Hilltoppers to Close Out Homestand against No. 5 Louisville

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – WKU Baseball will close out its five-game homestand with a contest against No. 5 Louisville at 5 p.m. CT on Tuesday, March 29 at Nick Denes Field.

LAST TIME OUT

WKU dropped its three-game series against (RV) Southern Miss over the weekend.
The Hilltoppers battled back from an 8-1 deficit in their opener against the Golden Eagles, putting the score at 8-6 heading into the ninth inning before ultimately falling, 10-8.
WKU dropped the final two games of its series against Southern Miss by scores of 14-2 and 11-0.

FRESHMAN ON FIRE

True freshman Ty Batusich leads the team in on-base percentage (.456), slugging percentage (.711), home runs (seven), RBI (24) and total bases (54) while ranking second in batting average (.355), walks (nine) and runs (19).
Batusich currently ranks fourth in Conference USA in slugging percentage, sixth in home runs, 12^th in RBI and 15^th in batting average.
Batusich was named the C-USA Hitter of the Week on Monday, March 7 after slashing .471/.500/.706 in four starts while racking up eight hits – including a double and home run – to go along with two runs and 10 RBI against (RV) Kentucky and Hartford.

SERIES HISTORY

WKU and Louisville have met 140 times in program history, with the Cardinals owning a slight 71-69 all-time series edge.
The teams last met on March 23, 2021, with Louisville earning a 13-6 home victory.
The Hilltoppers' last win against the Cardinals came on April 22, 2015, with WKU recording a 7-3 road victory.

SCOUTING THE HILLTOPPERS

WKU is 9-14 on the season following its series with (RV) Southern Miss over the weekend.
Offensively, three Hilltoppers are hitting over .300 in Tristin Garcia (.356), Ty Batusich (.355) and Aidan Gilroy (.348).
On the mound, WKU has compiled a 5.89 team ERA while striking out 188 batters in 197.0 innings of action.

SCOUTING THE CARDINALS

Louisville is 19-5 on the year following its three-game sweep of Boston College over the weekend.
The Cardinals are currently ranked in every major poll and are listed at No. 5 on the Collegiate Baseball Poll, No. 8 on the Baseball America Poll, No. 11 on the D1Baseball Poll, No. 14 on the USA Today Poll and No. 15 on the NCBWA Poll.
At the plate, Louisville has seven players hitting above .300, led by Jack Payton who owns a .393 average.
On the mound, the Cardinals own a 4.63 ERA to go along with 233 strikeouts in 216.0 innings of work.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Ty Batusich

Tristin Garcia

Aidan Gilroy