BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – The WKU Baseball pitching staff racked up 17 strikeouts en route to an 8-4 series-opening victory over Valparaiso on Friday night at Nick Denes Field.
The dominant pitching performance, along with some timely late-game hitting, led to the Hilltoppers' eighth home win of the season.
Down in a 3-1 hole through five frames, WKU tallied seven runs in innings six through eight to record the comeback victory.
"We were down in the game, 3-1, and they hit back-to-back home runs there and they had a lot of momentum in their dugout," said head coach John Pawlowski. "I thought our guys just kept battling and found a way to have multiple hits in one inning, which was exciting to see."
Jake Kates earned the starting nod for the Hilltoppers in his fifth appearance of the season, striking out a career-high 13 batters while allowing just two earned runs in 6.0 innings of action. Dalton Shoemake, Mason Vinyard and Bailey Sutton all made relief appearances in the game, with the trio combining to allow just three hits and one run while recording four strikeouts in 3.0 frames.
At the plate, WKU racked up 10 total hits, with three players recording multi-hit efforts in the contest. Jackson Gray led the way with a 3-for-5 performance while adding his first home run as a Hilltopper, while Matthew Meyer and Ray Zuberer III each added two hits apiece.
"It was a great feeling," said Gray of his home run. "I got ahead in the count and was looking for that fastball over the middle."
SCORING SUMMARY
WKU opened the scoring, as Jack Wilson used a sac fly to plate Meyer in the first frame.
Valpo then took the lead in the top of the fourth after hitting back-to-back solo home runs.
Valparaiso extended its lead in the fifth frame, using an RBI-single to right center to make it 3-1.
The Hilltoppers evened the game in the bottom of the sixth, as an RBI-single by Zuberer and sac fly by Jackson Swiney made it three apiece.
WKU regained its lead in the seventh inning, with Gray's two-run bomb and an RBI-single by Wilson giving the squad a 6-3 advantage.
The Hilltoppers extended their lead in the eighth, as Meyer ripped a two-RBI double down the left field line to make it 8-3.
Valpo would go on to add one run in the top of the ninth, but were shut out by Sutton from there, leading to the 8-4 victory for WKU.
UP NEXT
The Hilltoppers will continue their series against Valpo at 1 p.m. CT on Saturday, March 20 at Nick Denes Field.
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