On Tuesday night in Nashville, the WKU baseball team defeated No. 4 Vanderbilt 3-2. The Commodores are the highest-ranked team the squad has ever topped and the Toppers (6-2) are off to their best start since 2010.

Sophomore Josh Bartley started the game for WKU and pitched a career-high six innings without giving a hit until the fifth inning. He also had a career high in strikeouts with three and secured the third victory of his career.

The offense was alive for WKU once again as the Toppers racked up ten hits on a Vanderbilt pitching staff that had held opponents to a .139 batting average. Senior Scott Wilcox and sophomore Hunter Wood combined for three RBI’s in the first five innings as WKU jumped out to an early 3-0 lead.

After two runs were scored by the Commodores in the sixth, WKU was able to control the damage and put in junior Ian Tompkins on the mound in the eighth inning as he recorded his fourth save of the year.

WKU is set to play again this weekend at the Keith LeClair Classic, starting Friday at 5 p.m. against East Carolina.