Burwash's Walk-Off Lifts Tops Over Louisville

Tuesday, April 9

Bowling Green, Ky.

3:00 PM CT

Western Kentucky University

22-11

Louisville

20-12

Louisville

WKU

Photo by: Steve Roberts, WKU Athletics

4/9/2024 9:05:00 PM | Baseball

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BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Junior Eli Burwash played hero on Tuesday at Nick Denes Field as WKU walked it off for a 3-2, extra-inning win over Louisville. The Hilltoppers improve to 22-11 (6-3 CUSA) while the Cardinals drop to 20-12 (6-6 ACC).

Two long, suspense-filled reviews were the story of the bottom of the tenth inning. The first one took place with one out as junior Blake Cavill stepped up to the plate and placed a bunt down the third base line and was announced safe prior to review. After approximately 10 minutes went by as the crowd waited for the officials to return from the review booth, the play stood as called. Junior Zayd Brannigan followed Cavill and bunted down the third base line. Cavill advanced to second, but the throw beat Brannigan at first, giving the Tops one last chance. With two outs and two strikes, Burwash dribbled the baseball up the middle for an easy base-hit. As the ball bounced, Cavill rounded his way around third base, looking to score, but the middle infielders of Louisville had already retrieved the ball and thrown it towards home. The Australian maneuvered around the catcher's tag and touched home to secure the Hilltopper victory in dramatic fashion, but the umpires weren't convinced the tag missed Cavill, so another review followed. As time went by, tension rose at Nick Denes Field. The longest review of the day proved to be the most impactful as the officials appeared and confirmed the call on the field. Cavill was safe and the Hilltoppers had won their first game over Louisville since 2015.

"We put together a good game against a good ball club," said Burwash. "I just happened to come up in that moment and it's just one you can't forget. Props to the team for staying in it and everybody that just contributed they allowed me to get that chance."

The Hilltopper bullpen kept the momentum from the weekend going as they only surrendered two runs on two solo homers and threw eight shutout frames. Tonight's starter, senior Cory Bosecker kept the Louisville offense in check in the early stages, registering two strikeouts in 2.0 scoreless innings. Graduate student Coby Moe, senior Lane Diuguid, and juniors Grant Burleson and Cal Higgins made appearances in relief of Bosecker and combined for four strikeouts while not conceding a run. Senior Mason Burns earned the win in relief, striking out four Cardinals in 2.1 innings of shutout baseball to finish the game.

"I threw all my dudes," said head coach Marc Rardin. "I was just trying to keep them short on pitch counts, so they are ready to go on Friday. We have a chance to play tomorrow, but I was worrying about tomorrow today and I kind of had it scripted with what we did. I threw a lot of these guys threw an inning each on Sunday, but the pitch count was really low. They were able to go out there tonight and they did outstanding. What I wanted to do was exactly what happened."

At the plate, Australians, Cavill and senior Jaylin Rae both notched multi-hit efforts. Cavill went 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored while Rae totaled a pair of hits. Junior Brady Browning had a double and an RBI while Burwash tallied an RBI on one hit.

The Tops had a hot start as Browning's RBI double put them on the board in the bottom of the first. Cavill followed and drove in another with a single through the right side to give WKU a 2-0 lead.

Louisville cut the deficit in half with a solo shot to left in the top of the fifth. Three innings later, another Cardinal solo long ball evened the contest at 2-2.

The walk-off single from Burwash was the decider, giving the Tops a 3-2 win over Louisville.

UP NEXT

After a rescheduling, venue change, and time change, the Hilltoppers will host Bellarmine tomorrow, April 10 at Nick Denes Field. First pitch is set 1 p.m. CT.

How to follow WKU Baseball: For complete information on WKU Hilltopper Baseball, visit WKUSports.com or follow the program via social media @WKU_Baseball on Twitter and @WKUBaseball on Instagram.