"Ten About '10" #9: Game Schedule Will Provide Challenges

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – There will be little time to work up to game speed when the Hilltoppers open the 2010 season at home against Kent State on February 19. WKU will have to be on top of its game from the opening pitch of the season, as the team has put together a schedule packed with quality opponents from start to finish.

Fresh off last year’s record-setting 42-20 campaign that saw the team advance the championship game of the Oxford Regional in the NCAA Tournament, the Hilltoppers have loaded the 2010 schedule with other national contenders and the usual tough Sun Belt Conference opponents.

“Our goal is to have faced as tough of pitching as possible before getting into Sun Belt play,” Hilltopper head coach Chris Finwood explained. “Without a doubt we’ll have accomplished that with the quality of teams we’re playing early in the season.”

The first three weekends of the season will see the Hilltoppers match up against three teams that either advanced to the NCAA Tournament or won their regular-season conference championship in 2009. The season opens at Nick Denes Field February 19-21 with a three-game series against Kent State. The Golden Flashes won the MAC Tournament en route to a 43-win season and advanced to the NCAA Tempe Regional, where they defeated Cal Poly before exiting with a final season record of 43-17. The Golden Flashes averaged over nine runs per game in 2009.

After a midweek contest at Belmont, WKU travels to Waco, Texas, to take on Baylor in a three-game set. Baylor emerged from a rugged Big 12 Conference to advance to the NCAA Tournament as well, notching one win in the Baton Rouge Regional hosted by eventual national champion LSU. Illinois-Chicago, regular-season champion of the Horizon League, comes to Bowling Green for three games the following weekend.

WKU opens Sun Belt Conference play at New Orleans March 12-14 and will play three games at VCU during the conference open week March 19-21. The midweek schedule is highlighted by games at home against Tennessee and at Mississippi State and features home-and-home series with Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Louisville and Evansville.

The April 20 game against rival Kentucky will be played at Bowling Green Ballpark, home of the Bowling Green Hot Rods, a Class-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays.

"We're hopeful that we can sell the place out," Finwood said. "Hopefully both teams will be playing well at that point and we can get a big crowd. It should be a great college baseball experience for everybody. We're hoping that this is something we're able to do on a regular basis."

Sun Belt Conference opponents ULM, South Alabama, FIU, UALR and Middle Tennessee will come to Nick Denes Field, and the Hilltoppers will travel to New Orleans, Arkansas State, Florida Atlantic, Troy and Louisiana-Lafayette. The regular-season conference slate wraps up with series against regular championship contenders Louisiana-Lafayette and Middle Tennessee, setting up an exciting run for the conference title heading into the Sun Belt Conference Tournament in Murfreesboro, Tenn., beginning on May 26.

For the second straight season the Hilltoppers will play 30 games at Nick Denes Field, where they went 27-3 a year ago. The longest homestands and road swings of the year are each five games, and the Hilltoppers have a stretch of nine of ten games away from home starting in the middle of March.

“Ten About ‘10” Series Continues Monday: The “Ten About ‘10” feature series detailing for fans 10 aspects of the 2010 WKU Hilltopper baseball team will continue on Monday with item number eight. A different element of the 2010 Hilltoppers will be highlighted each weekday, leading up to the start of the Fall World Series on November 5. 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. If you missed any of the previous stories in the countdown, you can catch up by clicking on the links at the top of the page.

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