BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – After weeks of fall work, the WKU Baseball team will have a chance to test itself against opposition on Wednesday as the Hilltoppers welcome the Ontario Blue Jays to Nick Denes Field for an exhibition game at 3:30 p.m. CT.
Wednesday's exhibition will be open to the public and free of charge.
WKU head coach John Pawlowski will have his first coaching action in the exhibition after arriving on The Hill in June. The veteran manager has earned 505 wins, 11 NCAA Tournament appearances and has developed 80 MLB Draft selections (50 pitchers) during his 22-year coaching tenure at the collegiate level. Pawlowski won over 60 percent of his games in 14 seasons at College of Charleston, which included six seasons with at least 36 wins, three NCAA Regional appearances and a Super Regional appearance in 2006.
The Blue Jays are an amateur baseball program that develops top youth players in the Premiere Baseball League of Ontario, which is considered the top league in the province and one of the best in all of Canada. The team consists of players ages 18-and-under that often go on to play at the Division I level of college baseball. The Blue Jays regularly travel around the United States during the fall to face collegiate programs, having faced teams like Florida State, Virginia and Purdue since 2012.
The Hilltoppers have signed four Ontario Blue Jays in program history, including 2015 MLB draftee Philip Diedrick and 2014 graduate Scott Wilcox, who finished his career 10th in WKU history with 234 hits. Diedrick smacked eight homers and had knocked in 22 runs in his senior season on The Hill before being drafted by the Washington Nationals.
