WKU Baseball to Host Bellarmine on Tuesday

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – WKU Baseball is set to host Bellarmine for a midweek game beginning at 3 p.m. CT on Tuesday, Feb. 28 at Nick Denes Field.

THE SCHEDULE
• WKU Baseball will host Bellarmine at 3 p.m. CT on Tuesday, Feb 28 at Nick Denes Field.

LAST TIME OUT
• The Hilltoppers took three of four games against Ohio in their second series of the season.
• WKU earned a 14-1 victory on Friday, with Mason Burns picking up the win and Beau Coffman recording the save, while Ty Batusich went a perfect 2-for-2 at the plate with two long balls.
• The Hilltoppers were able to sweep the Saturday doubleheader recording a 9-6 win in the first game and a 9-8 comeback victory in the second, while facing an 8-2 deficit in the third inning.
• WKU could not complete the comeback in the series finale, dropping its first game of the season, 6-4.

LEAGUE LEADER
• INF Drew Reckart currently leads all of C-USA with a .524 batting average after this weekend.
• The graduate transfer has 11 hits in 21 at-bats with three doubles, one home run, and 12 RBI.

MOUND MARVELS
• The Hilltopper pitching staff has been lights out recording 73 strikeouts (3rd in C-USA) with 23 walks thus far this season.
• After this week of play, WKU leads the league in saves (4) while ranking third in the conference in opponent batting average (.230), and hits allowed (60), as well as only giving up two home runs through eight games, the best in the conference.
• RHP Mason Burns has the third-most strikeouts in C-USA (14), while LHP Lane Diuguid is tied for sixth (12).

TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAM WORK
• WKU's offense currently leads all of C-USA in sacrifice bunts (10), doubling the next best team, UAB, who has five.
• The Hilltoppers are currently second in the nation for sacrifice bunts behind Wofford (12).

SERIES HISTORY
• WKU and Bellarmine have met 42 times in program history, with the Hilltoppers owning a 30-12 all-time series edge.
• The teams met for a midweek last season on May 17, 2022, when the Hilltoppers came away with a 10-2 victory in Louisville, Ky.
• Neither team has won two in a row against each other since the 1987 season when the Hilltoppers beat the Knights twice in the month of March, winning 6-1 on the 5th and 4-1 on the 24th.

SCOUTING THE HILLTOPPERS
• WKU is 7-1 on the season following its series win against Ohio this past weekend.
• Sunday marked the first loss of the season for WKU, ending its longest win streak since 2011 and best start to a season since 1985.
• Offensively, six Hilltoppers are hitting .300 or better on the season in Drew Reckart (.524), Aidan Gilroy (.438), Tristin Garcia (.364), Ty Crittenberger (.345), Ty Batusich (.310) and Lukas Farris (.308).
• On the mound, WKU has compiled a 3.60 team ERA while striking out 73 batters in 70.0 innings of action.

SCOUTING THE KNIGHTS
• Bellarmine is 4-2 on the year after winning its first four games of the season, sweeping New Mexico State, and losing two of three to Southern Indiana last weekend.
• At the plate, Bellarmine has four players hitting above .300, led by Tommy Dilz who currently owns a .429 batting average.
• The Knights' pitching staff has produced a 5.17 team ERA while recording 59 strikeouts in 54.0 frames.

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Players Mentioned

Ty Batusich

Mason Burns

Beau Coffman

Ty Crittenberger

Lane Diuguid

Lukas Farris

Tristin Garcia

Aidan Gilroy

Drew Reckart