Western Kentucky’s baseball team dropped a 3-0 decision to visiting Ohio University on Saturday at Nick Denes Field.

A day after WKU starting pitcher Ryan Thurston accumulated 11 strikeouts in 7.1 innings, Tops starter Paul Kirkpatrick followed with his own gem by throwing a Hilltoppers’ season high 8.1 innings on 102 pitches – including 77 strikes – with two strikeouts compared to no walks. He scattered eight hits and allowed three earned runs.

The Bobcats scored a run in the third, fourth and seventh innings, however, as starter Butch Baird and relievers Jake Rudnicki and Jake Roehn combined to shut out WKU for the first time this season.

Logan Weins replaced Kirkpatrick after the starter allowed a base hit, and the lefty got the Bobcats’ Connor Callery to ground out to first base on one pitch. Conner Boyd then came in for the final out of the inning, a soft pop fly to right field by Devon Garcia to keep the game within three runs.

Hunter Wood – who stole his first career base earlier in the contest – doubled over the center fielder’s head with two outs in the ninth to keep the game alive, but pinch hitter Kaleb Duckworth popped to first base for the final out.

Kirkpatrick fell just shy of becoming the first Hilltopper since Justin Hageman on March 21, 2014 (vs. Texas State) to pitch a nine-inning complete game.

Through a team-high 18.2 innings in his first three starts for WKU, Kirkpatrick has struck out six and not walked a batter.

“Stellar performance from Paul Kirkpatrick. He’s going to go out there and get ground balls and make the other team put the ball in play,” WKU coach John Pawlowski said in a news release.

“No walks, two strikeouts in 8.1 innings; just a solid outing and he put the team in position to win … They have some quality arms over there and we just weren’t able to generate anything offensively today.”

With the series tied 1-1, the Hilltoppers and Bobcats will face off Sunday at 1 p.m. in the rubber match. Ohio probable starter is righty Michael Klein, who has served as the team’s designated hitter for the first two games of the series. WKU did not announce a starting pitcher after Saturday’s game.