BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – WKU Baseball opened its series against Hartford with an 11-2 victory on Friday afternoon at Nick Denes Field.
The Hilltoppers were in control throughout, using strong play on the mound and at the plate to move to 5-4 on the season.
"I thought we played a pretty clean baseball game today," said head coach John Pawlowski. "We pitched it outstanding. Jake [Kates] went out there and gave us eight innings, strong innings of work today. We handled the baseball very well in the middle of our lineup with [Aidan] Gilroy, [Tristin] Garcia and [Ty] Batusich. They did an outstanding job offensively and I think that set the tone."
Jake Kates earned the starting nod to open the series, earning his second win of the season after tossing 8.0 frames while allowing just three hits and two runs to go along with eight strikeouts. Andrew Brockwell closed things out for WKU in his first collegiate appearance, allowing one hit while recording a strikeout in 1.0 inning of work.
At the plate, the Hilltoppers racked up 12 hits and four walks, with four players producing multi-hit performances. Ty Batusich, Tristin Garcia and Aidan Gilroy recorded three hits apiece in the contest, while Andrew Delaney added two hits on the day.
SCORING SUMMARY
WKU opened the scoring in the first frame, with Garcia using a sacrifice fly to score Matthew Meyer from third.
The Hilltoppers added three more runs in the fourth, beginning with a two-RBI single by Delaney before an RBI groundout by Brett Blomquist made it 4-0.
Hartford scored its first run of the game in the fifth frame, using a solo shot over the right field wall to put the score at 4-1.
WKU answered back in the bottom of the inning, with Batusich sending a two-RBI single through the left side of the infield to score Gilroy and Meyer.
The Hilltoppers tacked on four more runs in the sixth, with a three-run homer by Gilroy and sacrifice fly by Jackson Gray giving the team a 10-1 lead.
The Hawks recorded another solo homer in the top of the eighth before WKU added another run in the bottom of the frame, with Batusich using an RBI double to give the Hilltoppers the eventual 11-2 win.
UP NEXT
The Hilltoppers will close out their series against Hartford with a nine-inning doubleheader starting at noon on Saturday, March 5 at Nick Denes Field.
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