BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – WKU Baseball fell to No. 5 Louisville, 16-6, on Tuesday afternoon at Nick Denes Field.
After the Cardinals opened the game with an early 6-1 lead, the Hilltoppers battled back with four runs in the bottom of the third to put the game at 6-5, but ultimately couldn't keep up with Louisville's high-powered offense.
"We haven't collectively, as a group, played to our best ability yet," said head coach John Pawlowski. "We keep working hard. I like our lineup, I think they have a ton of potential, on the mound too. We just haven't performed at the level that we had expected or we had hoped for early in the season.
"Say what you want about the competition, it is what it is. If we want to be a special team and have a chance to win a conference championship, this is what it's going to look like. You have to come ready to play every day – they were ready to play today. We just didn't perform that well on a lot of different phases today."
WKU utilized nine pitchers on the mound, with the group combing to allow 16 runs (12 earned) while striking out nine batters in 9.0 innings of work.
At the plate, the Hilltoppers tallied 11 hits and four walks, with four players producing multi-hit performances. Ty Batusich, Ty Crittenberger, Andrew Delaney and Brian McAuliffe all recorded two hits apiece, with Batusich and McAuliffe each adding home runs in the contest.
UP NEXT
The Hilltoppers will jump back into conference play with a three-game road series against Middle Tennessee beginning at 6 p.m. CT on Friday, April 1.
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
