WKU Game Notes (PDF)
Game 29 Info: Video | Audio | Stats
HATTIESBURG, Miss. — After a five-day break in the schedule, WKU Baseball resumes play against the first-place team in Conference USA: No. 13 Southern Miss. The Hilltoppers and Golden Eagles will play a Friday-to-Sunday set at Pete Taylor Park, with all three contests to be streamed on CUSA.tv.
Series History
WKU and Southern Miss did not face each other on the diamond until the Hilltoppers joined C-USA prior to the 2015 season. In the first-ever meeting, WKU pitched a combined one-hitter on April 10, 2015, in a 5-0 win in Bowling Green.
In the contest, lefty John Harman (5.2 innings) got the win and righty Kevin Elder (3.2 innings) earned the save. That game was the Hilltoppers' most recent shutout in C-USA play prior to Paul Kirkpatrick's 4-0, complete game shutout at Rice on March 25, a span of 80 games in-between.
Since then, however, the Golden Eagles have won eight consecutive games over WKU for an 8-1 all-time advantage, including three-game series sweeps at Pete Taylor Park in 2016 and at Nick Denes Field in 2017.
Series Preview
While the Hilltoppers have not played since a 9-5 victory vs. UTSA on Saturday, March 31, Southern Miss has played three games in the past five days.
The Golden Eagles (20-8 overall, 6-2 C-USA) took the first two games vs. Rice last weekend (12-1, 8-7), but were not able to finish off the sweep and fell by a score of 7-6 on Sunday to the Owls. Then, Southern Miss split a midweek two-game home set vs. Louisiana-Lafayette, with a 9-8 victory followed by a 7-4 loss.
The trio of Luke Reynolds (.357/.508/.673), Hunter Slater (.348/.416/.589) and Matt Wallner (.347/.492/.633) lead the Golden Eagles at the plate. They have combined for 94 runs and 87 RBI, and have tallied 45 of the team's 86 total extra-base hits.
On the mound, righty Nick Sandlin has been one of the nation's best through the first half of the season. The reliever-turned-starter owns a 4-0 record with a 1.31 ERA through seven starts; he is holding opposing hitters to a .161 batting average and boast a 73-to-6 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 48 innings.
Lefty Stevie Powers (2.97 ERA, 35-to-7 ratio in 36.1 innings) and righty Walker Powell (3.56 ERA, 26-to-8 ratio in 30.1 innings) are likely to follow Sandlin in the rotation.
On the WKU side, lefty Ryan Thurston has a 3.25 ERA in 44.1 innings of work with a 50-to-17 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
However, the senior's 2-4 record is misleading. Thurston has received 33 runs of support in seven starts (4.7 average), but 31 of those came in a span of three starts vs. Northern Illinois, West Virginia and Bowling Green. Meanwhile, the senior has gotten only two runs of support in the four other starts, including three of the team's four times being shut out.
At the plate, Jacob Rhinesmith is one stolen base and one homerun away from becoming only the second player in Division I to reach the 10-10 mark this season (Bren Spillane, Illinois).
Steven Kraft boasts a team-high .360/.467/.480 slash line and 18-game on-base streak. The senior was 1-of-3 C-USA players to reach base in every game he played in the month of March (Tyler Frank, Florida Atlantic - 19 games and Dalton Skelton, Louisiana Tech, 21 games).
Western Kentucky University Athletics
- Champions Climb Here
- WKU Athletics
- Athletic Director
- Academic Services
- Annual Report
- Athletic Communications
- Athletic Hall of Fame
- Athletic Training
- CLIMB Program - NIL
- Compliance
- Facilities
- Financial Reports
- For Students
- Student Employment
- Forms/Requests
- Book Big Red
- Donation Requests
- Site Feedback
- For Fans
- Hilltopper Highlights
- Gameday Promotions
- Alumni Tailgates
- Big Red's Rascals
- Basketball Gameday
- Football Gameday
- Mobile Tickets
- Travel Center
- Tickets
- Give
