NEW ORLEANS – Matthew Meyer recorded a career-high four RBI as WKU Baseball earned an 8-7 victory over (RV) Tulane in its series finale Sunday afternoon at Turchin Stadium.
In what was a theme throughout the series, both teams battled back-and-forth throughout the contest, with Meyer's performance at the plate ultimately spurring a Hilltopper win.
"Give the credit to our offense," said head coach John Pawlowski. "We had several opportunities today and they were able to take advantage of some of them. I was really excited to see us put some runs on the board – put eight runs on the board. I thought Matthew Meyer – we put him in at third base and led him off – and he was a spark plug for us today."
Michael Darrell-Hicks earned his second start of the season in the matchup, allowing two earned runs while recording three strikeouts in 2.0 innings of action. Aristotle Peter, Mason Vinyard, Dalton Shoemake and Bailey Sutton all saw relief work in the game, with the quartet combining to allow four earned runs while striking out four batters in 7.0 frames. Vinyard ended up recording the win in the contest, while Sutton picked up the save.
Offensively, the Hilltoppers out-hit the Green Wave 11-9, with three players producing multi-hit efforts in the game. Meyer led the way with a 3-for-3 performance to go along with four RBI and two doubles, while Jackson Gray and Davis Sims both added two hits apiece.
SCORING SUMMARY
WKU opened the scoring in the first frame, with Matt Phipps scoring Meyer on a fielder's choice to the third baseman.
The Green Wave answered back in the bottom of the inning, tying the game at 1-1 following an RBI-groundout.
The Hilltoppers added another run in the top of the second, with Meyer scoring Kevin Lambert off a sac fly to center field.
Tulane took its first lead of the game in the bottom of the frame, using an RBI-double and RBI-single to take a 3-2 advantage.
WKU tied things up in the fourth frame after Meyer ripped an RBI-double to left field to plate Lambert.
The Green Wave again answered in the bottom of the inning, regaining their lead with a two-run long ball over the left field wall.
The Hilltoppers chipped away in the top of the fifth, as an RBI-single by Gray scored Sims to make it 5-4 in favor of Tulane.
The Green Wave extended their lead in the bottom of the sixth, with an RBI-double giving them a two-run advantage.
WKU used a four-run burst in the seventh inning to jump back ahead, starting with an RBI-single to center field by Phipps. Lambert later reached on an error by the third baseman, with Phipps scoring on the play. With the game tied at six apiece, Meyer again came through for the Hilltoppers, blasting a two-RBI double down the right field line to give the squad an 8-6 advantage.
Tulane would go on to add one run in the bottom of the eighth, but Sutton shut things down from there, leading to the eventual Hilltopper victory.
UP NEXT
The Hilltoppers will head to Lexington to face Kentucky at 3 p.m. CT on Tuesday, March 9 at Kentucky Proud Park.
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