Sanford's grand slam, four hits propel WKU to doubleheader sweep
Team Nova Scotia alum Jake Sanford (Dartmouth, N.S.) belted a grand slam and had four hits in total on Friday to propel the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers to a doubleheader sweep of Rice. Photo: WKU Athletics.
May 3, 2019
By Bryan Fyalkowski
WKU Athletics
TOPPERS TWICE OUTLAST RICE IN FRIDAY’S DOUBLEHEADER SWEEP
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — WKU Baseball outlasted two of the best starting pitchers in Conference USA and earned a pair of come-from-behind victories on Friday night, sweeping a doubleheader from visiting Rice. The Hilltoppers trailed 3-0 in both contests before scoring six in the final two innings to win 6-3 in Game 1, then exploding for six in the bottom of the sixth in Game 2 en route to a 9-5 win.
WKU improved to 13-9-1 — the most wins by the Hilltoppers since joining the league prior to the 2015 season — and 22-22-1 overall to surpass the club’s 21 wins in 2018. Of WKU’s 22 wins, 13 have been of the comeback variety, including eight of the Hilltoppers’ 13 in league action.
It was WKU’s third doubleheader sweep in four opportunities this season. The Hilltoppers had previously been swept in all three doubleheaders against the Owls since 2015, but flipped the script at Nick Denes Field on Friday.
Game 1
Despite giving up three runs in the first two innings, WKU starter Reece Calvert was able to match a career-high and complete seven strong frames, shutting out Rice the rest of the way. The Plano, Texas, native struck out six and allowed only one walk on 117 pitches — 77 of which went for strikes.
Owls starter Matt Canterino put forth one of the better outings by a visiting pitcher this season, with nine strikeouts and only two hits allowed through his first six scoreless innings as Rice took a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the seventh.
That was when the Hilltoppers began to rally, starting the frame with four straight hits — Matt Phipps single, Jackson Swiney RBI triple, Kevin Lambert RBI single and Nick Brunson double — to suddenly put up a pair of runs and get back into the game. Canterino was able to wriggle out of the jam by stranding a pair of runners and holding a 3-2 lead, but the wheels to a WKU comeback were already in motion.
Both teams went to their bullpens to being the eighth, as righty Bailey Sutton set down the Owls in order to set the table for the heart of the Hilltoppers’ order. Against reliever Kendal Jefferies, Jake Sanford (Dartmouth, N.S.) and Matt Phipps began the frame with singles and were bunted over by Swiney. Lambert followed with an infield single that scored Sanford with they tying run, then Brunson walked to load the bases.
Sam McElreath chopped a ball in front of the third baseman, who made an errant throw to first base that allowed Phipps and Lambert to score to give WKU a 5-3 lead and put runners on the corners. Collin Hopkins came up next and executed a safety squeeze bunt to perfection and Brunson slid in safe at home with an insurance run.
Sutton came back out for the ninth and allowed only a single before closing out the 6-3 win for the Hilltoppers. The sophomore from Louisville earned his fifth victory in relief this season, improving to 5-1 in 2019 and 7-2 in his collegiate career.
Topper Notes (G1)
-Sanford went 2-for-4 with his 16th double of the season and one run scored. The Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, native put forth his 21st multi-hit game of the season.
-Lambert went 2-for-4 with two runs batted in and one run scored; it was his 30th career multi-hit game. After producing 32 runs batted in and seven multi-RBI games over his first two seasons at WKU, the Tampa, Fla., native has already driven in 28 this year with seven multi-RBI performances.
- Phipps went 2-for-4 with a pair of runs scored. It was his 12th multi-hit game of the year and fourth multi-run effort; three of which have come in the past eight contests.
-Six runs scored by the Hilltoppers were the second-most against Rice in 12 starts by Canterino this season; the Owls had won five-consecutive games started by the junior.
Game 2
It was a similar script for the second act of the twin-bill, as WKU starter Troy Newell allowed a three-run home run to Cade Edwards in the fourth inning, but otherwise silenced the Rice bats. The senior from St. Peters, Mo., struck out eight against four hits and four walks across six strong. He struck out the side to begin the game and allowed only one runner to reach second base in his five scoreless frames.
Owls starter Evan Kravetz had seven strikeouts and allowed only three hits allowed through his first five innings, as he pushed his personal scoreless streak to 20 frames. But again, the Hilltoppers mustered up a rally, this time it started in the bottom of the fifth.
Sam McElreath was hit by a pitch to begin the inning, then Collin Hopkins bounced a double down the left-field line to put a pair of Hilltoppers in scoring position with zero outs. Jack Wilson — who had gone 0-for-4 with four strikeouts in Game 1 — and came through with a two-run single into center field to cut the Rice lead to 3-2.
After Newell went back out for the sixth and retired the Owls in order with a pair of strikeouts, the offense got right back to work.
Jackson Swiney led off with a four-pitch walk that called for Kravetz to be removed for reliever Blair Lewis. The righty got two of the next three hitters out, but a two-out error on the Rice shortstop allowed Hopkins to reach base, Swiney to score the game-tying tun and WKU’s inning to continue. Ray Zuberer III worked a walk to load the bases, then Wilson was hit by a pitch for the 15th time this season to score the go-ahead run and make it a 4-3 lead for the hosts.
Notorious slugger Jake Sanford stepped to the plate with an opportunity to knock his 20th home run of the season — including his second grand slam — and he did just that On a 1-1 pitch from Lewis, the Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, native hit one over the right-field bullpen to give the Hilltoppers an 8-3 advantage.
With the long ball, Sanford moved into sole possession of eighth place on WKU’s single-season homerun charts and became only the third hitter in Division I to reach the 20-dinger plateau in 2019. It marked the 10th-consecutive weekend series in which the junior has hit at least one homerun.
At 94 pitches — 53 of which going for strikes — Newell was given a pat on the back and exited in line for the win. Reliever Jacob Green came in and completed the final three frames for his first save of the year, allowing only one earned run in the process on an inside-the-park homerun by Rodrigo Duluc in the ninth.
Zuberer slugged his third homerun of the season — and seventh of his career on The Hill — in the bottom of the eighth, a solo shot to give the Hilltoppers’ their ninth run of the night.
Topper Notes (G2)
-Sanford went 2-for-4 with four runs batted in, pushing his season total to a league-leading 60. It marks the first time a WKU hitter has reached that mark since Matt Rice had 65 in 2010.
- Wilson went 2-for-4 with three runs batted in and one scored. It was his 17th multi-hit game and sixth multi-RBI effort of the season. He raised his slash line to .323/.435/.418, good for second among qualified Hilltoppers.
-WKU improved to 15-7-1 at Nick Denes Field, 7-6 on Friday’s, 6-5 in white jerseys, 8-0 when the starter goes five-plus innings, 10-14 when the opponent scores first, 16-4 when out-hitting the opponent and 17-12-1 when holding the opponent to one or fewer homeruns.
Topper Quotes
"Rice has tremendous pitching, their starters were outstanding early, and we were fortunate to keep the games close. Both games we were down 3-0, hoping that our offense would strike at some point and this very resilient offensive group keep grinding and kept finding ways to battle and put some big innings together. This group is going to keep fighting and keep going out there, we're down a few bodies and we have players in different positions but they're embracing that challenge." — Head coach John Pawlowski.
"Troy Newell and Reece Calvert both got down early, but they kept us in the ballgame. When you have two starters who go deep into the game and you turn it over to Bailey Sutton and Jacob Green, both of those guys were outstanding again today. When you get pitching like that it certainly helps, and the offense had a lot of confidence, we just didn't know when we were going to score." — Head coach John Pawlowski.
"It took everybody on our team to come away with these wins. The pitching staff, we did a good job of holding their bats down for a while and our offense kept finding a way to put together good at-bats and put up runs. I give a lot of credit to them, because without them we wouldn't be able to be where we are right now ... It's such a great feeling when everything starts clicking, when your hitters are hitting and your pitchers are going out there and getting outs. It's just how championship teams play." — Senior Reece Calvert.
"Today was huge and we're going to be ready to come back on Sunday again. We love battling all the way to end end, I guess we like keeping the fans on the edge of their seat; that's the way we like to play ... It feels really great to be in third place in the standings going into the last few series, we have to keep playing well and see where it takes us." — Junior Jake Sanford.
Up Next
WKU will have the opportunity for its third three-game series sweep of the season on Sunday, May 5, with first pitch at 1 p.m. Righty Jackson Parthasarathy will go to the mound for Rice, to be opposed by righty Joe Filosa for the Hilltoppers.