Freshmen Trio Fuel Hilltopper Win over Bellarmine

Tuesday, May 17

Louisville, KY

2:00 PM CT

Western Kentucky University

Bellarmine

Photo by: Matt Keenan, WKU Athletics

5/17/2022 8:43:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score Season Stats

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – WKU Baseball earned a 10-2 win over Bellarmine on Tuesday afternoon at Knights Field.

The freshmen trio of Ty Batusich, AJ Fiechter and Luke Sinnard all produced stellar outings in the matchup, with Batusich and Fiechter collecting two hits apiece and Sinnard earning his first win of the season after tossing a career-high 6.0 frames.

"I thought we played a complete college baseball game today," said head coach John Pawlowski. "I liked the way our guys competed. We had a lot of quality at-bats up and down the lineup and we certainly handled the baseball well today.

"I think a lot of credit goes to our three freshmen. Luke [Sinnard] was outstanding on the mound – six innings, one run, one walk – he just continues to get better and better. We've seen flashes of it and now it's starting to show up more consistently. Ty [Batusich] did a great job behind the plate today and made it on base four times offensively. And AJ [Fiechter] – AJ stepped in when Brian [McAuliffe] had to leave the game – and he steps in and hits a home run and an RBI single and makes some nice plays defensively. Great job by our team, I'm really impressed with how those freshmen handled themselves today."

Sinnard earned the starting nod on the mound for WKU, picking up his first win of the year after allowing just four hits and one run to go along a career-high five strikeouts in 6.0 innings. Logan Bowen closed out the final 3.0 innings, surrendering four hits and one run while striking out three to earn his second save of the season.

At the plate, the Hilltoppers racked up nine hits and 11 walks, with three players producing multi-hit performances. Batusich, Fiechter and Ty Crittenberger each recorded two hits apiece, with Fiechter, Crittenberger and Justin Carlin also adding home runs in the contest.

SCORING SUMMARY

WKU opened the scoring in the first frame, using back-to-back bases-loaded walks by Aidan Gilroy and Jackson Gray to take an early 2-0 lead.

The Hilltoppers tacked on two more runs in the second inning, with a two-run long ball by Carlin making it 4-0.

Bellarmine added its first run of the game in the fourth frame, using an RBI double to put the score at 4-1.

WKU answered back in the top of the fifth, with an RBI groundout by Brian McAuliffe and two-run homer by Crittenberger making it 7-1.

A solo shot by Fiechter in the seventh – his first collegiate home run – later gave the Hilltoppers an 8-1 advantage.

Fiechter then collected his second RBI of the day in the eighth inning, sending a single to right center to plate Batusich and put the score at 9-1.

The Hilltoppers added their final run of the game in the ninth, with Batusich scoring Matthew Meyer from third on a groundout to make it 10-1.

Bellarmine would go on to add one more run in the bottom of the ninth, resulting in the 10-2 final.

UP NEXT

The Hilltoppers will close out their season with a three-game series against Old Dominion beginning at 5 p.m. CT on Thursday, May 19 at Nick Denes Field.