Western Kentucky’s baseball team launched four home runs in an 11-3 win over in-state foe Eastern Kentucky on Tuesday at Nick Denes Field.

The Hilltoppers (6-1) put up 11 runs, marking the first time they have scored in double-digits this season as Ryan Wideman, Ethan Lizama, Kyle Hayes and Thomas Marsala all homered to give WKU its sixth win of the year.

WKU was first to the scoreboard for the seventh time in seven games this season as Wideman powered a two-run homer over the left-center wall in the first inning to give the Tops a 2-0 lead.

The Colonels cut the deficit to one in the top of the second with a sacrifice bunt. EKU took the lead 3-2 with a two-run shot in the third inning.

The Hilltopper bats came alive in the fourth as WKU put up five runs. Carlos Vasquez got the rally going with an RBI double before Lizama pulled one down the right-field line on the very next at-bat for a two-run shot. Later in the inning, Hayes and Marsala hit back-to-back homers to extend the lead to 7-3.

Marsala registered his second RBI of the day with an RBI groundout in the bottom of the sixth.

Three more runs crossed in the seventh as Reid Howard stole home on a double steal with Vasquez before Vasquez scored on an RBI single from Wideman. Camden Ross knocked in Wideman on the next at-bat with an RBI single to put the final score at 11-3.

Gavin Perry made his first start and appearance on the mound for WKU. The Oceanside, California, native claimed a pair of strikeouts in 1.1 innings while allowing one run on one hit and two walks.

Three freshman pitchers made their collegiate debuts for the Tops as Dominic Monaco, Taylor Penn and Max Winders saw action in relief.

Monaco struck out one Colonel and surrendered two runs on one hit and one walk in 1.2 frames. The winning-decision went to Penn as he was near perfect in two innings. The right-hander fanned three batters and conceded just one hit. Winders didn’t give up a run on two hits and one walk in 1.2 innings.

Lucas Hartman tossed 2.1 frames of shutout baseball while collecting two punchouts without allowing a hit to close the contest.

“It was an emphasis last night after the game. I guess I can say that kindly,” WKU coach Marc Rardin said in a news release. “We go into today, it’s a new day, it’s win or learn and we learned a lot. We even talked about it right now after this game about where we’re going and who we are right now.

“We showed a lot better today. I think we’re a different team at home. We show ourselves pretty good at home. How about our three pups? We started with the married man (Perry) and then we threw out our three freshmen to break them in and I thought they did great for us.”

The WKU offense had its most successful night at the plate thus far as they generated 11 runs on 16 hits.

Wideman recorded the team’s first four-hit game of the season in a 4-for-5 outing with three RBIs, three runs scored, two stolen bases and a home run.

Four other Hilltoppers had multi-hit games as Lizama, Ross, Hayes and Marsala had two hits apiece.

Lizama was 2-for-4 with two RBIs, two runs scored and a home run while Ross went 2-for-5 with an RBI. Hayes reached base four times in a 2-for-3 day with two walks, an RBI, a run scored and a home run. Marsala had a couple of RBIs in a 2-for-5 outing with a run scored and his first career home run at WKU.

Howard, the only true freshman position player for the Hilltoppers, tallied his first collegiate hit, going 1-for-2 with a run scored.

The Hilltoppers now lead EKU 78-64-2 in the all-time series and 49-22-1 in Bowling Green.

WKU continues nonconference play with a four-game series against Central Michigan at home this weekend. First pitch on Friday is scheduled for 3 p.m. at Nick Denes Field.