WKU baseball (16-14) lost in blowout fashion to the No. 4 Vanderbilt Commodores (23-5) 8-1, Tuesday, April 4 at Charles Hawkins Field in Nashville, Tennessee. 

WKU’s offense, which had been very successful to start the year, was stifled by the Commodores. WKU only mustered three hits in the contest and left nine runners on base. 

Hilltopper pitching struggled against the Commodores. Along with the eight runs, WKU accumulated 10 walks among the eight pitchers who made an appearance. 

Vanderbilt jumped out to an early lead. A two out double in the bottom of the first gave the Commodores an early 2-0 advantage. 

Vanderbilts clutch hitting carried over into the bottom of the second. Another two-out knock added to the Commodore lead, 3-0. 

WKU’s struggles continued in the third inning as Vanderbilt made it 5-0 on an RBI single through the middle and a throwing error. 

A throwing error from sophomore third baseman Aidan Gilroy ended a four inning scoring drought and put the Commodores up 7-0 in the seventh. 

Vanderbilt scored another in the seventh following a wild pitch, 8-0. 

Sophomore Ty Batusich brought home the only Hilltopper run of the ballgame in the eighth with a sac fly making it 8-1.  

WKU went down 1-2-3 in the top of the ninth as Vanderbilt took the game 8-1. 

WKU will look to end a five game skid in their weekend series against rival Middle Tennessee State April 6-8 at Nick Denes Field. 

Sports reporter Jake McMahon can be reached at [email protected].