Brown Homers as Tops Sweep Central Michigan to Move to 10-1

Sunday, March 2

Bowling Green, Ky.

1:00 PM CT

Western Kentucky University

10-1

Central Michigan

2-10

Central Michigan

WKU

Photo by: Steve Roberts/WKU Athletics

3/2/2025 4:58:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – WKU Baseball defeated Central Michigan 8-4 to sweep the four-game series on Sunday at Nick Denes Field.

The win moves the Hilltoppers to 10-1, marking just the third time in program history WKU has won 10 of its first 11 games – 1924, 1928 and 2025.

Gavin Perry tossed 4.0 shutout innings in his second start of the season while Henry Brown hit his first home run of the year to help the Tops achieve an 8-4 win and finish the series sweep.

HOW IT HAPPENED
• WKU got on the board in the first inning with an RBI single from Thomas Marsala to take a 1-0 lead.
• Marsala added his second RBI of the day with a sacrifice fly in the third inning. A Chippewa error tacked on another in the frame to give the Tops a 3-0 advantage.
• A solo home run cut the Chippewa deficit to 3-1 in the top of the sixth.
• Ethan Lizama got things going for the Tops in the bottom of the frame with an RBI single before Kyle Hvidsten walked with the bases loaded to make the score 5-1.
• A Henry Brown solo home run extended the WKU lead to 6-1 in the seventh.
• Central Michigan used two doubles to bring in three runs in the eighth and make it a two-run game, 6-4.
• The Hilltoppers added two insurance runs in the bottom of the frame with a two-RBI single from Caleb Niehaus to make the final tally 8-4.

NOTABLES
• WKU moves to 10-1 through the first 10 games of the season – the team's best start since 1928. The Hilltoppers have started 10-1 just three times in program history – 1924, 1928 and 2025.
• WKU improves to 8-9 all-time against Central Michigan with the sweep.
• Gavin Perry made his second start of the season on the mound for the Hilltoppers. The right-hander tossed 4.0 shutout innings while only allowing two hits in his longest outing of the season.
• Zach Lyles, Taylor Penn, Dominic Monaco and Evan Jones made appearances out of the bullpen for WKU.
• Lyles picked up the win after collecting a trio of strikeouts in 3.0 innings – the longest outing of his career – while surrendering just one run on two hits and a walk.
• The save went to Jones – his second of the season – as he struck out one batter in 1.1 shutout frames while not allowing a runner on base.
• The WKU offense scored eight runs on 11 hits with seven RBI.
• Ryan Wideman, Brown and Howard each had two-hit efforts in the win.
• Wideman was 2-for-4 with two runs and a double while Brown was 2-for-5 with an RBI, a run and a home run.
• Howard had a 2-for-5 day – the first multi-hit outing of his career – and a run scored.
• Marsala and Niehaus had two RBI a piece. Marsala was 1-for-3 with a run scored while Niehaus went 1-for-5.

QUOTABLE
"It's really hard to win two out of three, much less when you go into a four-game series. Our pitching staff was really good. Our bullpen was tremendous. Everybody has to match everybody on the other team. Whether it's the starting pitcher versus the other starting pitcher, the catcher versus the other catcher. You're always trying to be better than the guy on the other team at every position. I just know we've done that a lot this weekend. More importantly than that, we got runs two at a time, three at a time." – Head Coach Marc Rardin, on the four-game series sweep.

UP NEXT
• WKU hits the road for the second time this season as they visit Tennessee Tech tomorrow, March 3. First pitch from Bush Stadium in Cookeville, Tenn. is schedule for 1 p.m. CT.

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 X and @WKUBaseball on Instagram.