Myrtle Beach, S.C. – Fifth-year senior Andrew Bullock blasted a solo home run as a part of a four-hit, two-RBI outing and sophomore transfer right-hander Zebby Matthews matched his career-best with seven strikeouts as an opportunistic Western Carolina upended Big Ten foe, Illinois, 9-2, on Friday afternoon in nonconference baseball action at TicketReturn.com Field.
 
Friday's game – a part of Coastal Carolina's Brittain Resorts & Hotels Invitational – was moved from Springs Brooks Stadium in Conway, S.C., to TicketReturn.com Field in Myrtle Beach by officials at Coastal as the four-day tournament was reorganized and squeezed into three days. WCU returns to TicketReturn.com Field on Sunday at 2 pm to face Saint Joseph's with its next game – vs. Kennesaw State – scheduled for Saturday morning at Coastal's on-campus stadium, Spring Brooks, with first pitch at 11 am.
 
Bullock reached base five times in Friday's victory which propelled the Catamounts to a 5-0 start, matching the program's best-ever start from 2010. The Chesapeake, Va., native finished 4-for-4 with an eighth-inning home run and a bunt single and was also hit by a pitch. Senior Luke Robinson, who made his season debut after missing the four-game season-opening series with an injury, finished 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored. Robinson's first base hit of the season was a run-scoring double to right-center as a part of WCU's three-run top of the first inning.
 
Also, posting multi-hit games were junior Immanuel Wilder and junior transfer Daniel Walsh, both finishing 2-for-5. Wilder doubled home a pair of runs in the ninth inning while adding his team-leading sixth HBP while Walsh also legged-out a two-base hit, adding a stolen base. Will Prater reached base twice with a single and a walk for WCU.
 
As the visiting team in the neutral field contest, the Catamounts bookended the nine-inning game with three-run innings. Justice Bigbie delivered a run-scoring groundout to open the scoring in the first with Robinson's double and one of five Illini errors allowing the other two markers to score. Illinois (1-3) answered with a single marker in the home half of the opening frame on a fielder's choice and WCU miscue.
 
In the fourth, another Illinois error allowed both Bryson Parks, who reached on an HBP and Prater to score pushing the WCU lead to four, 5-1. The Illini got one of the runs back in the home portion of the inning with a solo homer by Garrett McGowan.
 
After three-consecutive scoreless innings, Bullock answered McGowan's round-tripper with a dinger of his own in the top of the eighth to open four-unanswered markers for the Catamounts. Bullock also had an RBI single in the ninth ahead of Wilder who capped scoring with a two-run double in the final frame.
 
Matthews (2-0) scored his second victory of the season, striking out seven over five innings of work on Friday morning. The Cullowhee, N.C., native limited the Fighting Illini to two runs on four hits, working around two walks and an HBP. Senior Jack Snyder struck out one in a scoreless inning of work, pitching around a trio of walks before handing the ball to Zach Franklin. The Marion, N.C., product earned the three-inning save, managing to hold Illinois scoreless over the final three frames with just five base runners allowed on a hit and four walks.
 
The Fighting Illini's five hits were spread between five different players on Friday. McGowan's solo home run in the fourth inning was a part of a 1-for-3 showing with a walk. Kellen Sarver reached base three times, drawing a trio of free passes and plating a run on an RBI groundout with both Branden Comia and Danny Doligale both reaching twice on singles and a walk.
 
Illinois starter Jimmy Burnette (0-2) was saddled with the loss, allowing five runs – only one of which was earned – on four hits with four strikeouts and a pair of hit batters. Ty Rybarczyk pitched 4.1 innings of one-run relief, scattering five hits with six strikeouts and Alex Vera fanned one in an inning and a third.
 
Game two of the Brittain Resorts & Hotels Invitational for the Catamounts is Saturday morning at 11:00 am against ASUN-foe, Kennesaw State, from Springs Brooks Stadium in Conway, S.C. Live stats are slated to be provided by the host school, Coastal Carolina.
 
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