LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Western Illinois baseball team:
- picked up its first win;
- in its 2021 season-opener;
- on the road;
- over the fourth-ranked team in the nation.
The 8-3 upset over Louisville Friday (Feb. 26) will be added to Western Illinois’ history of success against ranked opponents. The most recent win occurred at No. 24 Iowa in 2015, and the Leathernecks also notably defeated No. 1 Arkansas on opening weekend in 2013.
Friday’s game also saw head coach Andy Pascoe — the third-youngest coach in NCAA Divison I baseball — pick up his first career win.
“There was a lot of excitement,” said Pascoe when asked about the energy in the dugout after the final out. “Everybody was extremely excited, and it was extremely emotional to get my first career win against a highly-ranked team, especially after not winning any games last year and coming so close in so many games last year, too.
“At the end of the day, these guys went out there and they played well. They are the ones who won the game. They have come in every single day and worked really hard. It didn’t matter if we were practicing early in the morning or later in the day; they came in ready to work. Our main two focuses were to have fun and play clean baseball, and we really did those two things.”
The game sat tied at 3-3 at the end of the third inning, but it didn’t take long for Western Illinois to end the stalemate. Alex Dorethyused the very first pitch of the fourth to single to center field, and Chase VanDerGinst followed suit with a single to right. A fielding error allowed the former to cross home plate for the 4-3 advantage before a bases-loaded walk and RBI-single from Kevin Raisbecktucked in two more runs.
By the end of the fifth, Western sat ahead 6-3 and used a pair of insurance scores in the eighth to pad its lead. The visiting Leathernecks outhit Louisville 15-to-5, and Derek Botaletto was nearly perfect at the plate in his Leatherneck debut, going 4-for-5 with four runs. He also added a stolen base for good measure.
Luke Schwartz and Dillon Sears each added two RBI, and while the offense shined, so did the pitching staff.
Brett Sears received the starting nod and his first Leatherneck win, with a stat line of 5.0 innings, two hits, three earned runs, and four strikeouts.
Striking out a third of his batters faced (6-of-18), reliever Brian Raymond tossed four shutout innings to earn the save.
Louisville earned their revenge with a double header sweep of Western on Saturday.
***Recap courtesy of WIU Athletics***
