BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – WKU Baseball used some solid pitching and four consecutive scoring innings to earn a 6-2 victory over Wright State Friday afternoon at Nick Denes Field.
The win puts the Hilltoppers at 4-1 on the season while dropping the Raiders to 1-4 on the year.
WKU utilized just two pitchers throughout the contest in Michael Darrell-Hicks and Jake Kates, while its offense strung together runs in the fourth through seventh frames to down the Raiders in the series-opener.
"[Wright State] is a great club – they've been to Regionals before and won 40-something games last year," said head coach John Pawlowski. "We knew it was going to be a challenge, but I liked the way our guys competed today. With our older lineup – [Wright State] pitched very well in the front part of the game – but our guys, the older guys, just kept being resilient at the plate and found a way to manufacture some runs. And I can't say enough about the relief job that [Jake] Kates did today."
Darrell-Hicks earned the starting nod on the rubber in his second appearance of the season, allowing just three hits and two runs while striking out three over his 4.1 frames of action.
Kates entered the game in the fifth to relieve Darrell-Hicks, picking up his first win as a Hilltopper after fanning eight batters while surrendering just four hits and no runs through the final 4.2 innings of play.
"It feels great," said Kates on his performance. "I'm from around Wright State's area, so I definitely know how much of a quality opponent they are and the great program that they run so this is a really great win for us tonight."
At the plate, WKU produced eight hits, with six different players recording at least one hit in the matchup. Jack Wilson led the way with a 2-for-4 effort to go along with two RBI and one run, while Richard Constantine also produced a multi-hit showing after batting 2-for-5 with a run of his own.
SCORING SUMMARY
After three scoreless innings to open the contest, WKU got on the board first after Davis Sims scored Constantine from third on a groundout to the shortstop.
The Raiders then took the lead in the top of the fifth, using a two-RBI triple to right field to earn a 2-1 advantage.
As they've done throughout the early stretch of the season, the Hilltoppers answered right back, with Wilson sending Kevin Lambert home on an RBI-double then later scoring himself following a throwing error by Wright State's shortstop.
WKU added two more runs in the sixth inning, with Eric Riffe recording his first career RBI after ripping a ball through the left side to plate Jackson Swiney before scoring on an RBI-single by Wilson to make it 5-2.
The Hilltoppers added the final run of the contest in the seventh frame, with Sims using a sac fly to score Ray Zuberer III and give WKU the eventual 6-2 victory.
UP NEXT
The Hilltoppers will face Wright State for game two of their three-game series at 1 p.m. CT on Saturday, Feb. 22 at Nick Denes Field.
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