LIVINGSTON, Ala. – The University of West Alabama baseball team won its second straight series to start the season with an 8-2 victory over Kentucky State in the rubber match Saturday afternoon from Tartt Field.
UWA moves its record to 5-2, while Kentucky State will head back home with a 4-2 mark.
"Anytime you get a series win, you're always excited. We did not do a good job executing our runners on base like we wanted to, but we did a better job fielding the ball today, said head coach
Eric DuBose.
KSU opened the game with back-to-back base runners, but starter
Graham Holland retired the first three batters to keep the Thorobreds off the scoreboard.
UWA got the bats going in the bottom half of the first. After
Bryce Newman worked a full count walk and a
Blake Vineyard base knock,
Houston Kitterman send a double to right field to bring both runners home for the 2-0 lead.
"Kitty has done a great job for us in the middle of the order. He's been an anchor for us in the lineup," added DuBose.
In the top of the third, Kentucky State made it a 2-2 score with a fielder's choice RBI by Collier Higgs and a base hit by Isaiah Zepeda-Felix.
The fifth saw
Laney Keeton enter the game from the bullpen, and he mowed down the Thorobreds in order to keep the game even at two runs apiece.
However, that would not last long, as KSU also went to the bullpen to bring in Daccarius Chapman, but UWA took advantage. With runners on first and second,
Cade Horton gave the Tigers the 3-2 lead with a RBI single to right field.
After another shut down inning by Keeton in the sixth, West Alabama added an insurance run with a Kitterman RBI single.
Ahead 4-2, the Tigers added four insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth.
Nick Thibodeau and
Jack Beck, with the bases loaded, moved the merry-go-around on back-to-back hit by pitches. Horton followed by reaching on an error that saw Thibodeau and
Chase Dejean score on the play.
Houston Kitterman and
Chase Dejean each had two hits for the Tigers in the win. Kitterman drove in three RBIs, while Dejean scored twice.
Cade Horton also had two RBIs on the afternoon.
Laney Keeton (1-0) picked up the win in relief, pitching two shutout innings with four groundouts and two strikeouts.
Collier Higgs and Isaiah Zepeda-Felix each had RBIs for the Thorobreds in Saturday's series finale.
UWA wraps up the season-opening, 11-game home stand with Montevallo. The non-conference battle will start at 4 p.m. Tuesday afternoon from Tartt Field.
