Western Kentucky’s baseball team dropped its first game of the season, 2-1, to Murray State on Monday night at Johnny Reagan Field in Murray.

The Hilltoppers scored first for the sixth time out of six games this season as Carlos Vasquez brought in Caleb Marmo with a sacrifice fly in the top of the third inning.

The next five innings were scoreless before the Racers forced the game into extra innings with an RBI groundout with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth.

An RBI single from Murray State in the 12th inning proved to be the difference as the Racers walked it off for the win.

WKU’s Cole Heath made his second career start and first appearance on the mound this season. The right-hander tossed three shutout innings and tallied a pair of strikeouts without allowing a run on one hit.

Hunter Small, Elliott Rossell, Zach Lyles and Luke Wright saw action in relief after Heath exited. The four combined to concede two runs (one earned) on five hits and five walks in 8 1/3 frames.

It was a quiet night for the Hilltopper offense as they only generated one run on six hits. Vasquez had the only RBI of the game while Ethan Lizama, Ryan Wideman, Camden Ross, Henry Brown and Kyle Hayes collected one hit each.

WKU falls to 5-1 in the 2025 season. The Hilltoppers are now 68-67-1 all-time against Murray State.

The Tops will play their fifth game in four days Tuesday at home against Eastern Kentucky. First pitch from Nick Denes Field is scheduled for 3 p.m.