Series Preview: Tops vs. Illinois
Alright everyone. Breathe. It’ll be okay.
It’s been a rough week-plus for the Toppers. After knocking of #4 Vanderbilt, Western Kentucky has dropped three of their last four games, with the lone win coming off the bat of Ty Downing in the form of a walkoff single.
But, there is good news – WKU has won their last five games at Nick Denes Field, where the Hilltoppers will welcome in Big Ten opponent, the Illinois Fighting Illini.
However, there is more bad news – those Illini are 6-4, which might not seem that impressive, but they boast a four-game winning streak, and two of those wins came against the #24th ranked Florida Gators.
The Tops will square off against the Illini for the first time since 2011, which also took place at the Nick, and was a series in which the Hilltoppers took two of the three games against Illinois, and a similar result this weekend would be very well recieved to help put this squad back on the right track.
The starting rotation for WKU is getting a facelift this weekend, as Vandy winner Josh Bartley (1-1, 4.91 ERA) will toe the rubber today, while Austin Clay (2-0, 2.20) and Jake Thompson (2-0, 1.17) are still slated to start in their usual Saturday and Sunday roles.
The Illini will start things off by sending reigning Big Ten Pitcher of the Week Kevin Duchene (1-1, 2.01 ERA) to oppose Bartley. Duchene is coming off a complete game shutout against the Gators, in which he only allowed three hits and struck out six batters. On Saturday, John Kravetz (1-1, 4.91) will square off against Clay, and the finale on Sunday will pit Drasen Johnson (2-0, 2.79) vs. Thompson.
The Hilltoppers come into the series hitting .271 as a team. Scott Wilcox is leading the offensive charge with a .341 batting average, .473 on-base percentage and .545 slugging percentage. Big-bat shortstop Cody Wofford is tied for the Sun Belt lead in home runs with three, and is second in triples (2) and runs scored (12). The offense has seemed to disapear as of late, though, as the Tops have played in a one-run ball game four of their last five outings, and haven’t scored more than five runs since the UNC-Ashville series, which saw a series-low in runs at six. But, the baseball season is a long one, and you rather a team slip early than fall out of contention late (like last years’ squad). Ryan Church, however, needs to continue to help out Wilcox and Wofford, along with timely hitting from the rest of the guys.
The Illini not only boast the reigning B1G pitcher of the week, but they have the reigning conference offensive player of the week as well, in left & right fielder Ryan Nagle, who is leading the team in batting average at .462, and in RBI with 11, and is one of five Illini players who has started every game so far this year.
It’s a team on the uprise, and a team experienceing a very unpleasant early season downfall, and it’ll (hopefully) make for an interesting series in Nick Denes Field. The Illini actually opened the season against a Sun Belt opponent, Georgia State, and lost two out of three, so maybe that’ll spell something similar for WKU?
It’ll be great to see if Bartley can continue his success against big-name schools, and will be fun to see if the offense can score some runs for the home crowd.
It was announced yesterday that the opening game of the series will begin at 5 p.m., not the regularly scheduled 3. However, Saturday and Sunday’s times are still the same at 2 p.m. and 1 p.m.
Stand up and cheers, and go Tops!