Jim Mashek

HALLER, ROSS COLLECT THREE HITS EACH IN TRIUMPH; HILLTOPPERS LOOK FOR FOURTH STRAIGHT WIN ON SATURDAY

Off the bat, it looked bad for Western Kentucky University’s scrambling baseball team.

And it sounded even worse.

With two men on base, and two outs in the top of the ninth, Kennesaw State’s Charlie Jones connected on a pitch from the Hilltoppers’ Sam Frizzi that appeared to be goin’ places.

Like, say, over the padded wall in right-center field at WKU’s Nick Denes Field.

Jones had already unloaded a solo home run, a mammoth shot to center field, in the fifth inning of the first game in a Conference USA series looming large for BOTH squads.

WKU and Kennesaw State were both 7-11 in conference play, heading into Friday night’s four-hour marathon played in intermittent rain. The Conference USA Tournament will begin, at the Owls’ 1,900-seat Mickey Dunn Stadium/Henssler Financial Field, on May 20 in Kennesaw, Georgia. Somebody was going to lose ground to the likes of top-flight C-USA teams such as Jacksonville State, Liberty University and Missouri State.

Turns out, this time, it would be the Owls.

Junior outfielder Hayden Robbins, a transfer from Morehead State University, made the dramatic catch, against the wall, with center fielder Parker Coley providing backup support, and the Hilltoppers escaped with a gritty 9-8 victory over Kennesaw, heading into Game Two of the series on Saturday afternoon at The Nick.

First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m.

“I had it, the whole way, if it wasn’t goin’ out,” Robbins said in the stadium concourse, while visiting with his parents, 20 minutes or so after the game.

The Tops improved to 23-20 overall, and 8-11 in Conference USA, while fifth-year KSU coach Ryan Coe’s squad dropped to 18-20 and 7-12, respectively.

“They’re way better than their record would show,” WKU coach Marc Rardin said, “but I feel the same way about our team, too …”

Rardin believes Conference USA is considerably better, top to bottom, than any other time in his four seasons as the Hilltoppers’ head coach. For the moment, C-USA looks like a team that could land as many as THREE, possibly FOUR, squads in the 64-team NCAA Tournament field. Western broke through last year, for the first time since 2009, winning the C-USA Tournament with five straight wins in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Western Kentucky looks for its fourth consecutive victory on Saturday. Senior right-hander Gavin Perry (4-1, 4.75 ERA) will get the start for the Tops, while Coe is expected to counter with senior right-hander Nolan Silver (0-0, 4.99 ERA). The third and final game of the series is scheduled for Sunday at 1 p.m.

“These guys, our kids, they’re intentional, they know what’s in front of them,” Rardin said. “What’s good, is when you’ve got a strong culture team, is anybody, on any given night, can step up for you. We needed it tonight, (it was a) good job by Camden Ross and Kyle Hayes, providing that for us.”

Ross, the Hilltoppers’ senior catcher from Broomfield, Colorado, handled five different WKU pitchers, behind the plate in rainy conditions. On offense, Ross went 3-for-4, with two RBI, while Hayes, battling his way out of a recent slump, connected on a solo home run to left-center field that extended the Hilltoppers’ lead to 8-5 in the bottom of the fourth inning.

WKU second baseman Austin Haller, moving into the leadoff spot after an injury sidelined sophomore shortstop Ryan Howard earlier this month, finished the game 3-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI. Manny Alberto, filling in for Howard at shortstop, continues to impress, and he went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored.

The injuries go beyond the playing field.

Rardin is stepping in for third-base coach Derek Francis, while Francis continues to recover from Achilles tendon surgery. The Hilltoppers still have 11 conference games left, before the C-USA Tournament, which means they’ve got ample opportunity to change the narrative over the next month or so.

In the early innings, both teams were making it happen at the plate, and before it was over, Rardin went to his bullpen four times to seal the win. Junior right-hander Mick Uebelhor was most effective, for the Tops, striking out five batters without allowing a run in 2 2/3 innings of work near the end of the game.

Western Kentucky’s Sam Frizzi replaced Uebelhor for the final out, which was the ball Kennesaw’s Charlie Jones hit to the wall in right-center field.

“Their last (pitcher), Nate Helman, is a high-velocity guy, and you saw what he could do,” Rardin said. “He struck out four of our guys … You look at the first three innings, every time they scored, we scored. That’s good for your makeup, that’s good for your morale …

“I ended up using Uebelhor sooner I wanted, but we got into their bullpen, too.”

Hayden Robbins, the WKU junior outfielder from Madison Central High School in Richmond, Kentucky, made a tough catch against the wall in foul territory along the right-field line in the eighth inning. Then he ended it with his glove work in the ninth.

WKU utility man Dalton Fiveash, a senior from nearby Franklin-Simpson High School, had a strong game at third base while going 2-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI.

“We’ve got 13 games left in the season,” Rardin said. “They’re all gonna be big.”