BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – WKU Baseball clinched its fourth consecutive series victory following an 11-2 game-two win over Purdue Saturday afternoon at Nick Denes Field.
After collecting wins in their first two contests against the Boilermakers, the Hilltoppers are now 10-4 on the season while Purdue sits at 6-7 for the year.
The last time WKU reached the 10-win mark in 14 games or less was 2016, when the Hilltoppers also started the season with a 10-4 record. It is also the quickest WKU has hit the 10-win mark in terms of date – March 7 – since at least 1979.
Sean Bergeron guided the Hilltoppers to their 10th victory of the season behind an impressive complete-game outing, the first complete-game by a WKU pitcher since March 25, 2018, when Paul Kirkpatrick went the distance in a 4-0 win over Rice.
"As soon as I walked out there he was like, 'I'm staying in' and I felt like I had five guys out there that were going to beat me up if I took him out," head coach John Pawlowski jokingly said about his mound visit with Bergeron during a two-out bases-loaded situation in the ninth inning. "I looked out there and I've never been that scared in my life on the mound. When I came back in the dugout, his teammates were obviously rooting for him. You don't see that often; college baseball complete-games. I felt like he still had good stuff left. His numbers were down, his pitch count was down, and it was more of a mental check to see where he was - if he was in tune with it - and certainly he was locked and ready to go."
In his 9.0 innings of action, Bergeron allowed nine hits and just two runs while striking out three and not surrendering any walks in the contest. Following the win, the junior transfer is now 2-0 on the season with a 2.59 ERA through 24.1 frames of work.
"I let my defense work behind me because I know they always have my back," said Bergeron. "They did again today so I'm thankful for that. As you can see, 15 hits, the bats ended up coming around as well. We all win as a team and we all lose as a team, so we'll always be here for each other no matter what."
Offensively, the Hilltoppers racked up 15 hits and three home runs in the contest, with five players recording multi-hit efforts. Kevin Lambert led the way with a 3-for-5 performance at the plate while adding a career-high five RBI in the matchup.
"Lately I hadn't been swinging the bat that well so today I was trying to be relaxed at the plate and just have confidence in myself," said Lambert. "The lineup as a whole, we're just tough outs. We just compete the whole time and we did some damage today."
SCORING SUMMARY
Just as they had in the series opener, the Boilermakers got on the board first, using an RBI-single to center field to take a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning.
In what has become a common theme for the Hilltoppers, they answered back in the bottom of the frame, with Lambert sending an RBI-single into left field to score Jackson Swiney and even the score.
WKU took its first lead of the game in the third inning, as Davis Sims started things off with a three-run homer over the left field wall. Lambert later used a bases-clearing double down the right field line to give the squad a 7-1 advantage.
The Hilltoppers added another run in the fifth frame, with Lambert recording his fifth RBI of the game after scoring Swiney on a single through the left side.
A solo shot by Jack Wilson in the sixth then gave WKU a 9-1 lead, with Wilson knocking his first long ball of the season over the right field wall.
The Boilermakers scored their second and final run of the contest in the top of the eighth, using an RBI-double down the left field line to make it 9-2.
WKU would go on to add two more insurance runs in the bottom of the frame, with Richard Constantine blasting his first home run of the year over the left field wall before Matthew Meyer used a sac fly to score Justin Carlin from third and give the Hilltoppers the eventual 11-2 victory.
NEXT UP
The Hilltoppers will close out their series with Purdue at 1 p.m. CT on Sunday, March 8 at Nick Denes Field.
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