead, then Ben Morrison retired the 1-2-3 hitters in the Bulldog lineup 1-2-3 in the top of the ninth on 11 pitches to finish up the tidy, 140-minute contest.
Topper Notes
- With a 10-9 record, WKU has matched its highest win total in C-USA play since joining the league prior to the 2015 season. The Hilltoppers went 10-19 in 2015 and 10-20 in 2016.
- WKU did not commit an error for the sixth straight game, and has strung together 55 consecutive errorless frames dating back to the seventh inning of the Hilltoppers' 7-5 victory vs. Marshall on April 15.
- Ryan Thurston notched his fourth start of the season of nine-plus strikeouts, and now has 75 punch outs in 68.1 innings pitched this season. For his WKU career, the lefty has 287 strikeouts in 295.1 frames.
- Ben Morrison lowered his ERA to 1.15 in seven C-USA appearances. Against league opponents, the reliever has allowed only two earned runs - on nine hits and two walks - with 19 strikeouts in 15.2 innings pitched.
- Thurston and Morrison combined for 10 strikeouts on the night, marking the 16th time this season the WKU staff has had double-digit strikeouts in a game. Last season, the Hilltoppers had only 14 such outings in 55 games.
- Ray Zuberer III extended his team-best hit streak to five and team-high on-base streak to 13, which ties a career-high. The Owensboro native had multiple extra-base hits in a game for the first time in his career.
- Colin Butkiewicz posted his fourth-consecutive two-hit game and third performance of three-plus RBI in his past four starts. With three RBI, he increased his season total to 24, 18 of which are of the two-out variety.
- Luke Brown went 2-for-3 with a walk, posting his 12th multi-hit game in his past 19 starts. Dating back to March 24 at Rice, the freshman has gone 31-for-88 (.352) and raised his season batting average from .195 to .328.
Up Next
WKU righty Paul Kirkpatrick will look to build upon Friday's flawless team outing when he faces off against Louisiana Tech lefty Logan Robbins. First pitch for the Saturday, April 28 matchup will be at 1 p.m.
