Jim Mashek

WKU PLAYS HOST TO LOUISIANA TECH STARTING FRIDAY AT THE NICK; UK ON ITS WAY TO STARKVEGAS

Western Kentucky University’s third-year head baseball coach, Marc Rardin, had a pretty good poker face going Monday night at South Warren High School.

Rardin relishes any chance he can get to watch his younger son, Griffin Rardin, play for the South Warren Spartans, in what he calls his “Dad Night” away from WKU’s Nick Denes Field.

The Hilltoppers had just returned from a disastrous weekend at Florida International University, getting swept by the Panthers in a three-game series. The skid sent the 17th-ranked Tops out of Baseball America’s Top 25, as well as out of a first-place tie in the Conference USA standings.

Asked about the pending game against the University of Kentucky, Rardin deflected in the aftermath of the sweep in Miami. He wasn’t sure what to think. Didn’t have the arms to beat an SEC team. Or something like that.

Who knows? Maybe the gamesmanship paid off in the long run.

Western Kentucky rallied from a 3-0 deficit, coming alive at the plate with a four-run fifth inning, and the Hilltoppers played flawless defense, while using five pitchers, in turning back the talented Wildcats, 6-4, before a paid crowd of 932 at WKU’s Nick Denes Field.

The game was interrupted by a rain delay of two hours, 17 minutes after potential severe weather and thunderstorms came rolling through South Central Kentucky. Both WKU and the Wildcats could have used the non-conference victory to boost their RPI. UK coach Nick Mingione’s team was spending the night on the road, too, on its way to Starkville, Mississippi, for a three-game SEC series against Mississippi State.

It was an animated WKU dugout after the Tops’ first victory over UK since 2022, and the victory over UK changes the narrative with Louisiana Tech series on the horizon. Game One between the Hilltoppers (35-10 overall, 11-7 in C-USA) and La Tech (27-17, 11-6) is set for Friday night. First pitch is at 6:35 p.m.

Marc Rardin was almost beaming when it was over.

Almost.

“I think it’s a big win, after the weekend (at Florida International),” Rardin said. “We just needed to be on the board, just get back to being ourselves. We got 14 hits, put some runs up on the board, played good defense, pitched well …

“Yeah, it was against Kentucky, and that’s great, too … but just being ourselves, I thought that was the best thing for us.”

Last year, the Wildcats made their first appearance in the College World Series in school history. WKU, on the other hand, is looking for its first NCAA Tournament berth since the 2009 season, when the Tops were the runner-up in a four-team regional to Ole Miss in Oxford, Mississippi.

Western Kentucky improved to 26-1 this season at Nick Denes Field. WKU’s Treyson Peters (3-0) was the winning pitcher, while Ethan Walker (1-1) took the loss for the Wildcats.

“It’s almost like we’re a different team at home,” Rardin said.

The Hilltoppers put the ball in play in the middle innings, and they launched two or three rockets off The Nick’s padded wall beyond the outfield. WKU shortstop Reid Howard ignited the fourth-inning rally by crushing a pitch from Walker, UK’s starting pitcher, that went for a double to left-center field.

That put two base runners in scoring position for the top of the WKU lineup, and leadoff man Joe Siervo reached safely when UK third baseman Kyuss Gargett couldn’t handle a slow roller for an error. Carlos Vasquez then reached on a bunt single, and the ‘Cats threw it around the yard until Howard scored on a wild throw from Wildcats left fielder Cole Hoge.

Ryan Wideman, the Hilltoppers’ leading hitter, then ripped a two-run single through the left side of the infield, and WKU led for the first time, 4-3.

“It was really good for us,” WKU outfielder Ethan Lizama said when it was over. “We came to the park on Monday after a junior college game and did some hitting, under the lights. The guys felt great. It carried over to today.

“This is going to keep us going in the right direction.”

Starting pitcher Gavin Perry certainly did his part, pitching into the fourth inning. The senior WKU right-hander gave up a first-inning run on Carson Hansen’s bunt single, but the Hilltoppers minimized the damage. Then, in the fourth, he gave up a run-scoring single to the Wildcats’ Ryan Schwartz, before he was thrown out trying to take an extra base by the WKU center fielder, Ryan Wideman.

WKU’s Zach Lyles gave up a mammoth home run to UK’s James McCoy and would yield to teammate Treyson Peters. Senior left-hander Patrick Morris got the Hilltoppers to the weather delay, and returned to get his team to the ninth inning.

The Wildcats scratched out a ninth-inning run on Tyler Bell’s bloop single to left-center field, but WKU’s Lucas Hartman was brought in to get the final out. Hartman retired the Wildcats’ Patrick Herrera on a routine ground ball, and the Tops could celebrate a signature victory before what was left of an appreciative crowd.

“Patrick Morris told us from the beginning, during the rain delay, that he was good to go (for the eighth inning),” Rardin said. “His velocity was good. We got some good pitching from our guys tonight.

“Hopefully, it translates to the weekend.”