The WKU baseball team had its four-game win streak snapped on Wednesday night as the Toppers fell to Lipscomb 5-4 in extra innings.

The Toppers had won seven of the last eight against Lipscomb.

“We’ve been playing really good baseball,” coach Matt Myers said. “And then for that to happen, you just feel like you take a half step back…we played the first half well and the second half we were awful.”

Freshman pitcher Jackson Sowell started on the mound for the Toppers and struck out two in the first inning. Sowell allowed just three hits in his four innings of play.

WKU left three on base in the first inning and went scoreless until a leadoff home run from sophomore catcher Ryan Messex in the bottom of the second.

After forcing Lipscomb into a three-and-out in the top of the third, WKU extended its lead to 2-0 off a RBI double from senior infielder Adam Lavelle, scoring senior infielder Ryan Huck.

The Toppers continued to score in the fourth inning. Senior infielder Steve Hodgins recorded his first hit of the year and went on to score off a sacrifice bunt from junior outfielder Regan Flaherty to extend the WKU lead to 3-0.

Junior pitcher Jake Thompson made his ninth appearance of the year in the top of the fifth inning and forced Lipscomb into a three-and-out.

Lipscomb got on the board in the top of the sixth inning as a runner scored from second base, cutting the WKU lead to 3-1.

“We showed up early,” Messex said. “But once the game got going we kind of packed it in.”

After a couple scoreless innings from both teams, Lipscomb added two runs in the top of the eighth inning to tie the game at three apiece.

With one on base in the top of the ninth, Lipscomb added another run off an RBI double to give them their first lead of the game at 4-3.

Sophomore pitcher Brennan Pearson escaped a jam in the top of the ninth and struck out a Lipscomb batter with while the bases were loaded, giving the Toppers a chance to send the game to extra innings.

Junior infielder Scott Wilcox scored in the bottom of the ninth off a sacrifice RBI from senior catcher Devin Kelly to tie the game at four.

 A sacrifice RBI in the top of the tenth inning was the difference for Lipscomb as it went on to win 5-4 win over the streaking Hilltoppers.

WKU will go on to face Florida International in Miami, Florida on Friday.

“They’re a good team and they’re mad,” Myers said. “FAU beat them. They can really hit and we play in a park there that’s not very forgiving if you make mistakes…if we play our game we can beat anyone in the country.”