The Western Kentucky baseball team found plenty of ways to score Friday without putting the ball safely in play.

The Hilltoppers’ six runs against Louisiana Tech came on plays that didn’t include a hit, manufacturing plenty of production to notch a 6-3 victory at Nick Denes Field.

“Anytime you get the first game, you have to figure out a way to win it,” redshirt junior left fielder Zach Janes said. “When they make mistakes, you’ve got to take advantage of them. I thought we did a pretty good job of that.”

WKU (18-11 overall, 6-4 Conference USA) improved to 4-0 at home in conference play this season. 

The Tops went ahead early and didn’t look back, crossing the plate in creative ways that included multiple Louisiana Tech throwing errors, a bases-loaded walk and run-scoring sacrifice plays.

The three-game series continues at 2 p.m. Saturday. WKU will be trying to win its third straight C-USA series.

“It doesn’t matter where you play – home or away,” WKU coach John Pawlowski said. “Anytime you can win a ballgame in this league, it’s pretty special. We’ll take them any way we can get them. Tomorrow’s going to be a great test for us again.”

WKU scored two runs apiece in the first, third and fifth innings, taking full advantage of miscues by the Bulldogs (16-10, 4-6).

Senior third baseman Danny Hudzina drove in a run with an RBI groundout to start the scoring, and Janes came home later in the frame on the first of two costly Louisiana Tech errors.

Redshirt sophomore first baseman Harrison Scanlon walked with the bases loaded in the third inning to make it 3-0. Junior right fielder Paul Murray tacked on another run with a sacrifice fly.

“The frustrating thing is we had some other opportunities to try to score,” Pawlowski said. “We’re still learning some things and trying to clean up some stuff, but the one thing that I keep telling this team is they’re so resilient. They know they’ve made mistakes, but they’re willing to learn and willing to move forward.”

Louisiana Tech got two runs back in the fourth with a home run by Jordan Washam, but the Bulldogs gave them back in the bottom of the fifth on a throwing error that allowed both Hudzina and Scanlon to score.

That was all the run support WKU’s pitching staff needed to close the deal.

Junior reliever Sam Higgs earned the victory in 3 1/3 innings of work after replacing senior starter Austin King.

Higgs struck out four and allowed three hits, two walks and a run. King worked the first 4 2/3 innings, giving up six hits, two walks and two runs with six strikeouts for a no-decision.

Higgs worked into the ninth and gave up two baserunners before he was relieved by redshirt junior closer Jackson Sowell.

Sowell surrendered an RBI double to Louisiana Tech’s Chase Lunceford to trim WKU’s lead to 6-3, but he answered with two more outs – including a strikeout – to tally his seventh save of the season.

“I thought La. Tech did a great job of running our pitch counts up,” Pawlowski said. “Austin King’s been outstanding this year for us. The pitch count started to run up, so we brought Sam Higgs in there, and he really set the tone for us. … Just really glad that we can have somebody step up, and Higgs was the difference, I think.”

Janes led the WKU offense with three hits and two runs scored.

Louisiana Tech outhit the Tops 10-8, marking just the fourth time this season WKU has won when getting outhit.

“I feel like we’ve got a little better of a winning mentality,” Janes said. “No matter what, we always feel like we have a chance to win.”

— Follow Assistant Sports Editor Zach Greenwell on Twitter @zach_greenwell or visit bgdailynews.com.