BOCA RATON, Fla. — Within a strike of an extra-inning win at Florida Atlantic, WKU Baseball was unable to hold the Owls in the bottom of the 10th, then ultimately fell by a score of 6-5 in 11 innings on Friday afternoon.
Senior Ben Morrison had a career performance out of the bullpen, going 4.2 scoreless innings in relief of starter Paul Kirkpatrick. The Bowling Green native threw a career-high 66 pitches - 41 for strikes - and struck out four, while allowing only two base hits.
Luke Brown led the way on offense with four base hits, his fourth four-hit performance in the past 16 games. The freshman right fielder raised his overall average to a season-high .369, while taking the Conference USA batting lead with a .415 average in league games.
FAU took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when David Miranda grounded home an unearned run against Kirkpatrick. But back came the Hilltoppers in the top of the third, as Colie Currie blasted his eighth-career homerun, a solo shot, off Owl starter Vince Coletti to knot the game at 1-1.
Kirkpatrick went 4.1 innings and struck out five, allowing five hits and three runs - two earned. He gave way to Morrison in the fifth inning and the reliever was able to strand the bases loaded, but FAU took a 3-1 lead after five frames.
WKU climbed back within one on a Jacob Rhinesmith sacrifice fly in the top of the sixth, then Nick Brunson scampered home with the game-tying run after a pair of Owl errors in the seventh. Morrison kept it a 3-3 tie through the ninth, posting four zeroes on the scorecard going into extra innings.
Brown and Steven Kraft got a rally going in the tenth frame with back-to-back one-out hits to give the Hilltoppers two runners in scoring position. After Rhinesmith was walked intentionally, Currie popped out to set the table for Ray Zuberer III. The sophomore designated hitter ripped a hard grounder that FAU first baseman Andru Summerall was unable to handle, and was credited with a two-run double.
With a 5-3 lead, relievers Conner Boyd and Austin Tibbs each allowed a hit in the 10th, as the Owls had runners on the corners after Tibbs got two outs.
In came Michael Darrell-Hicks from the bullpen, who got ahead of Richie Nizza 0-2. After two balls and a foul at the plate, Nizza singled to center field on a 2-2 count to drive in one run, but then a fielding error allowed pinch runner Steven Revilla to score the tying mark, and FAU was able to force the 11th frame with the score at 5-5.
The Hilltoppers were retired in order in the top half of the inning, then Cody Wilson scored the game-winning run on a sacrifice fly by Kevin Abraham with two outs in the bottom. It was the center fielder's fourth run scored of the afternoon, as FAU secured a walk-off, 6-5 win.
Up Next
With other action around the league, WKU has officially been eliminated from a potential bid to the 2018 Conference USA Championship in Biloxi, Miss., next week. The season finale will take place on Saturday, May 19, with first pitch at 11 a.m. CT, as the Hilltoppers look to salvage Game 3 of the series against the Owls.
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