Jim Mashek

HILLTOPPERS’ CAEL FROST, REID HOWARD PACE AN 11-HIT ATTACK; WKU TURNS FOCUS TO DELAWARE, CONFERENCE USA TOURNAMENT

The stakes couldn’t have been much higher, for Western Kentucky University’s surging baseball squad, in the Hilltoppers’ final home game of the regular season on Sunday afternoon.

The Hilltoppers, playing their best baseball at a critical time of the calendar year, needed a Game Three victory over offensive-minded Dallas Baptist University to take the three-game Conference USA series and build momentum for this weekend’s road trip to the University of Delaware in Newark, Delaware.

It’s been an uphill climb, particularly in C-USA play, for fourth-year WKU head coach Marc Rardin and the Tops, who were just 4-8 in league games about one month ago.

Now? They’re knockin’ at the door of a .500 finish in league play. Possibly, even better.

Western Kentucky 11, Dallas Baptist 8.

“You talk about getting hot, at the right time of the season,” Rardin said when it was over. “I don’t know if we’re playing ‘hot’ baseball, right now, but we’ve got a good stride going forward.”

Junior reliever Mick Uebelhor slammed the door on the prolific Dallas Baptist lineup, hurling two innings of scoreless baseball — including the eighth inning, with three consecutive strikeouts — to complete the task at hand. Western Kentucky improved to 29-24 overall, and 13-14 in C-USA play, heading into its final three-game set at Delaware.

The Patriots dropped to 29-23 overall — but more important, 17-10 in Conference USA play — as they head into a high-profile three-game series, in Dallas, against league-leading Jacksonville State (40-11, 22-5) starting Thursday at DBU’s Horner Ballpark.

“They’re a really, really good team,” Rardin said. “We’ve got all the respect in the world, for that team.”

Western Kentucky has gone 12-7, overall, since a disastrous three-game sweep — at home, no less — to Liberty University, another top-flight, mid-major squad about five weeks ago. They’ve had tough losses, to be sure, but they’ve shown resiliency and toughness, and vastly improved pitching, heading into season’s stretch run.

“It’s obviously significant, and meaningful, for me,” WKU senior catcher Camden Ross said. “I knew it was the last game I’ll play at ‘The Nick.’ These guys mean a lot to me. We’re ready to go back to work.”

Conference USA baseball has never been stronger, top to bottom, in the last 15 years or so, which coincides with Western Kentucky’s move from the Sun Belt Conference to C-USA.

And while a victory would put the Hilltoppers on a promising path to the East Coast, a defeat to DBU would assure another obstacle to conquer if Western Kentucky is going to defend its Conference USA Tournament championship.

And Dallas Baptist took Game Two, with a 5-3 victory on Saturday evening, and the Patriots still have an opportunity to play their way into contention for at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament, the margin for error was thinning for the Tops.

In their Mother’s Day matinee, the Hilltoppers and Dallas Baptist played through a series of twists and turns, with WKU clinging to a 9-8 lead after the top of the seventh inning.

Dallas Baptist outfielder Jake Bennett launched a two-run home run off WKU left-hander Aaron Robertson, a shot to left-center field to pull the Patriots to within a single run.

Robertson promptly retired the next batter, when DBU’s Brooks Sartin tried to bunt for a hit, but Robertson made the play and got Hilltoppers back in their dugout.

The Tops tried to manufacture a run themselves, in the bottom of the seventh, but DBU reliever Tate Hess caught Hayden Robbins’ sacrifice attempt, before doubling off WKU’s P.J. Acosta at second base.

WKU head coach Marc Rardin and his first-year pitching coach, Brett Neffendorf, then turned to right-handed reliever Mick Uebelhor, a 6-foot-3, 210-pound junior from Huntingbird, Indiana.

The Patriots wouldn’t get a base runner into scoring position in the final two frames, and WKU turned a 5-4-3 double play — that’s Acosta, the third baseman, to senior second baseman Austin Haller and then junior first baseman Lane Arroyos — in the top of the ninth.

WKU left-hander Zack Lyles, who threw a team-high 3 2/3 innings of sturdy relief in the middle innings, earned the victory to even his record at 2-2. The Patriots’ J.T. Long — a hard-throwing, 6-foot-6 right-hander — took the loss, falling to 1-4 on the season.

Uebelhor has struck out 57 batters in 43 innings pitched, while compiling a 3-2 record and a splended 2.51 ERA.

“Mick’s unbelievable out there,” WKU catcher Camden Ross said. “He works really hard, every day … When he comes out of the bullpen, you’ve got a reason to play confident baseball.”

Sunday’s game also proved to be a memorable afternoon for the Hilltoppers’ double-play duo, junior shortstop Reid Howard and senior second baseman Austin Haller. Howard, who’s battled injuries for the bulk of the second half of the season, went 3-for-5 at the plate with three runs scored. Haller, meanwhile, unloaded a leadoff home run in the sixth, a shot that hit the right-field foul pole on the first pitch from DBU’s Tate Hess.

The Hilltoppers would add another run, in that frame, when Howard scored from third on Ross’ deft bunt to the right of the pitcher’s mound.

There was no play at the plate.

Camden Ross arrived at WKU a few months after Rardin was hired from Iowa Western Community College, where he won three NJCAA national championships before succeeding John Pawlowski in the summer of 2022.

“It’s a grind, but that’s what we want,” Ross said. “(Rardin) knows how to win … Now, we move on to Delaware.”

Stay tuned.