Hilltoppers Set for Midweek at Evansville

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – WKU Baseball will hit the road for a midweek contest with the Evansville Aces beginning at 6 p.m. CT on Tuesday, April 18 at German American Bank Field.

THE SCHEDULE
• WKU Baseball will visit the Evansville Aces for a midweek matchup beginning at 6 p.m. CT on Tuesday, April 18 at German American Bank Field.

LAST TIME OUT
• The Hilltoppers won their first C-USA series of the season against UAB last weekend in Birmingham, Ala.
• Friday saw the Hilltoppers enter the ninth inning down by three runs, 8-5. The WKU offense rallied with an RBI double from Aidan Gilroy and a three-run home run from Lukas Farris to take the lead and eventually get the win, 9-8, after shutting down the bottom half of the ninth inning.
• Saturday saw almost the same scenario, the Hilltoppers used another ninth inning rally, scoring three runs in the top of the ninth to secure the win, 6-3, after a couple of RBI singles from Ty Crittenberger and Tristin Garcia to get the series win.
• WKU dropped the Sunday game by an extra-inning, walk-off home run to end its three-game winning streak.

TG'S TAKEOVER
• INF Tristin Garcia has been named the Conference USA Hitter of the Week for his performance this past week.
• Garcia led WKU at the plate during its midweek win against Evansville and series win at UAB over the weekend, where he posted a .556 batting average and 1.301 OPS in four games, racking up 10 hits in 18 at-bats – including three doubles – to go along with three runs and four RBI. The senior notched three straight multi-hit performances against the Blazers, going 3-for-4 with two doubles, two RBI, and two runs in Friday's win, 2-for-5 with two RBI in Saturday's win, and 4-for-5 with a double and a run scored in Sunday's extra-inning loss.
• For the season, Garcia is currently leading the team in batting average (.370) and hits (50) while tying for first in on-base percentage (.444), ranking second in doubles (13) and tying for second in RBI (23).

DOUBLE TIME
• Through 37 games the Hilltopper offense is top 20 in the nation and leads all of C-USA in doubles (80), while also being at the top of the league in doubles per game (2.2).
• The top three spots of the C-USA doubles leaders belong to Hilltoppers in INF Drew Reckart (14), INF Tristin Garcia (13) and OF Ty Crittenberger (11).

TOP OF THE CHARTS
• Only five C-USA players are hitting .370 or better through the first nine weeks of the season with INF Tristin Garcia ranking 5th (.370).
• The Hilltoppers rank 3rd in C-USA in batting average (.293) overall.

MOUND MARVELS
• WKU ranks 3rd in the league in saves (10), opponent batting average (.244) and home runs allowed (29).
• LHP Devyn Terbrak ranks 5th in C-USA with a 3.22 ERA while owning the 12th-most strikeouts (45) in the league thus far.

TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAM WORK
• WKU's offense currently leads all of C-USA in sacrifice bunts (37), almost doubling the next best team, UAB (20), while ranking as one of the top five teams in the nation in the category.
• Three Hilltoppers are among the top five C-USA leaders in sacrifice bunts in AJ Fiechter (6), Kirk Liebert (6), and Aidan Gilroy (4).

SERIES HISTORY
• WKU and Evansville have met 75 times in program history, with the Hilltoppers owning a 40-33-2 all-time series edge.
• The teams met exactly a week ago today in Bowling Green with the Hilltoppers taking the victory 6-2 to end their eight-game losing streak.

SCOUTING THE HILLTOPPERS
• WKU is 19-18 on the season after getting its first C-USA series win at UAB last weekend.
• Offensively, six Hilltoppers are hitting .300 or better with INFs Tristin Garcia (.370) Drew Reckart (.326), and OF Ty Crittenberger (.318) leading the charge.
• On the mound, WKU has compiled a 4.51 team ERA while striking out 302 batters in 321.0 innings of action.

SCOUTING THE ACES
• Evansville is 20-15 on the year after dropping two of three against Sourthern Illinois this past weekend.
• At the plate, the Aces have two players hitting .300 or better, led by Chase Hug who currently owns a .366 batting average.
• The Evansville pitching staff has produced a 5.04 team ERA while recording 283 strikeouts in 312.2 frames.

How to follow WKU Baseball: For complete information on WKU Hilltopper Baseball, visit WKUSports.com or follow the program via social media @WKU_Baseball on Twitter and @WKUBaseball Instagram.

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Players Mentioned

Ty Crittenberger

Lukas Farris

AJ Fiechter

Tristin Garcia

Aidan Gilroy

Kirk Liebert

Drew Reckart

Devyn Terbrak