Pre Game: WKU vs. 11 Louisville

Courtesy WKU Athletics

WKU baseball will resume their season after having two full games off following a 2-1 series loss to Texas State this past weekend at Nick Denes Field. The Tops who in this installment will take on Louisville will look to put their season back on track. The Hilltoppers have lost two straight with poor performances coming from their bull pen. In the past two weeks WKU has lost twice to Georgia, Picked up a 2-1 series win over Georgia State in Atlanta, lost to UK in a mid week game and then Won friday but lost saturday and sunday against Texas State. WKU currently sits in 4th place in the Sun Belt while UL enters the game ranked number 11 in the Nation in most polls.

WKU will send Sophomore Righty Josh Bartley who is 2-2 on the season with a 5.59 ERA. Bartley picked up last years win over the Cardinals throwing a hitless ninth inning to seal the win for the Hilltoppers. On a tear for WKU is Senior Right Fielder Regan Flaherty who is on a 13 game hit streak the longest of any Hilltoppers career. Yes, you read that right, Regan has reached base safely in his last 13 games. Including a 26-7 loss at Georgia and a loss to UK. Ryan Church the Junior First Baseman for Western had a weekend to forget most in particular a Sunday to forget as he went 0-for-5 with 4 strike outs and only reaching base on Error… Subsequently he was caught steeling at second after reaching on error after going down for a slide and sliding past 2nd. As a result Church has cut his mullet and looks to improve his performance against a good Louisville team.

For the Cardinals they will send Freshman South Paw Josh Rogers to the mound to face the Tops. Rogers will see his first action of the year. Currently his era is a 10.80 in the stat book. Louisville has 65 extra-base hits through 23 games. Leading the Cards in RBI’s is left fielder Jeff Gardner. Gardner is hitting .380 on the season and is boasting 3 long balls. Louisville will look to continue their roll as they’ve defeated Rutgers 3 games in a row coming into todays game.

A thing of note for WKU is they have won all 6 games they’ve played at Bowling Green ball park defeating UK and Lou in all of those matches. The first pitch time for todays game is around 5pm. Make your way down to the beautiful stadium in downtown bowling green and take in some Hilltopper baseball. Check back in with us after the game for all your post game notes. Until later have a great afternoon, and as always… GO TOPS!