Hilltopper Baseball Working Towards Fall World Series

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Fall practice continues for the Hilltopper baseball team as it heads towards the annual Fall World Series, with the three-game intrasquad set scheduled to be played November 5-7 at Nick Denes Field. The Fall World Series is free and open to the public.

The Hilltoppers have been practicing as a team during the month of October, which followed a period of individual instruction as players arrived on campus for the start of the school year. The fall practice season will conclude with the Fall World Series, which coincides with homecoming week on the campus of Western Kentucky University.

“I like what I’ve seen so far this fall,” Hilltopper head coach Chris Finwood said. “Our pitching staff is coming along and making strides and even though we don’t have as much offensive power as we did last year, we’ve got a lot of guys getting extra-base hits and getting on and stealing bases.”

After the fall practice season ends with the Fall World Series, the Hilltoppers will concentrate on weight lifting and conditioning until pre-season practices begin in January.

“The team is starting to shape up a little bit, and that’s our goal,” Finwood explained. “To come out of the fall and have a better idea of who fits into which spaces as we head into January and February is a big step.”

The game times for the Fall World Series will be announced at a later date.

The 2009 Hilltopper baseball season was one for the record books. The team earned its first at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament in program history and went 3-2 in the Oxford Regional as a number three seed. The three wins, including a thrilling come-from-behind victory over eighth-ranked and top-seeded Ole Miss, equaled what the program had accomplished in terms of postseason wins in the previous 89 years of Hilltopper baseball.

The Hilltoppers finished the 2009 campaign ranked 23rd in the final Collegiate Baseball Top 30 poll, the program’s first national ranking since 2001. WKU finished its record-setting season at 42-20, the first 40-win season in 21 years and fifth overall. In addition, the Hilltoppers posted a 21-8 mark in Sun Belt Conference play, earning the team a share of the conference regular-season championship.

“Ten About ’10” Feature Series to Debut Thursday: Beginning on Thursday, www.wkusports.com will start a special series detailing for fans 10 aspects of the 2010 Hilltopper baseball team. A different element of the 2010 Hilltoppers will be highlighted each weekday, leading up to the start of the Fall World Series. Item number one will be revealed on Wednesday, November 4. Keep checking the website each day to find out what’s ahead for the baseball team in 2010.

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