Western Kentucky walks-off in the 18th, hands UK baseball 7th straight loss

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Western Kentucky senior first basemen Ryan Huck celebrates a walk off home run in the 18th inning in Bowling Green, Ky., on Wednesday, April 24, 2013. WKU defeated UK 3-2 in 18 innings. Photo by Michael Reaves

Tom Hurley | @TomHurleyKernel

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BOWLING GREEN, Ky – A walk-off home run in the bottom of the 18th inning saw UK baseball go down 3-2 to Western Kentucky University in the longest game in all of college baseball so far in 2013.

Freshman center fielder Trevor Lowe sent a pitch over the left field wall to end the contest shortly after 12 a.m. local time Wednesday morning.

“That was a tremendous college baseball game, just a war of attrition,” WKU head coach Matt Myers said. “It was really a game of the last man standing.”

The loss is the Cats’ 10th in their last 12 games and their seventh in succession.

Six hours earlier freshman right-handed pitcher Kyle Cody started his seventh game of the season for No. 24 UK, using his 80mph slider and 95mph fastball to keep the Hilltoppers scoreless in the first.

The Cats (24-16, 7-11 SEC) came close to taking an early lead in the second inning. Junior second baseman J.T. Riddle led off the inning with a single for his 45th base-hit of the season.

With the wind blowing to left field, junior designated hitter Paul McConkey hit a deep fly ball into the glove of Lowe six-feet short of the outfield fence.

Cody kept the home squad off the scoreboard in the second but had no such luck in the third as the Hilltoppers took a 1-0 lead.

Senior second baseman Steve Hodgkins hit a one-out triple after sending a 93 mph pitch off the outfield wall. Two batters later junior shortstop Scott Wilcox also sent a pitch from the hand of Cody to the fence for an RBI double and a 1-0 advantage.

Western Kentucky threatened to extend their lead in the fifth inning when Lowe stepped up to the plate after Hodgkins drew a four-pitch walk.

Lowe drilled a line drive to right field where UK’s senior right fielder Zac Zellers made a diving catch to keep the WKU lead to one.

The Cats made the most of Zellers’ diving grab one batter later in the top of the sixth when sophomore center fielder Austin Cousino stepped into the batters box and tied the game with one swing of the bat.

Cousino, who earlier in the day was named to the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team for the second straight season, swung at the first pitch and sent it over the center field wall for his fifth home run of the campaign.

Kuhn and Riddle flirted with the outfield fence before the inning was over as the Cats sought to break the tie and take the lead.

Cody exited the game with no decision before the bottom of the seventh after striking out seven in six innings of four-hit baseball.

Sophomore right-handed pitcher Chandler Shepherd came in to replace the freshman and limited the Hilltoppers to two walks over the seventh and eigth innings.

UK head coach Gary Henderson lifted Shepherd from the game after WKU’s junior left-fielder Regan Flaherty singled to lead-off the bottom of the ninth.

Senior right-handed pitcher Walter Wijas took over and picked up three outs to take the game to extra innings.

Junior right-handed pitcher Trevor Gott inherited two base runners when he replaced Wijas with 1 out in the bottom of the 10th.

Gott struck out both batters he faced to deny the Hilltoppers and worked 3.1 innings total.

Freshman right-handed pitcher Ryne Combs and freshman right-handed pitcher Zach Strecker both saw action as the game refused to end, even when UK took a 2-1 lead in the 13th.

The Cats were one strike away from taking the win in the bottom of the 13th before the Hilltoppers capitalized on an error to knot the game at two.

Western Kentucky (22-19) then loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the 14th but were unable to plate a runner as Strecker chalked up three outs with no further damage as the game continued into a 15th inning.

It was UK’s turn to load the bases in the 17th inning, but the Cats couldn’t find a way to bring a man home to once again take the lead in extras.

Lowe then picked the perfect time for his first base hit of the night in the bottom of the 18th as he swatted the ball over the left field fence to end the marathon game with the walk-off home run, giving WKU the 3-2 victory.