Jim Mashek

HILLTOPPERS WASTE BRILLIANT EFFORT FROM STARTING PITCHER GAVIN PERRY; WESTERN FALLS TO .500 ON THE SEASON

The stakes, at least for homestanding Western Kentucky, couldn’t have been much higher in Game Three of the Hilltoppers’ series against Liberty University on Saturday afternoon at WKU’s Nick Denes Field.

WKU’s starting pitcher, senior right-hander Gavin Perry, and Liberty righty Jaxon Lucas were locked up in a scoreless game for six innings.

With the 15- to 20-mph wind changing directions, but usually blowing in from left-center field, both offenses struggled to get base runners into scoring position. But it was clear, depending on the elements, that one swing of the bat could change everything.

One did.

The Hilltoppers would fall apart, in the ninth, with Liberty claiming a wild, 6-5 victory before a modest Easter Weekend crowd at The Nick.

Western Kentucky built a 5-0 lead over the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, executing the fundamentals in situational hitting, starting with an impressive two-run home run from junior catcher Camden Ross.

Momentum was on the Hilltoppers’ side.

Marc Rardin, Western Kentucky’s fifth-year head coach, wanted Perry to finish the task at hand. Working on a three-hit shutout, through eight innings, the Tops had everything in place for a breakthrough victory.

Liberty outfielder Nick Barone had other ideas.

Perry surrendered a leadoff single to Liberty shortstop Tanner Marsh, the Flames’ do-it-all junior shortstop, before issuing a walk to LU’s Riley DeCandido. That led to an unsettled feeling in the ballpark, with senior third baseman Jordan Jaffe stepping to the plate.

Joffe slapped a seeing-eye single, through the left side of the infield, and the Flames had loaded the bases with no outs. Rardin quickly made his move to the bullpen, bringing junior right-hander Jude Favela into the game to face cleanup batter Jaxon Sorenson.

Favela issued a five-pitch walk, bringing Marsh across the plate, while putting senior outfielder Nick Barone to the plate. The potential tying run. Still, no outs.

Then, in a sequence that pretty much sums up the Hilltoppers’ entire season, Rardin turned to senior right-hander Nathan Lawson. And Barone changed the narrative, with one swing of the bat.

“Last year, they swept us, at our place,” Barone said. “We really wanted to return the favor.”

Barone and the Flames did just that.

Barone turned on Lawson’s 2-1 pitch, sending it over the fence in left-center field, and in a matter of minutes, the Flames had tied things up. Lawson retired Liberty’s , on a line drive snared by leaping WKU shortstop Reid Howard, so the Tops still had their chances, at the plate, in front of them.

Forget that narrative, too.

The Flames again loaded the bases, with one out, this time on an intentional walk to Tanner Marsh, their leadoff batter. WKU coach Marc Rardin brought in senior reliever Sam Frizzi, to face the aforementioned RIley DeCandido.

You guessed it.

DeCandido delivered an RBI single, through the right side of the WKU infield, and that was that.

“It was pretty remarkable,” Liberty coach Bradley LeCroy said. “It seems like every game, we have a different guy stepping up …”

The Tops still had a chance, in the bottom of the ninth, and WKU outfielder Hayden Robbins slapped a two-out single into right-center field. Liberty closer Cooper Harrington, a sophomore right-hander, retired WKU shortstop Reid Howard on a ground ball, and that was that.

It was Harrington’s team-high fifth save of the season.

The Hilltoppers dropped to .500 overall, including a 4-8 record in Conference USA play. Rardin was unavailable for comment afterward, after he did a brief interview with WKU radio man Randy Lee, but Liberty’s Nick Barone had plenty to say.

Even if the Flames did most of their talking with their bats.

“That was probably the best swing of my college career,” said Barone, a senior outfielder who spent his first two college seasons at West Virginia University.

WKU’s Nathan Lawson fell behind in the count, 2-1, to leave the right-handed hitting Barone sitting on the fastball.

“(Lawson) had just missed, on a cutter, so I had a pretty good idea of what was coming,” Barone said. “I’d felt the wind shifting, from my last time at bat, and the four (Liberty) guys in front of me did a great job, loading the bases.

“You just have to do it, one AB at a time …”

Liberty swept the critical three-game series, improving to 22-9 overall and 8-4 in Conference USA play. Barone, a senior outfielder from Williamsport, Pennsylvania, played in the NCAA Tournament during his freshman year at West Virginia, and the Flames seem to be on a path to do the same thing.

Liberty arguably has the best pitcher in C-USA, in junior right-hander Ben Blair, and Blair dominated the Hilltoppers in leading his team to a 6-2 victory on Friday evening. The Flames set the tone for the series with an 8-3 thumping of the Tops on Thursday night.

It was clearly a crushing defeat for the Hilltoppers, who will return to Nick Denes Field on Tuesday night to tangle with Belmont University. WKU defeated Belmont, 7-2, at the Nashville Sounds’ facility in mid-March, but since then, the Tops have won just three games, against eight defeats.

Western Kentucky broke through in 2025, winning the Conference USA Tournament on its way to the school’s first NCAA Tournament appearance in 16 years. Rardin has built a competitive program in his five years on The Hill, compiling a solid 131-78 record.

The Hilltoppers have another home series in conference play, before going back on the road. They’ll play host to New Mexico State (14-16 overall, 6-6 in C-USA) in a three-game series starting Friday night at The Nick.

One of six remaining three-game C-USA series before the eight-team conference tournament at league-leading Jacksonville State, starting May 18 in Jacksonville, Alabama.

Plenty of time to change the narrative again.