In the first-ever baseball game between Western Kentucky and West Virginia, the Mountaineers beat the Hilltoppers 7-5 on Friday at Nick Denes Field.

WKU led 4-2 after seven innings, with 6 1/3 strong innings from starter Ryan Thurston and a 4-for-4 on-base day by Colie Currie, but a four-run West Virginia eighth gave the visitors the lead for good.

The lefty Thurston recorded only four strikeouts after posting seven and nine, respectively, in his first two starts, but still nailed down his third start of five-plus innings with two or fewer runs allowed to open his 2018 campaign. He threw 102 pitches – 57 for strikes – and worked around 10 baserunners to lower his season ERA from 2.38 to 2.04.

The Mountaineers scored an unearned run in the second to take a 1-0 lead, and the score stayed that way until the Hilltopper half of the fourth. Colin Butkiewicz belted a 1-0 pitch over the wall in right-center to score Tyler Robertson with two outs to give WKU the lead. It was Butkiewicz’s first home run as a Hilltopper.

West Virginia came right back in the next inning with a two-out run of its own when Brandon White singled in Andrew Zitel. WKU responded with a leadoff single from Jacob Rhinesmith, who was bunted to second by Chase Larsen, then driven in with a triple down the right-field line by Currie. Sam McElreath followed with a sacrifice fly to left-center to give the Hilltoppers a 4-2 advantage.

It stayed that way until the eighth, when the top of the Mountaineer lineup greeted lefty reliever Austin Tibbs with a triple, double and single.

The Hilltoppers’ Conner Boyd came in to try and hold runners on the corners with no outs, but pinch hitter Chase Illig hit a three-run home run to right-center for a 6-4 lead.

WKU responded as Robertson led off the Hilltopper eighth with a double and scored on a Luke Brown single. But Brown was caught stealing during the following at-bat to end the inning.

The Mountaineers stretched their lead back to two with a Darius Hill solo shot in the ninth, then WKU (5-5) was retired in order by West Virginia’s (3-5) righty reliever Sam Kessler in the bottom half to end the contest.

Game 2 of the series pits Hilltopper righty Colby Taylor against Mountaineer righty Alek Manoah, with first pitch at 1 p.m. Saturday.