Three Baseball Toppers Are With Champion City Kings

Three members of the WKU Hilltoppers baseball team are currently playing for the Champion City Kings of the Prospect League, a summer league for top collegiate prospects. Freshman pitcher Ryan Thurston, freshman infielder Leiff Clarkson and sophomore outfielder Trevor Lowe will spend their summer refining their tools and skills in the PL with the Kings, who’s season began May 28th.

Thurston finished his inaugural season on the Hill with a 1-0 record and 2.16 ERA in 13 appearances (and four starts), with a strikeout/walk ratio of 21/20. While Thurston put a lot of guys on, he limited opposing hitters to a .189 average, and allowed just eight runs.

Clarkson hit .316 and started 38 games in his maiden voyage of college ball, finishing with 11 RBI and nine doubles, racking up 51 total bases. Clarkson was thrown into the starting mix as a young guy, and did a good job, finishing 2014 with a .943 fielding percentage and committing just eight errors.

Lowe finished the season hitting .256, but added some more power to the line up, contributing 17 RBI and a home run. The one thing Lowe can do with the Kings is work on his plate patience; two walks compared to 16 strikeouts. In the field, Lowe finished with a .984 fielding percentage and committed just a single error and helped put out 58 opposing batters.

The Kings, currently, are in first place in the Eastern Division with a 5-2 record in the 12 team Midwest based league, which features teams from Missouri, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.