ST. CATHARINE, Ky. -- Lindsey Wilson College's Daniel Pulliam hurled five scoreless innings in relief today to help the Blue Raiders to a 7-3 win over host St. Catharine (Ky.) College in the first of a three-game series at Edelen-Haydon Field.

Pulliam allowed just two hits and a pair of walks while striking out three after replacing starter Derek Cape in the fifth inning en route to his sixth win of the season. Cape -- who allowed three runs on four hits in four-plus innings -- left the game after being hit by a line drive from St. Catharine's Joey Xavier.

While Pulliam nearly silenced the St. Catharine bats, the Lindsey Wilson offense scored four runs over the final three innings to break open a 3-3 tie en route to its program-record 18th straight win.

The No. 13-ranked Blue Raiders (33-10, 15-4 in the Mid-South Conference) grabbed a 3-0 lead in top of the fourth with RBI hits from Tyler Bernard, Alex Harper and Leandro Perez.

Perez finished the game with three hits and three RBIs to lead an offense that out-hit the Patriots 13-6 on the afternoon.

St. Catharine (30-19, 9-6) began its comeback attempt in the bottom of the fourth inning. Luis Zeledon's RBI ground out chased home Andrew Garcia -- who led off the inning with a triple -- to cut the Blue Raider lead to 3-1.

The Patriots tied the game in the fifth after Marcus Brown and Xavier reached to open the inning. Jeremy Turpin drove in the second St. Catharine run on a sacrifice fly and Juan Moriel followed with a RBI double to tie the game at 3-3.

The game remained tied until the seventh as Perez led off the inning with a single and later scored on Manuel Alonso's RBI double to give Lindsey Wilson a 4-3 lead.

Perez was at it again in the eighth inning driving home Manuel Ozoria and Bernard -- who opened the inning with back-to-back walks. The Blue Raiders ended their half of the eight with a 6-3 lead.

The Blue Raiders added an insurance run in their final at-bat as Ozoria singled home Alonso for the 7-3 lead and eventually the win.

Pulliam improves to 6-1 on the season with the win. Ryan Rizzi suffers the loss allowing four runs on 10 hits in 6-1/3 innings of work.

Alonso -- who extended his hitting streak to 17 games -- joined Perez with three hits in the game while Drew Barrett and Jeff Kerian added two hits each.

Lindsey Wilson returns to action at 11 a.m. CT on Saturday, April 14, as the Blue Raiders travel to St. Catharine for a doubleheader to complete the three-game series.