The Lady Toppers guaranteed another day of

their season Thursday with some late-inning dramatics.

After losing Wednesday to Florida Atlantic,

4-3, in the first round of the Sun Belt Conference’s

double-elimination tournament, WKU (30-28, 10-16 Sun Belt

Conference) narrowly defeated Louisiana-Monroe, 8-6, in eight

innings on Thursday.

The Lady Toppers took a 3-0 lead after the

first two innings, thanks to a two-RBI double by sophomore catcher

Karavin Dew and an RBI-single by freshman second baseman Kelsie

Mattox.

ULM responded with a three-run fifth inning to

take a 5-4 lead.

But Dew responded for WKU in the sixth inning

with an RBI single to tie the game at 5-5.

After a scoreless seventh inning, sophomore

shortstop Amanda Thomas belted a three-run home run in the eighth

inning that proved to be the game-winner. WKU held off a small push

from ULM in the bottom of the eighth and hung on to win 8-6.

Thomas and Dew paced WKU’s offense in the win,

notching six of the eight RBIs for the Lady Toppers on the day.

Sophomore pitcher Mallorie Sulaski (13-11)

earned the win, allowing four earned runs on eight hits in eight

innings of work.

WKU will face the loser of Thursday’s matchup

between fifth-seeded Troy and first-seeded Louisiana Lafayette in

an elimination game on Friday at 12:30 p.m.