Hilltoppers Defeat SEMO in Series Opener

Friday, March 15

Cape Girardeau, Mo.

6:00 PM CT

Western Kentucky University

13-6

Southeast Missouri State

7-12

Western Kentucky

Southeast Missouri

Photo by: Jack Todd, WKU Athletics

3/15/2024 11:04:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – WKU Baseball (13-6) defeated Southeast Missouri (7-12) 8-3 on Friday at Capaha Field.

This marks the Hilltoppers third win in a row and the seventh victory in their last eight games.

"We still have things to work on, like everybody does," said head coach Marc Rardin. "We came away with it and we got some timely hits. We handled the bat pretty well, moved runners around, and played the small game to force some pressure defensively. We did our thing and Jack Bennett gave us the start that he did."

Junior Zayd Brannigan recorded a career high four hits to go along with an RBI for the Hilltoppers. Junior Cristian Garcia knocked in a trio of runs with two hits while junior Caleb Marmo and sophomore Camden Ross each tallied two hits and an RBI a piece.

On the mound, sophomore Jack Bennett got the start and struck out four while allowing three runs (two earned) to claim his second win of the season. Three Hilltoppers made their way out of the bullpen in the final three innings with senior Cory Bosecker, junior Grant Burleson, and Mason Burns combining for five strikeouts without conceding a run.

Junioe Joey Baran gave the Hilltoppers the lead in the third inning as he reached on a fielder's choice sacrifice bunt to score Brannigan before junior Blake Cavill tacked on another run with an RBI groundout.

Southeast Missouri hit a solo home run in the home half of the frame to cut its deficit to one, but in the top of the fourth, Garcia extended the lead right back to two with a sacrifice fly. An RBI single from Marmo added another for the Hilltoppers to make the score 4-1 after three and a half innings.

WKU added another run in the fifth on a sacrifice fly from Ross, but the Redhawks answered in the bottom of the sixth with two runs to cut the Tops lead in half, making it 5-3.

Garcia didn't waste any time getting those runs back as he delivered a two-run single in the top of the seventh. In the ninth, the Tops added another run from the bat of Brannigan to bring to total to 8-3.

UP NEXT

The Hilltoppers and Redhawks will continue their series tomorrow afternoon at Capaha Field. First pitch is set for 2 p.m. CT.

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