BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – WKU Baseball clinched a series victory over Cincinnati Saturday afternoon at Nick Denes Field following its second walk-off win in as many days as a Davis Sims sacrifice fly to left field scored Ty Crittenberger in the bottom of the ninth for a Hilltopper game-two victory.
WKU dropped its series finale to the Bearcats later in the day, with the squad now sitting at 3-4 on the season after its opening week of play.
"Overall, when you win two out of three against a very good team, that's obviously encouraging," said head coach John Pawlowski. "We've played a lot of baseball. In seven days, we've played seven games, and that's a lot. It'll be great for our guys to get in the weight room tomorrow and get some rest and take a break for a little bit."
Sean Bergeron earned the starting nod in the opener of today's doubleheader, allowing just two earned runs while striking out five in 7.0 innings of action. Hunter Crosby and Mason Vinyard both saw relief action in the contest, with Vinyard picking up the win after fanning three batters in 1.2 scoreless frames of work.
At the plate, WKU racked up seven total hits and six walks. Sims led the way with the lone multi-hit effort on the squad, going 2-for-4 and sending home the game-winning run from third following his sac fly in the final frame.
"It felt great," said Sims about his walk-off RBI. "I'm glad that I can come through in those opportunities. You know, we were in that game because of Ray [Zuberer]. Ray had a big home run for us to put us back up, and our pitching staff did really well - Sean Bergeron did a great job for us. I was just glad I could come in and do the job."
The Hilltoppers were unable to complete the sweep in game three, dropping the finale by a score of 11-3. Eight different pitchers saw time on the mound, with the group combining to allow 14 hits and 10 earned runs while striking out 12 batters.
Offensively, WKU produced eight hits in the matchup, led by Jack Wilson with a 2-for-3 performance at the plate to go along with two runs and a walk.
SCORING SUMMARY (GAME 1)
The Bearcats opened the scoring in game one of today's doubleheader, using a three-run fourth frame to take the lead.
WKU scored its first runs of the game in the seventh, with an RBI-single by Richard Constantine and three-run homer by Ray Zuberer III giving the Hilltoppers a 4-3 edge.
Cincinnati answered back in the top of the eighth, tying things up with a sac fly to right field.
In the bottom of the ninth, Wilson started things out with a leadoff walk, with Crittenberger then coming in to pinch run for him. Crittenberger would later advance to second on a wild pitch before showing off his speed and taking third base on a shallow flyout to center field. After Zuberer was intentionally walked, Sims stepped to the plate, sending a sac fly to left field and scoring Crittenberger from third for the 5-4 walk-off win.
SCORING SUMMARY (GAME 2)
Cincinnati again got on the board first in the backend of today's doubleheader, putting up four runs in the second inning to take the early advantage.
The Hilltoppers tried to chip away in the third frame, as a solo shot by Eric Riffe and RBI-single by Sims made it 4-2.
The two teams traded runs in the fifth, with Cincinnati scoring on a single to right field, and WKU adding a run off a Zuberer RBI-double to left center.
The Bearcats took control of the game from there, scoring six unanswered runs to earn the eventual 11-3 win.
UP NEXT
The Hilltoppers will travel to New Orleans, La., for their first road series of the season at Tulane beginning on Friday, March 5.
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