BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – WKU Baseball is set to host its first Conference USA series this weekend against Louisiana Tech beginning at 6 p.m. on Friday, March 24 at Nick Denes Field.
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THE SCHEDULE
• The Hilltoppers will open their series on Friday, March 24 with a 6 p.m. CT matchup against Louisiana Tech at Nick Denes Field.
• WKU will then play the Bulldogs at 6 p.m. CT on Saturday, March 25.
• The Hilltoppers will close out their series against Louisiana Tech on Sunday, March 26 at 1 p.m. CT.
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LAST TIME OUT
• The Hilltoppers outhit No. 6 Louisville 14-13 on the road, losing to the Cardinals 15-8 last Tuesday in Louisville, Ky.
• WKU fell behind early 4-0 but rallied in the third to cut the lead to 4-3 starting with an RBI single from Tristin Garcia, followed by Lukas Farris getting hit by a pitch with bases loaded that brought in a run, while an RBI groundout from Ty Batusich cut the lead to one. The Cardinals extended the lead to three in the bottom of the frame to make it 6-3, but WKU battled back once again and even took the lead, launching a couple of long balls from Brayden Johnson and Lukas Farris, as well as an RBI double from Tristin Garcia to go up 7-6 in the top of the sixth. That was where the luck ran out as Louisville scored nine runs in two innings to blow the game open and eventually win, 15-8.
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DOUBLE TIME
• Through 22 games the Hilltopper offense is top three in the nation and leads all of C-USA in doubles (57), while being at the top of the league in doubles per game (2.6).
• The top four spots of the C-USA doubles leaders belong to Hilltoppers in INF Drew Reckart (10), OF Ty Crittenberger (9), INF Tristin Garcia (7), and C/OF Kirk Kiebert (7).
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TOP OF THE CHARTS
• Only eight C-USA players are hitting .380 or better through the first four weeks of the season. WKU carries two of them in INF Aidan Gilroy (.381) and INF Ty Crittenberger (.380) who rank 6th and 7th in the league thus far.
• WKU carries three of the top 10 C-USA batting average leaders in INF Aidan Gilroy (.381), OF Ty Crittenberger (.380) and INF Drew Reckart (.378), ranking 6th, 7th, and 9th in the conference.
• As a team, the Hilltoppers rank 2nd C-USA in batting average (.317), while ranking in the top 25 in the nation.
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MOUND MARVELS
• WKU leads the league in saves (7) while ranking 3rd in the conference in opponent batting average (.257) and the staff has only surrendered 14 home runs through 22 games, ranking 2nd in C-USA.
• LHP Devyn Terbrak is tied for the 5th-most strikeouts in C-USA with 33.
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TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAM WORK
• WKU's offense currently leads all of Conference USA in sacrifice bunts (23), more than doubling the next best team, UAB (10) while ranking as one of the top five teams in the nation.
• The top three C-USA leaders in sacrifice bunts are all Hilltoppers in AJ Fiechter (6), Aidan Gilroy (3), and Kirk Liebert (3).
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SERIES HISTORY
• WKU and Louisiana Tech have met 45 times in program history, with the Bulldogs owning a 28-17 all-time series edge.
• The teams met for a three-game series last season in Ruston, La. that saw the Bulldogs claim all three games.
• Louisiana Tech has won six straight against WKU and the Hilltoppers have not beat the Bulldogs since the 2019 season.
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SCOUTING THE HILLTOPPERS
• WKU is 15-7 on the season following its midweek loss at No. 6 Louisville.
• Offensively, eight Hilltoppers are hitting .300 or better on the season with Aidan Gilroy (.381), and Ty Crittenberger (.380), and Drew Reckart (.378) leading the charge.
• On the mound, WKU has compiled a 5.02 team ERA while striking out 196 batters in 190.0 innings of action.
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SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
• Louisiana Tech is 10-11 on the year after losing to Louisiana-Monroe last Tuesday and dropping 2-of-3 against Charlotte this past weekend.
• At the plate, the Bulldogs have two players hitting .300 or better led by Walker Burchfield, who currently owns a .318 batting average.
• The Louisiana Tech pitching staff has produced a 6.21 team ERA while recording 161 strikeouts in 184.0 frames.
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