Western Trips Blue Raiders 10-4

Middle Tennessee fell behind early and could never make a run at the surging Hilltopper baseball team, dropping the second game of the series 0-4 at Reese Smith Field.

The Hilltoppers got out of the gate in a hurry, plating four runs on three hits in the top of the first against Blue Raider starter Adam Larson. The Hilltoppers were also aided by one of MT's four errors in that frame.

The big blows in the first came off of the bats of Tanner Townsend, Antone Towns, and Trevor Keesling, who all drove in runs in the inning.

The Hilltoppers extended their lead to 5-0 in the top of the second when a Ryan Cattell double brought Townsend around to score.

The Blue Raiders finally got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth inning when Josh Archer smashed a solo homer over the left field wall.

The Blue Raiders would rally in the bottom of the fifth and chase WKU starter J.C. Faircloth out of the contest. The Blue Raiders started the inning with a Troy Harp single before Chad Cooper drew a walk prompting WKU skipper Joel Murrie to go to the bullpen in favor of Andy Baldwin.

The Blue Raiders scored their first run on a double play ball and the second run came across when Baldwin uncorked a wild pitch that went to the backstop.

With the lead cut to two, Western put three across in the top of the sixth. A single and a double sent MT starter Adam Larson to the showers for Jeremy Armstrong. The -Toppers would put together two more back-to-back hits to drive in three runs and push the advantage to 8-3

The Blue Raiders scored one more run in the bottom of the sixth behind a Cooper bases loaded walk, but it would prove to be the last time that the home team would crack the scoreboard.

The Hilltoppers scored two more in the top of the seventh to put the game totally out of reach.

Baldwin earned the win in relief for the visitors to improve to 5-3 while Larson took the loss to fall to 3-3.

The Blue Raiders were led offensively by Archer's 3-for-4 day while Harp added a 2-for-3 effort.

The final game of the three-game set is scheduled for a 1 PM first pitch on Sunday afternoon.

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