Evansville, Ind. — Junior lefthander Matt Hightower threw the first complete game of his career, and the Hilltopper hit three home runs in the first two innings en route to a 10-1 win over Evansville Tuesday night at Braun Stadium.

The win snapped a three-game losing skid for WKU as it improved to 11-9 on the year. The Purple Aces dropped to 2-18.

Hightower surrendered his only run in the bottom of the first when back-to-back singles put runners at the corners. He then got Andy Pascoe to ground into a double play, allowing Alex Acheson to score on the play. Before Hightower even took the mound, the Hilltopper offense gave him a quick lead as Wade Gaynor hit a two-run home run to left, and Chad Cregar followed with a solo homer to right to give the Toppers a quick three-run lead.

After the UE run in the bottom of the inning, J.B. Paxson led off the top of the second with a home run over the wall in center to move WKU in front 4-1.

Hightower allowed just five hits in the game, and only surrendered on hit after the third inning. That came on a bunt single by Greg Wallace in the bottom of the seventh.

The Hilltoppers added to their lead in the fifth when Hightower helped his own cause with a sacrifice fly that scored Gaynor with the first run of the inning. After Cregar — who singled earlier in the inning — stole second, Terrence Dayleg was hit by a pitch and Paxson singled to load the bases. Purple Ace reliever Seth McCabe then walked Matt Rice to force in Cregar with WKU‘s sixth run of the game.

RBI singles by Gaynor and Dayleg in the sixth plated two more runs to stretch the lead to 8-1. WKU then added a run in the seventh on a Jake Wells sacrifice fly. It reached double figures in the ninth when Scott Kaskie tripled, and scored on a Wells single to push the lead to 10-1 before Hightower finished off his complete-game performance with a hitless ninth.

Offensively, the Toppers pounded out 12 hits, with Gaynor and Cregar finishing with three hits each. Kaskie and Paxson both had two-hit efforts. Gaynor also drove in a game-high three runs, with Wells knocking in a pair.

Hightower improved to 3-1 on the year as he allowed his fewest hits since allowing three to Purdue during six innings of work in his second start of the season. He also recorded four strikeouts and got 11 ground-ball outs in the contest. Evansville starter Zach Taylor (0-3) suffered the loss as he allowed six runs on seven hits in 4.1 innings of work.

The Hilltoppers return home on Wednesday (March 26) to host Austin Peay at 6 p.m. (CDT) at Nick Denes Field to start a five-game homestand.