2017 Schedule (PDF)
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — WKU Baseball announced its 2017 schedule Monday, featuring the first four non-conference series of the season at newly-renovated Nick Denes Field. Those series are against Valparaiso (Feb. 17-19), Jacksonville State (Feb. 24-26), Ohio (March 3-5) and Illinois State (March 10-12).
Head coach John Pawlowski and the Toppers look forward to playing at home as much as possible early in the season to take advantage of the significant investment put into Nick Denes Field over the summer.
"With a $1.3 million installation of a new AstroTurf playing surface and other upgrades underway, we felt like it was important to play a challenging home slate early on," Pawlowski explained.
Some of the premier matchups for the Hilltoppers include games at Kentucky (March 1), Vanderbilt (March 14) and Louisville (March 28). In addition, WKU will host the Wildcats (March 21) at Bowling Green Ballpark.
Overall, the Hilltoppers have 14 games against teams that were in the 2016 NCAA Regionals, including Conference USA members Southern Miss (March 31-April 2), Rice (April 22-24) and Florida Atlantic (May 12-14) at home, as well as Louisiana Tech (April 28-30) on the road.
WKU plays a series against every C-USA team except for Old Dominion, wrapping up league play at FIU (May 18-20) leading into the 2017 Conference USA Tournament from May 24-28 in Biloxi, Mississippi.
"Conference USA had four teams make NCAA Regionals last year and our expectations will remain the same: to compete and win in one of the top-five baseball conferences in the country," Pawlowski said.
The 13-week regular season begins four months from today and includes 56 games. In total, 33 are at home and 23 are on the road, while 30 are C-USA and 26 are non-conference.
Despite losing All-American and St. Louis Cardinals 10th round draft pick Danny Hudzina, the Hilltoppers return Steven Kraft (.319/.409/.476) and Kaleb Duckworth (.329/.421/.473) to the lineup. WKU also brings back Ryan Thurston (4.20 ERA with 79 strikeouts in 79.1 innings across 14 starts) and Jackson Sowell (2.36 ERA with 35 strikeouts in 26.2 innings across 21 appearances) to the rubber.
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