WKU Softball will return home to host New Mexico State University in a Conference USA series April 17-19.

The Hilltoppers are coming off an eight-game road trip that included two midweek games and two CUSA series. WKU secured an 8-3 victory at Lipscomb on April 1 and won two of three games at Kennesaw State on April 4 and 5. 

More recently, the Hilltoppers dropped two of three games at Middle Tennessee State April 11-13 and fell 9-1 to the University of Kentucky April 15. WKU is now 21-19 overall and 7-10 in CUSA.

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The Hilltoppers are struggling offensively. Across the eight away-game stretch, WKU left an average of almost eight runners on base and hit .239. 

Despite the struggles, WKU has been awarded back-to-back CUSA Freshman of the Week recognitions. Last week, freshman pitcher/utility player Erica Houge’s 0.00 ERA in her 7.2 innings pitched against KSU earned her the title.

This week, the torch was passed to outfielder Kennedy Stinson with her .700 batting average and 14 total bases across the MTSU series.

Sophomore pitcher Rylan Smith leads the Hilltoppers from the circle. Her 12 strikeouts in WKU’s solo win at MTSU set her single-game strikeout career-high. She is third in CUSA in batters struck out with 98 and leads the conference in batters struck out looking with 37.

NMSU is tied with MTSU for sixth in CUSA standings. The Aggies are 22-19 on the season and 9-9 in CUSA. 

Last weekend, NMSU went 1-2 in a CUSA series against No. 25 Liberty. The Aggies were outscored 16-4 across the three games. 

NMSU holds the second-highest batting average in CUSA with .314. Its pitching staff is ranked eighth in CUSA with a 4.41 ERA.

Aggie sophomore pitcher/utility player Desirae Spearman is ranked in nearly every CUSA offensive category. She is second in batting average (.474), tied for first in runs scored (44), tied for ninth in hits (46), third in RBIs (39) and first in homers (17).

The first pitches are scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday, 6 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. Sunday.

Sports Reporter Adrianna Lein can be reached at [email protected].