Western Kentucky and Marshall battled for nearly eight hours of Conference USA baseball action Saturday in Huntington, W.Va.

Trailing 9-3 late in Game 2 of the doubleheader, the Hilltoppers staged a dramatic comeback to clinch a 16-11 win and salvage a split on the afternoon.

After falling 11-7 in Game 1, then facing a potential sweep with a six-run deficit after six innings in Game 2, WKU scored 12 runs in the next two frames to stun the Thundering Herd and improve to 8-6-1 in C-USA play.

In the opener, the score was tied 2-all after four innings, with starter Troy Newell allowing a two-run home run to Geordon Blanton in the second and the Hilltoppers answering with two of their own two innings later.

WKU right fielder Jake Sanford led off with a solo home run to left-center field on the first pitch he saw from reliever Ryan Falls. It was his 16th homer of the year, including his eighth against C-USA competition.

Sanford started the top of the sixth with a double to right-center, and he scored on a Lambert single to center with two outs. Third baseman Nick Brunson gave WKU a 5-4 lead when he smacked a double over the right fielder’s head to score Lambert and freshman center fielder Jackson Swiney, who worked a six-pitch walk to extend the frame.

Reliever Bailey Sutton — who came in to strand a pair of Thundering Herd runners the inning prior — was charged with six unearned runs when he allowed three-straight two-out hits by the hosts, who took a 10-5 lead. The exclamation point was a three-run home run by Rey Pastrana.

Catcher Matt Phipps brought the Hilltoppers back to 10-7 when he roped a two-out, two-run single in the top of the seventh that scored Sanford and designated hitter Dillon Nelson.

Marshall’s Elvis Peralta added a solo homer to make the score 11-7.

Things got going quickly for the Hilltoppers in the nightcap, when Marshall starter Zac McNeel walked three of the first four batters to begin the contest. Swiney lined a two-run single into center field. Kevin Lambert followed with an RBI hit through the left side of the infield and it was a 3-0 lead for WKU.

Making his first start of the season, WKU righty Joe Filosa retired the first six Marshall batters. The Thundering Herd got a run in the third to pull within 3-1.

In the fourth, however, the hosts used four consecutive two-out RBI hits to score five runs against Filosa to take a 6-3 lead. Reliever Hunter Crosby got the final out of the inning, then posted a zero in the next frame. The freshman ran into some trouble in the sixth, when Eric Rodriguez hit a two-run single and Peralta knocked a solo home run and the WKU deficit ballooned to 9-3.

In the top of the seventh, Lambert drove in right fielder Sanford with a one-out double that also moved Swiney to third. After pinch hitter Sam McElreath was hit by a pitch to load the bases with two outs, a Marshall throwing error scored one run to make it a 9-5 score.

WKU second baseman Jack Wilson then lined a two-run single into left-center, which set the table for Richard Constantine.

The first baseman came to the plate 0-for-8 on the day, but blasted a 1-0 pitch from Sexton over the wall in left-center to give WKU a 10-9 lead. It was the fourth homer of the season for the Huntsville, Ala., native, all of them coming in the past six games.

Marshall’s Andrew Zban evened the score at 10 on a solo home run against righty Jacob Green in the bottom half of the frame; it was a short-lived tie.

Swiney hit a ground-rule double to open the eighth inning, then Lambert knocked him in once again with an RBI single. A Wilson walk with the bases loaded and an RBI single by designated hitter Dillon Nelson sandwiched run-scoring ground outs by Constantine and Sanford to give WKU a 15-10 advantage.

Each team added one more run, but Green closed out the Thundering Herd over the final 3 1/3 frames and secured WKU’s 16-11 win in a contest that lasted 4:09.

With a 16-17-1 overall record, the Hilltoppers face Belmont (16-19) for the second time in eight days. WKU will travel to Nashville for a 4 p.m. first pitch Tuesday.