Jim Mashek

CAL HIGGINS CLOSES THE DOOR ON 5-4 TRIUMPH; CARLOS VASQUEZ, TOPS VANQUISH BULLDOGS, 22-12, IN NIGHTCAP

It was one of those unique baseball weekends that lingered, over the hours, through the rain, and past the inevitable delays.

As it turned out, the home team, Western Kentucky’s resurgent squad, had no problem with the extra hours at the ballpark.

The other, a tradition-rich Louisiana Tech club, took their lickin’ and got the hell outta Dodge.

They’d get back to Ruston, Louisiana, well past the midnight hour, after nine hours or so in a chartered bus.

Looks like the Hilltoppers have found their momentum for the stretch run of regular-season play.

The Tops returned to WKU’s Nick Denes Field for two seven-inning games against LA Tech on a dreary, chilly and sometimes rainy Sunday morning, and they took care of business in interesting fashion.

The Hilltoppers survived home-plate umpire David Martinez’s unusually tight strike zone in Game One, needing senior closer Cal Higgins to put out a seventh-inning fire in taking a 5-4 victory over the free-swinging Bulldogs. After a quick break of maybe 20 minutes, WKU fell behind 7-0 in the top of the first inning, giving Louisiana Tech some hope that they’d get out of town by salvaging the three-game series finale.

Well, so much for that.

Western Kentucky nearly batted around TWICE in the bottom of the first inning, collecting 10 hits against LA Tech pitchers Luke Nichols and Rylan Harland, to put up 12 RUNS — count ’em, 12 — to turn the nightcap on its ear. The Hilltoppers kept the offensive pressure on Louisiana Tech for the rest of the game, putting up back-to-back 4-spots before sophomore left-hander Zach Lyles completed four innings of steady relief in a 22-12 victory over the Bulldogs.

You read that right. The Tops put up 22 runs in a single game — in SIX INNINGS, no less — in completing an historic three-game sweep of Louisiana Tech, improving to 38-10 overall and 14-7 in Conference USA. Western Kentucky moved into third place in the C-USA standings, two games behind nationally ranked league-leading Dallas Baptist (33-13, 16-5 in C-USA) and just 1/2 game behind conference newcomer Kennesaw State (24-22, 14-6).

The series marked the first time WKU took a three-game series from Louisiana Tech since the 2015 season, the Hilltoppers’ first after leaving the Sun Belt Conference for C-USA. The Tops also pushed their record at WKU’s Nick Denes Field to 29-1.

Even third-year WKU coach Marc Rardin was impressed with those numbers.

“We’re 29-1 at home. We’re 6-0 in doubleheaders,” Rardin said. “Those are just crazy numbers.”

Nothing, however, was crazier than that first inning of the second game.

WKU right-hander Gavin Perry retired the first two LA Tech batters he faced, before going on a futile journey in search of that last out of the inning. The Bulldogs loaded the bases with two outs when Perry walked Zed Ruddell on a 3-2 pitch, bringing Trey Hawsey across the plate. Garrison Berkley and LA Tech teammate Brody Drost followed with run-scoring singles, and the Bulldogs would again load the bases when Will Sofford was plunked by Perry’s final pitch of the afternoon.

Freshman right-hander Taylor Penn took the mound for the Tops and immediately surrendered a line-drive double off the bat of leadoff man Sebastian Mexico, and the Louisiana Tech dugout had reason to embrace its 7-0 lead.

It would not last.

The Hilltoppers loaded the bases with no outs for cleanup man Kyle Hayes, the senior first baseman from Metro Chicago. Hayes drilled Luke Nichols’ first pitch into right-center field for a two-run double, trimming the Tops’ deficit to 7-2. After Nichols recorded a couple outs, the bottom third of the WKU batting order — which has delivered, time and again, of late — chased Nichols in favor of Bulldogs reliever Ryan Harland.

Harland wouldn’t fare any better than Nichols.

WKU catcher Kyle Hvidsten reached on an infield single, and leadoff man Joe Siervo drew a bases-loaded walk to make it 7-4. WKU third baseman Carlos Vasquez, the Conference USA Hitter of the Week, then lashed a two-run double to left-center field.

WKU’s Ryan Wideman, whose batting average has STAYED above the .400 mark for several weeks, then slapped a two-run single past LA Tech shortstop Will Safford. The Bulldogs would then commit two errors on a single play, scoring two more runs, and next thing you know, WKU was sporting a 12-7 lead.

“I just want us to be playing good baseball,” WKU coach Marc Rardin said, “and then everything will take care of itself. Right now, we are playing well. We are hitting balls, hard. We’re having good ABs … That’s all we can concentrate on.

“I don’t want to get ahead, to the conference tournament. I don’t want to get ahead to anything, right now.”

Live in the moment, as they say. WKU will take the long trip to Las Cruces, New Mexico, for a three-game set with C-USA’s New Mexico State (22-25, 10-10) before returning to The Nick for one last home series against Jacksonville State (28-20, 11-10). The Tops put a disastrous weekend at Florida International University behind them in beating the University of Kentucky, 6-4, on Tuesday night before their three-game sweep of the Bulldogs.

“I think this is what we NEEDED to do,” WKU outfielder Ethan Lizama said. “It all starts in the dugout. Great energy. That’s just what we’re doing …”

Lizama, who leads the Hilltoppers with nine home runs, had a solo shot in the sixth inning of Sunday’s first game, which turned out to be a critical run when the Bulldogs struck for four runs in the top of the seventh against WKU left-handers Patrick Morris and Cal Higgins.

The Bulldogs had the tying run in scoring position when Higgins slipped a called third strike past pinch hitter Thaxton Berch, closing the door on a 5-4 victory for his team-leading sixth save of the season. WKU right-hander Drew Whalen was the winning pitcher, even after struggling with David Martinez’s tight strike zone, working three scoreless innings before yielding to Morris.

All in all, it was an enjoyable weekend for the Hilltoppers, who used Carlos Vasquez’s walk-off single to right-center field, a shot against Ryan Harland to give WKU a 9-8 win in walk-off fashion on Friday night.

Now the Tops will take a break and get ready for their final exams before leaving for the Nashville airport and New Mexico on Thursday. They’ve had the pitching, particularly in the bullpen, to emerge as a contending team for the NCAA Tournament for the entire season. Lately, they’ve been swinging the bats pretty well, too.

Good enough to win 29 home games, a school record for a single season.

“Momentum, offensively, is everything,” WKU coach Marc Rardin said.

The Hilltoppers will try to carry that momentum to Las Cruces, New Mexico, later this week.