WKU Baseball: Tops Hang On For 9–6 Season-Opening Win Over NKU

In a crucial fourth season for head coach John Pawlowski, Troy Newell pitched five scoreless innings striking out six Northern Kentucky batters before an 8–0 lead evaporated to three runs, but Jack Lambert closed the door for a 9–6 season-opening victory over regional rival Northern Kentucky.

Newell, a rising senior coming off of a brutal 2018 season where he went 0–4 with a 6.40 ERA, quickly showed that 2019 should be different as he would dominate the Norse hitters moving to 1–0 on the season.

After stranding three runners in the bottom of the first, the Tops offense exploded in the bottom of the second inning. After a Kevin Lambert single, the Tops loaded the bases before Dillon Nelson singled home Lambert to make it 1–0. The Tops wouldn’t stop scoring there as they took advantage of two Norse errors and scored 5 runs after Jake Sanford doubled off the wall to bring in Davis Sims and Ray Zuberer to give the Tops a commanding lead.

That scoring looked to be all the Tops needed. Newell would last five innings. He would hold the Norse scoreless over five innings, striking out six batters and only allowing four baserunners. Overall a great first start for the former Juco All-American.

The Tops would strand a few runners before resuming the scoring in the sixth. After Ray Zuberer and Davis Sims singled, Jake Sanford singled home Zuberer extending WKU’s lead to 6–0. Sam McElreath and Kevin Lambert would also drive home runners to turn the game into an 8–0 route.

NKU wouldn’t go away as they would get to the WKU bullpen in the 7th, chasing relievers Eric Crawford & Maddex Richardson by scoring three runs and loading the bases with no outs before presumed closer Joe Filosa came in and cleaned up the mess. The 6–10 Ohio Dominican transfer would induce a popup, a strikeout and a grounder stopping the Norse’s rally dead in its tracks.

The WKU bullpen struggles continued into the 8th as Filosa would walk a runner and commit an error leading to another Norse run. He would then strike out, pop up and strike out the Norse, killing yet another rally.

Matt Phipps would hit another double off the wall scoring Jake Sanford (2/3 with 3 RBI’s and 2 walks) to extend WKU’s lead to 9–4 to take it into the ninth.

Joe Filosa would come back out in the 9th looking for a 9 out save. He would allow back to back doubles cutting the lead down to four. He would then strike out Wakeham but would give up another run-scoring single before getting replaced by Jack Lambert. Lambert would force a strikeout and ground out to end the Norse threat and start their season with a 9–6 victory.

Today showed the potential of the Tops offense. They would reach base 18 times (11–35 with 7 walks), that should help WKU stay in games. The bullpen, however, reverted back to their consistent struggles of recent years giving up six runs over four innings with four pitchers. Filosa and Lambert showed plenty of potential but the rest of the bullpen needs to tighten up if WKU is going to have a successful season.

WKU moves to 1–0 on the young season. They host two more against NKU over the next two days. Here are your final stats from the season-opening win: