LAFAYETTE, La.?Fifth-seeded
Western Kentucky jumped out to an early lead and held on to defeat
top-seeded ULM 10-4 Friday afternoon in the second round of the Sun Belt Tournament.
The Warhawks (34-23) drop into an elimination game against fourth-seeded
Florida Atlantic tonight at 8:30 p.m.
Western Kentucky (31-24) took a 6-0 lead after the first
four innings and freshman right-hander Rye Davis kept the high-powered ULM offense in check. Davis
(3-5) allowed just one run on four hits over 6.2 innings of work.
ULM, who scored six runs in the bottom of the ninth in its first tournament game, rallied with three runs in the top of the eighth on a two-run single by Kyle Suire and an RBI-single by A.J. Siggers, but could not quite complete the comeback.
Chad Cregar led the Hilltoppers at the plate going 3-for-3
with three RBIs, while Wade Gaynor went 3-for-5 with two RBIs.
Jon Prevost put the Warhawks on the board with a solo home
run in the top of the sixth inning; it was his fifth of the season and first
since April 19 against Middle Tennessee.
The Hilltoppers struck first in the bottom of the second
inning on a sacrifice fly by Jake Wells, but ULM seemed to carry some momentum after
scratching out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam.
However, the momentum quickly swung back in WKU's favor
after ULM's Matt
Laird was called out on a close play at first base in the top half of the third
inning. Following the play, the Hilltoppers
scored five-unanswered runs and retired seven of the next eight Warhawk batters.
WKU tacked on three more runs in the sixth inning stringing
together five singles, four of which came with two outs. A triple and single in the bottom of the eighth plated the
final run of the game for the Hilltoppers.
Kyle Smith (4-3) took the loss for the Warhawks allowing
five runs ? four earned ? on seven hits in just 3.2 innings.
