WKU falls to Lipscomb in extras
April 25, 2012
WKU defeated Lipscomb last Wednesday in an extra-inning victory, and it once again took extra baseball to decide the winner of their game Tuesday.
However, the Toppers didn’t have as much luck this time around.
WKU (17-24) lost 7-6 to Lipscomb (18-23) in 11 innings Tuesday night at Nick Denes Field.
Lipscomb created opportunities in the top of the 11th inning when catcher Taylor Stewart led off with a single, advanced to second base on a wild pitch and was moved over to third base on a sacrifice bunt by designated hitter Shawn Mehring.
With one out in a 6-6 tie, left fielder M.L. Williams singled on a line drive up the middle to score Stewart and gain a 7-6 lead for the Bisons.
Despite loading the bases, WKU held Lipscomb to just the lone run in the inning.
However the Toppers went three up, three down in the bottom of the 11th inning to end the game.
Head Coach Matt Myers didn’t downplay the amount of chances his team had Tuesday night.
“We had our opportunities tonight,” Myers said. “I told the guys that the game should’ve been over through nine (innings). We outplayed them but unfortunately we gave them a chance to get back in it and they did.”
Senior third baseman Casey Dykes said the team simply “didn’t capitalize.”
“We had our chances but we just didn’t capitalize,” Dykes said. “We battled the whole game but just didn’t come out on top tonight.”
After failing to record a hit over the first eight frames against Lipscomb last Wednesday, WKU erased any chances of that happening again from the get-go.
Senior center fielder Jared Andreoli led off the WKU first with a double to begin what would be a 3-for-5 day with two doubles.
“Andreoli’s got a great bat,” Myers said. “He’s our glue.”
With one out in the inning, Dykes singled on a line drive to left field to score Andreoli and gave the Toppers a 1-0 lead.
Senior right fielder Ryan Hutchison proceeded to lift a two-run home run over the fences in left field that put WKU up 3-0.
Lipscomb cut WKU’s lead to 3-1 in the top of the second inning on an RBI double by shortstop Aaron Sandoval.
Second baseman Jonathan Craycraft’s two-RBI double in the top of the fourth inning tied the game at 3-3.
However the Toppers answered with two runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning to regain a 5-3 advantage over the Bisons.
But freshman left-hander Ian Tompkins and junior right-hander Colton Satterlee couldn’t manage to hold the lead for WKU in the top of the fifth inning.
Tompkins issued back-to-back walks to lead off the inning before giving up an RBI single to Lipscomb first baseman Zak Messer that cut WKU’s lead to 5-4.
Satterlee was then called to the mound and recorded the first two outs but intentionally walked a runner and allowed a two-out, two-RBI single off the bat of Sandoval that gave Lipscomb its first lead at 6-5.
The Toppers tied the game in the bottom of the sixth inning on an RBI single by sophomore first baseman Scott Wilcox.
Satterlee ran into trouble again in the top of the seventh inning when Lipscomb loaded the bases with just one out.
However he was able to induce an inning-ending double play to end the threat and strand the bases loaded.
WKU had an opportunity of its own in the bottom of the eighth inning when Andreoli reached second base with two outs.
Wilcox proceeded to single on a line drive to right field but Andreoli was easily thrown out trying to score all the way from second base.
The Toppers set themselves up for another chance to come through in walk-off fashion in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Dykes singled and reached second base to begin the inning which forced Lipscomb to intentionally walk hot-hitting Hutchison.
However Bisons left-hander Gil Rehwinkel retired the final three batters in order to end the Toppers’ threat and make way for the 11th-inning win.
“We didn’t execute,” Myers said. “We had our chances tonight and we just didn’t execute. Obviously this was the glaring one tonight.
“I thought at this point ‘we have this game.'”
WKU had to use five pitchers throughout the course of the game.
The Toppers’ game against Austin Peay, scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday has been canceled, WKU announced Wednesday morning.
The game was canceled due to field conditions and the threat of inclement weather in the Bowling Green area. The game will not be made up.