MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – WKU Baseball earned a 7-3 victory over Middle Tennessee on Saturday afternoon at Reese Smith Jr. Field.
The Hilltoppers used strong pitching and timely hitting to even the series against the Blue Raiders, setting up a Sunday rubber match.
"It was good to even the series up," said head coach John Pawlowski. "I know the guys are excited about this win today. Hopefully it'll give us some momentum going into tomorrow. We know that we can compete with anybody and play with anybody, just have to get a couple breaks and do some things right, and certainly we did a lot of things right for this group to find a way to win today."
Devyn Terbrak earned the starting nod for WKU, picking up his fourth win of the season after allowing just three runs and one walk while striking out six in 8.0 innings of action. Mason Vinyard closed out the final frame, recording his fifth save of the season after not allowing a hit and striking out one.
At the plate, the Hilltoppers racked up 10 hits and eight walks, with two players producing multi-hit performances. Brett Blomquist went 2-for-3 with a run while Ricardo Leonett hit 2-for-4, adding his first home run of the season in the contest.
SCORING SUMMARY
WKU opened the scoring in the second inning, with a solo shot by Leonett giving the squad a 1-0 advantage.
The Hilltoppers extended their lead in the top of the third, with Tristin Garcia scoring from third on a passed ball to make it 2-0.
Middle Tennessee answered back in the bottom of the frame, using two RBI doubles to even the score at two apiece.
WKU regained its lead in the fourth inning, with RBI singles by Ty Crittenberger and Brodie Mackay putting the score at 4-2.
The Hilltoppers tacked on two more runs in the eighth, with Crittenberger knocking in Brian McAuliffe before scoring later in the inning on an RBI single by Garcia to make it 6-2.
A solo shot by McAuliffe in the ninth gave WKU a 7-2 lead, with Middle Tennessee recording a run of its own in the bottom of the frame, resulting in the 7-3 final.
UP NEXT
The Hilltoppers will close out their series against Middle Tennessee at 1 p.m. CT on Sunday, April 3 at Reese Smith Jr. Field.
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