IN ITS 8-4 VICTORY OVER CHARLOTTE.
WESTERN PULLS CLOSER TO .500 IN CONFERENCE USA PLAY
First-year Western Kentucky baseball coach Marc Rardin wasn’t a happy camper after the Hilltoppers’ mid-week game on Tuesday night, when the Hilltoppers had a whopping 17 players left on base in a 12-11 loss to Austin Peay State in Clarksville, Tennessee.
“I was direct,” Rardin said, “about what we needed to do, to be better … It’s a mind-set.”
That mind-set seemed to be working Friday night.
The Hilltoppers struck for three runs in the bottom of the third inning and never trailed in the opening game of their Conference USA series with Charlotte, taking an 8-4 victory over the 49ers before a paid crowd of 497 at WKU’s Nick Denes Field.
AGAINST FIVE CHARLOTTE PITCHERS.
Western Kentucky improved to 23-20 overall and 8-11 in Conference USA play, roughly one month before eight of the league’s 10 teams play in the conference tournament at Rice University’s Reckling Park in Houston. Charlotte, meanwhile, dropped to 22-19 overall and 12-6 in Conference USA.
“The players, they might want to talk about (the conference tournament),” Rardin said, “but we’ve got a lot of baseball to play before then … You could see a different response tonight.”
Western Kentucky struggled to get to the Conference USA Tournament under Rardin’s predecessor, John Pawloski, and the Hilltoppers haven’t reached the NCAA Tournament since 2009, when they were the runner-up to Ole Miss in the four-team regional in Oxford, Mississippi. But Rardin, who built a junior college powerhouse at Iowa Western over the last two decades, is trying to keep the big picture in mind as the Hilltoppers move forward.
The Hilltoppers’ offense certainly did that on Friday night.
GAVE HIS TEAM A SOLID START.
Western got on the scoreboard with three runs in the bottom of the third inning, against Charlotte right-hander Wyatt Hudepohl, and never trailed, matching the 49ers’ two-spot in the fifth before scoring three more runs in the sixth.
WKU’s starting pitcher, Lane Diuguid, worked five innings, before yielding to left-hander Cam Tullar, who had another solid outing over three innings, and Dalton Mesaris, who gave up a single run while pitching the ninth.
“Our goal tonight, as a pitching staff, was to execute, to force them to put it in play,” Mesaris said. “I think we needed to build off the momentum for the rest of this series, keep pounding the zone. Throwing strikes.”
Charlotte’s offense primarily consisted of the long ball, but three solo home runs did only so much damage.
CONNECTS ON A SOLO HOME RUN
IN THE FIFTH INNING …
RIC FLAIR WHILE CROSSING THE PLATE.
Charlotte’s Will Butcher, who replaced an injured Dante DeFranco — more on him later — got the 49ers on the board with a tape-measure home run to left-center field in the top of the fifth. Charlotte shortstop Jack Dragum followed suit, two batters later, connecting on a pitch from Diuguid for a solo home run to center field to make it 3-2.
That’s when the Hilltoppers showed some poise in pushing their lead back to three runs, in the bottom of the fifth.
TO THREE RUNS IN THE FIFTH.
Andrew Delaney led off with a single up with the middle, and one out later, WKU’s Brett Blomquist did the same, putting runners on the corners for leadoff man Ty Crittenberger.
Crittenberger slapped an RBI single up the middle, too, and he’d steal third base before scoring on a perfectly placed safety squeeze bunt by the Hilltoppers’ Aidan Gilroy. WKU coach Marc Rardin has emphasized the short game and been fairly aggressive on the base paths, giving the Hilltoppers an extra dimension offensively.
Eight runs would be more than enough in this game, but Rardin and the Hilltoppers are leaving little to chance.
“The biggest thing, for me, is the way our guys responded from Tuesday’s game,” Rardin said. “I’m their blinders, to keep them from going off the road.
“The mental side is everything. There’s will over skill.”
TO A SINKING LINE DRIVE IN FOUL TERRITORY …
FLUSH, AND CRUMPLING TO THE TURF …
AND DeFRANCO WAS ATTENDED TO, QUICKLY ….
THE FIELD UNDER HIS OWN POWER.
There was a short delay in the fourth inning when Charlotte’s left fielder, Dante DeFranco, gave chase to a sinking line drive that fell just outside the foul line and near the 2.5-foot brick wall near the corner of the park.
DeFranco was going full bore for the ball before hitting the artificial turf and hitting the wall, leaving him motionless on the field for a few moments. Charlotte training staff and others quickly attended to DeFranco, however, and he was able to leave the field under his own power.
Butcher teed off on a pitch from the Hilltoppers’ Lane Diuguid in the top of the fifth for his seventh home run of the season, emphatically stepping on home plate on his way to the dugout, and Jack Dragum’s solo homer to center field pulled the 49ers to within a single run.
The Hilltoppers quickly responded, however, with WKU shortstop Drew Reckart lining an RBI double to right-center field before scoring on Tristin Garcia’s line-drive single to right, extending the Western lead to 5-2.
COMBINED FOR 11 STRIKEOUTS.
Hilltopper pitching combined for 11 strikeouts over the course of the game, allowing seven hits, as Western took the opening game of a Conference USA series for the third consecutive weekend.
Junior WKU left-hander Lane Diuguid earned his first victory in three decisions. Wyatt Hudepohl (4-5) took the loss for the 49ers.
Senior left-hander Devyn Terbrak (3-3, 3.79 ERA) will get the start for the Hilltoppers in Game Two of the series. Because of the uncertainty with weather, the game has been pushed up to a 3 p.m. start on Saturday. The series finale on Sunday is set for noon.
A LITTLE BOUNCE IN THEIR STEP AFTERWARD.