SPARTANBURG, S.C. – WKU Baseball evened its series against USC Upstate with an 8-6 10-inning victory Saturday afternoon at Harley Park.
The win improves the Hilltoppers to 7-3 on the season while the loss drops the Spartans to 8-2 on the year.
After a back-and-forth affair through the first nine innings of action, WKU used some clutch hitting in the 10th frame to take the win.
"It was a great team win," said head coach John Pawlowski. "It's early in the season, but when I look at what we've done so far, this was our best team win. I told them in our postgame meeting that you can look up and down the lineup, up and down the pitching staff, and it seemed like everybody picked each other up. If somebody left a guy on the base, the next guy got them in. Or if somebody was struggling on the mound, somebody else came in and picked them up.
"It was just a really hard-fought game. The intensity of this game was incredible. I give our guys credit, they battled back. So, a great team win today for the Tops."
Sean Bergeron earned the start on the mound in his third appearance of the season, allowing six hits and three runs while fanning six batters in 5.1 frames on the bump.
The trio of Hunter Crosby, Bailey Sutton and Dalton Shoemake closed things out from there, with Sutton earning his first win of the season while Shoemake collected his first save of the year.
At the plate, the Hilltoppers put together 10 hits and seven walks, with four different players producing multi-hit efforts.
Jack Wilson hit 3-for-6 on the day to go along with three runs, while Ray Zuberer III went 2-for-4 with four RBI and a walk. Richard Constantine recorded a 2-for-4 outing with two runs and an RBI, while Davis Sims rounded out the multi-hit group with a 2-for-5 performance to go along with two RBI.
The four-RBI game marked a career-high for Zuberer, with one of his RBI coming in the 10th inning to help secure a Hilltopper victory.
"I just wanted to put good swings on the ball like I always do and no try to do too much, just help this team as much as I can," said Zuberer. "You have to give credit to my teammates for being in those positions in order for me to knock them in. Today was just a really great team win."
SCORING SUMMARY
The Spartans jumped out to a quick lead in the first frame, using a sac fly to make it 1-0.
The Hilltoppers added their first runs of the contest in the top of the fourth, with Zuberer using a single to right field to plate Constantine and even the game.
USC Upstate answered in the bottom of the inning, tacking on two runs to regain its lead.
WKU again tied it up in the top of the fifth, with bases-loaded walks by Sims and Jackson Swiney making it 3-3.
The Hilltoppers took their first lead of the game in the seventh inning, with Sims sending an RBI-single up the middle to score Wilson.
A two-RBI single by Zuberer extended WKU's lead in the top of the eighth, giving the squad a three-run advantage.
The Spartans answered back in the bottom of the frame, scoring three runs of their own to tie things up at 6-6.
Both teams went scoreless in the ninth, sending the game into extras, where Constantine and Zuberer each produced one RBI apiece in the 10th to give WKU the eventual 8-6 victory.
UP NEXT
The Hilltoppers will close out their series with the Spartans at 12 p.m. CT on Sunday, March 1 at Nick Denes Field.
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