BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – WKU Baseball earned an 8-3 win in its series opener against Purdue Friday night at Nick Denes Field.
The victory moves the Hilltoppers to 9-4 on the season while the loss drops the Boilermakers to 6-6 on the year.
WKU used strong pitching performances from Michael Darrell-Hicks and Jake Kates, along with some timely hitting throughout, to earn the win.
"In college baseball there's so much parody," said head coach John Pawlowski. "It doesn't matter who you play or where you play. Purdue has an outstanding program, it's a big challenge for us. Certainly, now the mindset is, 'Okay yeah, you won Friday night, now we've got to come back with that mentality.'
"We've got to find a way to win tomorrow and get the same mindset going forward. But, I liked the way we approached the game today. I thought we did a lot of positive things."
Darrell-Hicks earned the starting nod for the Hilltoppers in his fourth appearance of the season, picking up his second win on the year after allowing seven hits and three runs while striking out a career-high nine batters in 5.0 frames of work.
"It feels good," said Darrell-Hicks of his strikeout milestone. "Coming off of last week, I really didn't fill the strike zone up, I didn't attack. I really kind of got out of the way that I should be pitching. Coach [Pawlowski] and I focused on different drills during the week and we just said, 'We need to attack these guys and see what they can do.' So, I just tried to throw strikes. My slider was going and I was locating my fastball in and out, so I guess I just got strikeouts off of that."
Kates entered the game in relief of Darrell-Hicks in the top of the sixth, tossing 4.0 innings of hitless ball while fanning four batters en route to his first save of the season.
At the plate, WKU racked up 13 hits in the contest, with three players producing multi-hit performances. Jackson Swiney led the way with a 3-for-4 performance while adding two RBI and two runs while also collecting his team-high third home run of the season. Jack Wilson hit 3-for-5 on the day to go along with two runs and two doubles, while Eric Riffe went 2-for-4 with a run.
Wilson entered the game ranked second in the nation with eight doubles on the season, and now moves into first in the country after collecting two more doubles in the Hilltoppers' opener against Purdue.
"I've always been taught just to think two coming out of the box," said Wilson on extending what looked to be a single up the middle into a double in the third inning. "When I saw that [the second baseman] missed it and wasn't getting up I thought I had a chance.
"I don't have your typical speed from the leadoff spot, but I think I have good at-bats. When I get two strikes I battle, and I think that makes me a good leadoff hitter."
SCORING SUMMARY
Purdue got on the board first, with a runner scoring from third on a fielder's choice to give the Boilermakers a 1-0 lead after the top of the first.
The Hilltoppers immediately answered in the bottom of the frame, with WKU taking a 2-1 advantage after Ray Zuberer III sent a single down the left field line to score Wilson and Richard Constantine.
WKU later extended its lead in the third inning, as Davis Sims started things off with an RBI-single to the left side, sending home Wilson for his second run of the game.
Swiney then scored Zuberer with an RBI-single to left center field before RBI-singles by Matt Phipps and Matthew Meyer eventually made it 6-1 after three.
The Boilermakers cut into WKU's lead in the top of the fourth, using an RBI-single and sac fly to put the game at 6-3.
A solo shot by Swiney over the right center field wall in the seventh gave the Hilltoppers a 7-3 lead, with Riffe later adding a run in the eighth inning after scoring from third on a wild pitch to give WKU the eventual 8-3 victory.
NEXT UP
The Hilltoppers will play game two of their series against Purdue at 1 p.m. CT on Saturday, March 7 at Nick Denes Field.
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