Jim Mashek

HILLTOPPERS AIM TO IMPROVE C-USA TOURNEY SEEDING IN HOME SERIES WITH RICE OWLS

They got things started an hour earlier, to give the Eastern Kentucky University baseball team a chance at a quick start to get back on the road to Richmond when it was over.

They had a sense of momentum, after Western Kentucky’s strong comeback in a three-game series with Florida International University over the weekend in Miami.

They were a little short on arms, however, and first-year WKU baseball coach Marc Rardin had some apprehensions about Tuesday evening’s non-conference game with Eastern Kentucky long before the Colonels arrived in Bowling Green.

Rardin’s worst fears came to pass.

And Eastern Kentucky was able to tee off, exploding for 16 hits — including NINE for extra bases — in strolling to a 16-1 victory over the Hilltoppers before a sparse crowd at WKU’s Nick Denes Field.

All told, however, the Tops have reason to embrace their progress.

One year removed from a dismal 18-36 season, WKU has already qualified for the Conference USA Tournament to begin in two weeks at the Rice Owls’ home stadium, Reckling Park in Houston. The Hilltoppers, however, are a long way from satisfied.

Rardin met with his team for about 15 minutes in shallow left field after the game was called after seven innings. He’s been a “big-picture guy” since his arrival in Bowling Green, just 11 months ago, and the Hilltoppers have all sorts of opportunities in front of them.

Starting with Friday evening’s C-USA series opener with Rice.

“We’re trying to win two this weekend and keep working our way up as much as we can,” Rardin said. “It’s great to be in it, but obviously these guys want to do more …

“We’ve got tomorrow and Thursday to get ready. We’ll show up Friday and try to put on our best.”

Eastern Kentucky can definitely swing it, scoring in double figures for the seventh consecutive game. The Colonels improved to 26-24 overall and they’ll play host to Liberty University in a three-game Atlantic Sun Conference series over the weekend. Western fell to 27-22 on the season.

“Everything starts and ends on the mound,” Rardin said.

Pitching has been the key component in the Tops’ late-season improvement, and some of Rardin’s best arms were resting for Western’s last mid-week game of the season against a non-conference opponent.

Eastern Kentucky was once an arch-rival, when the Colonels and Hilltoppers scrapped in the Ohio Valley Conference, but Tuesday’s game was little more than a dress rehearsal for the final few games before postseason play.

Not only that, Rardin’s squad spent hours at the Nashville International Airport early Monday morning, after severe weather complicated the Hilltoppers’ return from Miami.

Rardin acknowledged that reality but quickly moved on to the stakes of the weekend’s home series against the tradition-rich Rice Owls. Western Kentucky will close the regular season on the road against C-USA baseball-only member Dallas Baptist next week. The 15th-ranked Patriots are 37-12 on the season and a remarkable 20-4 against Conference USA opponents.

“It’s great to be in (the Conference USA Tournament), but these guys want more,” Rardin said.

Rardin used seven pitchers in Tuesday’s tuneup, with the final two of them — sophomore left-hander Cal Higgins and freshman right-hander Evan Jones — proving the most effective, hurling an inning each of scoreless baseball. WKU freshman right-hander Jack Bennett took the loss, dropping to 0-3 on the season.

EKU center fielder Ron Franklin ignited the fireworks in the top of the second inning.

After retiring the Colonels in order to start the game, Bennett returned to the mound for the second. He put two men on base, via a walk and a hit batsman, before Franklin turned on a 2-2 pitch for a towering home run to left-center field.

Kirk Liebert, WKU’s left fielder, barely had a chance to move before the ball sailed over the fence.

That was just the beginning.

EKU’s Will King, an All-Atlantic Sun catcher having an outstanding season, crushed a pitch from the Hilltoppers’ Beau Coffman for a three-run home run that fell inside the left-field foul pole in the third. It was King’s 11th homer of the season.

From there, WKU coach Marc Rardin and his pitching coach, Dillon Napoleon, had little success trying to stop the bleeding. The Colonels exploded for seven runs in the top of the fourth, extending their lead to 16-1, before the WKU players could get back in the dugout.

EKU’s Jalen Jones delivered a two-run double to right-center field, and WKU right fielder Eli Watson misplayed a line drive off the bat of the Colonels’ Miguel Larreal that fell for another two-run double.

Jalen Jones led EKU with a 3-for-5 performance with four RBI.

“(EKU) came out hot,” Rardin said. “This is who we are, on Tuesdays … Our (lack of pitching) depth shows on Tuesdays.”

The Hilltoppers have lost six of their last seven games played on Tuesday nights this season.

Perhaps that’s why Rardin and his coaching staff are trying to keep the big picture in mind, cognizant that the Rice series is an excellent opportunity for the Tops to make up some ground in the C-USA standings. Currently, WKU is tied with Middle Tennessee State and Florida Atlantic for sixth place in the league standings, all of them dead even at 12-12 in conference play.

“It’s college baseball. A lot of these kids want to play pro ball,” Rardin said. “… We did win two (of three) over the weekend (at FIU). We shouldn’t feel too sorry for ourselves.”

EKU right-hander Nathan Lawson (4-1) was the winning pitcher. WKU first baseman Lukas Farris drove in the Toppers’ only run on a ground ball that scored leadoff man Ty Crittenberger from third base in the third.