PRE GAME: WKU vs. Texas State
(Mike Clark/HERALD)
The WKU Baseball team is getting ready to welcome Sun Belt foe Texas State into Nick Denes field for a weekend series starting tonight at 6:30. The Hilltoppers who are rolling in off of a loss at UK on Tuesday. The Hilltopper opened up the Sun Belt season at Georgia Sate while the rest of the WKU students were on spring break. WKU dropped the first game to Georgia State But swept a saturday Double header to take the series 2 games to 1. For WKU the sit at 12-9 on the season. For Texas State they come into the match off a 14-1 loss to the Rice Owls. The Bobcats sit at 13-7 on the season. This will be only the second match up between the two teams, the previous match resulted in a 4-3 Hilltopper win back in February of 2010. The Bobcats are an SBC new comer and the sun is setting on the Tops time in the Sun Belt.
For the Hilltoppers Justin Hageman is the pitcher getting the nod for the Baseball Tops in the first game. Hageman is 0-1 on the season with a 2.88 ERA. WKU is solid at the moment ringing up 11 hits in the past nine outings. Western has 81 hits in its sat 9 games totaling 205 hits on the season and 3rd in the Sun Belt. Catcher Ryan Messex is leading the Hilltoppers with a .367 batting average. First Baseman Ryan Church is the team leader in the rest of the categories with 25 hits, 14 RBI’s, 4 home runs and 41 total bases. The hottest Hilltopper is Regan Flaherty who is in the midst of a career long 10 game hit streak.
For Texas State the pitcher who is making an appearance is righty Taylor Black. Black is 2-2 on the season and boasting a 3.31 ERA. Texas States offense is lead by freshman phenom Granger Studdard. Studdard is hitting a stellar .328 through 20 games, he also hit two home runs this past weekend in the Bobcats sweep of UTA. One of the homers was a long ball that propelled the Bobcats to a win in in Arlington. As a whole Texas State is hitting .263 on the year.
The first game of the series will take place at 6pm in Nick Denes field on the campus of Western Kentucky University. According to WKU sports Website the game is being called a red out and all fans are encouraged to wear their WKU red. Also the first 250 fans out to tonights game will receive a free Red Towel. WTRT’s twitter account will live tweet tonights game for all of those interested in following along. Following the evenings match we will have your post game recap right here. Have a safe and pleasant evening and as always… GO TOPS!