Jim Mashek

DAWSON HALL, THREE WKU RELIEVERS LIMIT OWLS TO SIX HITS

Before long, perhaps in conjunction with next week’s Conference USA baseball tournament in Houston, the league will announce its regular-season awards, including an All C-USA team, Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, and Freshman of the Year.

WKU’s Marc Rardin, and Hilltoppers freshman right-hander Dawson Hall, are good bets for the final two awards.

Hall, the former Bowling Green High School standout, turned in six strong innings and the Hilltoppers led for nearly the entire game as Western Kentucky turned back Rice University, 5-2, in the final game of a three-game Conference USA series.

The workmanlike victory completed a three-game sweep for the Hilltoppers, and the team’s third consecutive home series sweep heading into the final week of Conference USA play. The Hilltoppers improved to 30-22 overall — the team’s first 30-win season since 2011 — and 15-12 in C-USA, trailing only league leading Dallas Baptist (40-12 overall, 23-4 in C-USA) and Texas-San Antonio (36-15, 19-7).

As fate would have it, the Tops have played their final home game, and they’re on their way to tangle with baseball-only member Dallas Baptist, before staying in the Lone Star State to compete in the Conference USA Tournament in Houston.

At Rice’s home stadium, Reckling Park, in an exclusive part of downtown Houston.

“It’s just what we’re building here,” Rardin said after Sunday’s game. “Today was one of those games where we kind of got away with it … we didn’t get bunts down, we didn’t play very well, defensively. We found a way to compete.

“A month and a half ago, it would have been a different outcome.”

Not much doubt about that one.

On April 8, longtime archrival Middle Tennessee State — we’re talking C-USA, the Sun Belt Conference, the OVC, the Beginning of Time — rolled out of Bowling Green with a 5-4 victory over Rardin’s Hilltoppers, completing a three-game sweep of WKU one day before Easter Sunday.

The disheartening defeat left the Tops in official scramble mode.

They were 16-17 overall, and 2-10 in conference play. Let’s repeat that. They were TWO AND 10 in Conference USA games.

Since then, the Hilltoppers have gone 14-5 overall, and more important, 13-2 in Conference USA.

They’ve still struggled in non-conference games — witness last week’s 19-1 loss to former OVC rival Eastern Kentucky University — but they won’t play another one of those until next February, with an entirely different team.

There’s eight seniors on this year’s WKU squad, including offensive catalyst Tristin Garcia, a second baseman from Louisville’s Male High School, closer C.J. Weins and sturdy catcher Ricardo Leonett.

“We’re just trying to make some memories, while we’re still here,” Garcia said in February, when the Tops were just getting started.

The Hilltoppers have some promising young players, too, including freshman third baseman Lukas Farris, who unloaded his team-leading 10th home run of the season, a solo shot to the left-field corner, in the bottom of the seventh inning Sunday.

Sophomores such as WKU shortstop A.J. Fiechter and Ty Batusich, an outfielder and DH, have certainly embraced the challenge, along with freshman right-hander Dawson Hall, who was pitching at Bowling Green High School’s Henry Stahl Field at this time last year.

“Dawson Hall has been outstanding,” WKU pitching coach Dillon Napoleon said after Sunday’s game. “This next week’s going to be a total uphill climb. Dallas Baptist is as good as advertised.

“We’ve just got to keep throwing two or three pitches for strikes.”

Hall earned his team-leading seventh victory against three defeats, and he’s now sporting an impressive 2.48 ERA. Rice right-hander Cristian Cienfuegos (2-3) took the loss for the Owls.

WKU reliever Cole Heath, a sophomore from nearby Hendersonville, Tennessee, completed the task at hand on Sunday, working two scoreless innings for his second save of the season.

“We bonded together, after the MTSU series,” Heath said. “Nobody likes to lose … It means the most to the seniors … I think we’ve found a will to win.”

Hall has certainly done his part.

The WKU right-hander turned in six strong innings, scattering five hits while allowing only an unearned run in the top of the second inning. He struck out five batters, while walking only one, before yielding to another freshman, right-hander Jack Bennett.

Bennett gave up a quick run to the Owls, at which point WKU’s Marc Rardin summoned sidearm specialist Dalton Mesaris, and Mesaris was equal to the task, striking out the Owls’ Aaron Smigelski to leave two base runners stranded in scoring position.

“Our pitching was very good,” Rardin said.

The Hilltoppers’ bats did enough to get it done.

Leadoff man Aidan Gilroy, a sophomore third baseman from Pace, Florida, went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored. Andrew Delaney, a junior outfielder from Louisville’s Eastern High School, went 2-for-4 with a run scored. The Tops added a critical insurance run in the top of the seventh, when they loaded the bases with two outs before Tristin Garcia broke for second base, prompting a balk from Rice right-hander Tyler Hamilton.

The victory completed a three-game sweep, after Ricardo Leonett’s RBI single beat Rice, 5-4, in a 10-inning thriller on Friday night, and a 10-2 thumping of the Owls on Saturday.

“We’re finding a way to compete,” Rardin said. “Sometimes, in life, not everything is going to go your way … We’ll get back to work before we go to Dallas.”