Hilltoppers Open C-USA Play at Middle Tennessee

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – WKU Baseball opens Conference USA play this weekend at Middle Tennessee beginning at 6 p.m. CT on Friday, March 17 in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

THE SCHEDULE
• The Hilltoppers will open their series on Friday, March 17 with a 6 p.m. CT matchup against Middle Tennessee at Reese Smith Jr. Field.
• WKU will then play the Blue Raiders at 3 p.m. CT on Saturday, March 18.
• The Hilltoppers will close out their series against Middle Tennessee on Sunday, March 19 at 1 p.m. CT.

LAST TIME OUT
• The Hilltoppers defeated the Austin Peay Governors on Tuesday, March 14 by a score of 8-2.
• RHP Cole Eigenhuis earned his second consecutive midweek start, allowing one run on three hits while striking out one in 2.0 innings of work. The Hilltoppers utilized five pitchers from there, with the group combining to allow three hits and one run while recording three strikeouts in 7.0 frames. LHP Cam Tullar picked up his first win as a Hilltopper in relief of Eigenhuis.
• At the plate, WKU knocked nine hits, with two Hilltoppers recording multi-hit efforts. Eli Watson led the Tops offense in his first career start clocking his first career hit over the right field wall for a two-run home run. Watson finished the day with four RBI, in a 1-for-2 performance while scoring a run of his own and two more off a sacrifice fly and an RBI hit by pitch. Drew Reckart stayed hot with a 3-for-5 effort with a pair of doubles, two runs scored, and an RBI, while Aidan Gilroy went 2-for-3 with two RBI, two runs scored, and a sacrifice fly.

TERBRAK'S NO-NO
• LHP Devyn Terbrak earned the Hilltoppers' first no-hitter in over 14 years in a complete-game shutout against South Dakota State to complete the series sweep.
• The senior claimed, a career-high, 14 strikeouts in nine innings, while allowing just two batters on base due to a walk and a hit batter.
• Along with his C-USA Pitcher of the Week honor, the Perryville, Missouri native was recognized by multiple other national media outlets for his impressive outing. Terbrak was named Pitcher of Week by the NCAA, D1Baseball, College Baseball Nation, while Collegiate Baseball Newspaper named him one of its National Players of the Week, Baseball America tabbed him as one of its Week Four Standouts and Golden Spikes voted him its Performance of the Week.
• For the season, Terbrak owns a 2-1 record and a 2.35 ERA while amassing 29 strikeouts and just four walks in 23 innings of action. Only two pitchers in C-USA have compiled a complete-game shutout in 2023 with Terbrak owning the only no-hitter. He currently ranks in C-USA's top 10 in ERA (2.35), wins (2), complete games (1), innings pitched (23.0), hits allowed (16), runs allowed (8), earned runs allowed (6), walks allowed (4), strikeouts (29), strikeouts looking (8), doubles allowed (3), home runs allowed (0), and opponent batting average (.190).

DOUBLE TIME
• Through 18 games the Hilltopper offense is tied for first in the nation and leads all of C-USA in doubles (50), while leading the league in doubles per game (2.8).
• INF Drew Reckart (10) and OF Ty Crittenberger (8) are at the top of the league in doubles, placing 1st and 2nd in C-USA.

TOP OF THE CHARTS
• Only seven C-USA players are hitting .400 or better through the first three weeks of the season. INF Drew Reckart ranks 3rd in the league with a .450 average through 18 games thus far.
• WKU carries four of the top 12 C-USA batting average leaders in INFs Drew Reckart (.450), Aidan Gilroy (.396), Ty Crittenberger (.389), and Tristin Garcia (.368) ranking 3rd, 8th, 9th, and 12th in the conference.
• As a team, the Hilltoppers rank 2nd C-USA in batting average (.330), while ranking 11th in the nation.

MOUND MARVELS
• WKU leads the league in saves (7) while ranking 1st in the conference in opponent batting average (.235) and the staff has only surrendered 12 home runs through 18 games, ranking 2nd in C-USA.
• LHP Devyn Terbrak is tied for the 3rd-most strikeouts in C-USA with 29, while RHP Mason Burns is tied for the 12th-most with 22.

TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAM WORK
• WKU's offense currently leads all of Conference USA in sacrifice bunts (21), more than doubling the next best team, UAB, who has eight, while being tied for 2nd in the nation with Jackson State and only trail Wofford with 25.

SERIES HISTORY
• WKU and Middle Tennessee have met 243 times in program history, with the Hilltoppers owning a 129-112-2 all-time series edge.
• The teams met once last season for a three-game series with the Blue Raiders claiming two-of-three in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

SCOUTING THE HILLTOPPERS
• WKU is 14-4 on the season following its midweek win over Austin Peay, claiming its best start through 18 games since 1982.
• Offensively, one Hilltopper is hitting .400 or better on the season in Drew Reckart (.450) while three are just below in Aidan Gilroy (.396), Ty Crittenberger (.389), and Tristin Garcia (.360).
• On the mound, WKU has compiled a 4.47 team ERA while striking out 165 batters in 157.0 innings of action.

SCOUTING THE BLUE RAIDERS
• Middle Tennessee is 8-8 on the year after defeating Tennessee Tech, 11-3, in a midweek game on Wednesday.
• At the plate, the Blue Raiders have three players hitting above .400, led by JT Mabry who currently owns a .424 batting average.
• The Middle Tennessee pitching staff has produced a 5.66 team ERA while recording 134 strikeouts in 143.0 frames.

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Players Mentioned

Mason Burns

Ty Crittenberger

Cole Eigenhuis

Tristin Garcia

Aidan Gilroy

Drew Reckart

Devyn Terbrak

Cam Tullar

Eli Watson