GAMEDAY: Tops vs. Bruins
Photo Courtesy of NCAA.org
The Hilltoppers had a successful opening weekend at home, taking two of three from the Southern Illinois Salukis, and now they hit the road for their first road challenge of 2014.
Western Kentucky (2-1) will head down the road to take on the Belmont Bruins (2-1) for the 39th time in the school’s history, and for the 12th consecutive season. The Bruins lead the all-time series 21-17, thanks in large part to a 5-game Belmont win streak that the Tops will look to snap.
Taking the bump for WKU is true freshman right hander Sam Melchior, who is a native to the Bluegrass, having spent his high school career out in Louisville, finishing his senior year with a 1.58 ERA and a 7-1 record in 52 innings pitched. Belmont will pit senior southpaw James Buckelew against the Tops, who had a 5-4 record and a 6.36 ERA, but did manage to match a career high in strikeouts (5) four times a season ago.
After the opening 3 games, WKU is lead by Ryan Church in batting average (.455), heavy hitter Cody Wofford in homeruns (2, both of which he hit in the second game of Sunday’s doubleheader to lead off an inning) and Scott Wilcox, who will be looking to make his 121st consecutive start, in RBI with 3. The Bruins are lead by Drew Ferguson in average, who is hitting .429 through 3 games, along with two doubles, and Tyler Walsh in RBI, as he drove 3 men in during the Bruins’ opening series against Bowling Green State.
If there’s anything we learned after Sunday, it’s that the question of “who is going to replace Ryan Huck?” doesn’t seem to really be that pressing of an issue. The Hilltoppers proved their depth, and will look to show it off not only against another non-conference opponent, but on the road as well.
Matt Myers used a couple of different lineups over the weekend, but I’d expect the guys to line up like this today:
Cody Wofford SS
Scott Wilcox 2B
Regan Flaherty LF
Ryan Church 1B
Phillip Diedrick DH
Thomas Peter 3B
Anderson Miller LF
Ty Downing C
David Simmons CF
Downing is the likely candidate to be the midweek starter, to give Ryan Messex a rest so he can go all three weekend games. While Downing did start the second game on Sunday, I can’t imagine Myers would alter his game plan that much due to that fact.
It’ll be fun to see if the Tops can continue their roll from Sunday, and it’ll be fun to see what this Melchior kid from Louisville can do.
First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m., and we will have all your wrap up of what will hopefully be a Hilltopper win later tonight.
Stand up and cheers, and go Tops!