In a 10-inning game that featured a combined 31 runs on 34 hits and 19 walks, Western Kentucky’s baseball team dropped a 16-15 decision to host Eastern Kentucky on Wednesday in Richmond.

WKU’s Steven Kraft hit a pair of home runs, drove in four and scored three in the contest that tied for the most runs scored in the 136-game series between the two programs.

After falling behind 6-0 after the second inning, the Hilltoppers tallied six runs of their own over the next two frames to tie the game. Kraft hit a a two-run homer to right field in the top of the third. WKU then scored four in the fourth frame, highlighted by a pinch-hit, two-run single by Nathan Methvin with the bases loaded.

That was the first of three ties in the game to go along with five lead changes.

Back-to-back doubles by Tyler Robertson and Hunter Wood brought in three WKU runs in the fifth inning to give the Hilltoppers a 9-7 lead. An inning later, Robertson brought in another two runs with an opposite-field double, extending the lead to 11-8 while contributing to his 3-of-5 day at the plate with four runs batted in and two runs scored.

The Colonels tied it up with three runs of their own in the bottom half, and WKU answered with three more in the top of the seventh.

Pinch hitter Marshall Smith started the inning with a double down the left-field line. Seven hitters later, Robertson chopped an infield single to third base to score Colie Currie and put the Hilltoppers up, 14-11.

EKU posted its second four-run inning of the night to take the lead into the WKU half of the eighth inning. Facing a 3-1 count, Kraft hit another towering fly ball to right that cleared the fence for a solo shot to tie the ballgame, 15-15. It made for the Hilltoppers’ second two-home run performance already this season, matching Wood’s two long balls in a 14-4 victory vs. Jacksonville State on Feb. 25.

With the bases loaded and two outs in the ninth, WKU reliever Jackson Sowell got a strikeout to force extra innings.

Sowell faced another bases-loaded situation in the bottom of the 10th, but this time could not escape. With one out, the Colonels’ Alex Holderbach hit the first pitch into right-center field to push the game-winning run across in the four-hour, 15-minute contest.

The Hilltoppers host Missouri Valley Conference opponent Illinois State for a three-game series at Nick Denes Field from Friday to Sunday. After starting the season 2-1, the Redbirds have been swept in back-to-back series at Memphis and Miami (Ohio).{&end}