GAME DAY: Tops vs Eastern Carolina
Courtesy of WKU Athletics on Facebook
The baseball Tops are back at it this weekend and were hoping they continue to pull through. The Hilltoppers have traveled to Eastern Carolina where they will play in the 11th annual Keith LeClair Classic. They will continue their streak of weekend Triple headers only this time they will face three different opponents in as many days. They will start off with the host school today at four. They will play Ohio State on Saturday, and they will finish with Pittsburgh on Sunday.
For WKU they are coming in on a mental high after defeating the number 4 Vanderbilt Commodores Tuesday night in Nashville. Pitcher Josh Bartley a South Warren product got the win against the 4th ranked team in all of the land. The three pitchers who will take the mound this weekend for WKU will be the same lineup as the series against UNC Asheville. Fridays match will boast Justin Hageman. Hageman who is coming off a stellar performance against UNCA is going to stay in the friday night hole where he has only allowed one earned run and ten strikeouts in his two prior friday starts. For offense WKU will continue to rely on the hot bats of 3rd baseman Thomas Peter who is coming in on a 15 game get on base streak. The next player Western will rely on is Scott Wilcox. The senior 2nd baseman is the reigning Sun Belt player of the week. He is hitting .483 on the season with a .6o5 on base percentage and also is on a four straight multiple hit games and has 14 hits, all of these lead the SBC. If Western Kentucky plans on pulling out 3 wins, they’ll have to rely on the bevy arms of their pitchers and the Bullpen along with Wilcox and Hageman.
As for the Opponents in game number one. The ECU Pirates are 3-5 on the season. ECU is rolling in off of a four game losing streak three of them coming to the number on ranked team in the country Virginia. ECU returns 18 letter winners including two Louisville slugger All-Americans Drew Reynolds and David Lucroy. Pitching in todays matchup is Jeff Hoffman who is 0-1 on the season with a 4.05 ERA. Players to watch for ECU is Zach Houchins. Houchins had a 10 game hit and reach base safely streak snapped sunday. On the season he is hitting .281 with a double 3 RBI and 4 runs scored, also of note for Houchins, he is the team leader in stolen bases with 3. The second pirate to watch is Junior Ian Townsend. Townsend leads ECU with 7 RBI’s including a 3 run homer in his season debut against James Madison.
Tonights game will be the first ever meeting between the two squads. One thing that probably interests only me, the Pirates would be a season regular with WKU when Western switches over to Conference USA, however ECU is leaving CUSA for the American Conference and thus ending the chance of an every season meeting. The games first pitch will come around 4 pm Central Time. We will have post game coverage here On Wave The Red Towel for you once it concludes. Have a safe and Pleasant Evening and as always… GO TOPS!