Western Kentucky’s pitcher does damage at the plate

TROY — Sun Belt Pitcher of the Year Matt Hightower didn’t have his best stuff on the mound in Wednesday’s conference tournament opener against UL-Monroe.

It’s a good thing he brought his bat.

Hightower, who doubles as an outfielder, hit two home runs to pace second-seeded Western Kentucky to a 14-4 victory over the Warhawks at Riddle-Pace Field. WKU (38-16) will play in the winner’s bracket today at 7:30 p.m. while ULM will play an elimination game at 12:30 p.m.

“It felt good,” Hightower said. “It felt really good to swing the bat like that. I need to hold on to that feeling because it felt really good.”

The Warhawks (28-26) left the bases loaded in the first and had a three-run homer robbed on a catch from WKU’s Jared Andreoli in the second. WKU got a two-
run single from Matt Rice in the first, a sac fly from Andreoli in the fourth and a two-run shot from Hightower in the fourth to give the Hilltoppers a 5-0 lead.

ULM finally got to Hightower in the fifth, as Matt Laird hit a three-run shot over the wall in right-center. Hightower didn’t make it out of the fifth inning, which is
required for pitchers to get the win. He was replaced by Bart Carter (6-1), who got the win with 2 2/3 innings of one-hit, one-run relief.

Hightower gave up seven hits and three runs in 4 1/3 innings.

“I started losing my fastball and that’s a huge thing,” Hightower said. “It kept running off the plate and I tried to get it over, but when I hit the middle, they didn’t
miss it.”

WKU got a run back in the sixth on an errant pickoff attempt, and Wade Gaynor hit his 22nd homer of the season, a solo shot, in the sixth to give WKU a 7-3
lead.

Casey Auttonberry added a two-out, solo homer for ULM in the seventh. WKU responded with Hightower’s second homer, a shot over the center field wall, in
the bottom of the second. Gaynor then hit his second triple of the game — he had two all season — and scored on Chad Cregar’s single. The Hilltoppers
added four more in the inning to take a 13-4 lead.

Cregar, who won the Home Run Derby at Family Night Tuesday, ended the game in the eighth with a solo homer. Gaynor and Rice had three hits each for
WKU and Andreoli, Hightower and Cregar had two each.

Starter Jordy Poche (2-6) took the loss for ULM. Auttonberry and Ben Soignier had two hits each for the Warhawks.

The win snapped a season-high four-game losing streak for the Hilltoppers.

“Relief sounds good,” WKU head coach Chris Finwood said. “We came out and played like we had played for the entire season. We were aggressive and drove
some balls. Pitching was OK, but Bart Carter came in and shut down a rally. From there, our bats took over.”