WKU Baseball will look to build on its record-breaking 2025 season as it opens its new campaign against BYU this weekend.
The Hilltoppers won their first Conference USA championship in the 2025 season after starting the season 20-1, the best start for a CUSA program in history. The 2025 team also broke multiple program records, including stolen bases (126) and strikeouts (513).
In the conference’s preseason rankings, the Hilltoppers were picked to finish five spots short of repeating as conference champs. For Head Coach Marc Rardin, the 2025 CUSA Head Coach of the Year, the low preseason prediction doesn’t mean anything.
“I don’t care if we’re first or last. My first year here we were picked last, which I get it,” Rardin said. “I don’t even talk about that stuff. It’s not even what we worry about.”
While the accomplishments from 2025 set a new standard, the Hilltoppers enter this season with a significantly different roster.
WKU will have to replace key contributors from last season’s championship run, losing 31 players to the transfer portal or graduation. Among those departures are CUSA Player of the Year Ryan Wideman and Pitcher of the Year Drew Whalen. Wideman, selected in the third round of the MLB Draft by the San Diego Padres, posted a historic .398 batting average with ten home runs and 68 RBIs. Whalen transferred to Auburn after posting a 9-3 record with a 3.53 ERA and 90 strikeouts.
Other notable losses include infielder Carlos Vasquez, outfielder Ethan Lizama, and pitcher Jack Bennett, all of whom played important roles in the Hilltoppers’ 2025 success.
“As soon as we get home from the regional, we lose everybody on our roster to the portal. That’s just the world we live in now, so we had to start recruiting,” Rardin said
Despite the turnover, WKU returns a group of players who played key roles in last season’s success.
Fifth-year senior infielder Kyle Hayes returns for his third year on the Hill. Hayes was a top-of-the-lineup hitter, ending the season with a .363 batting average with ten home runs and 56 RBIs and was named to the All-CUSA Second Team. Sophomore infielder Reid Howard returns for a second year after being named to the CUSA All-Freshmen Team as the starting shortstop for the Hilltoppers.
Other returners include senior infielder Dalton Fiveash, graduate infielder Austin Haller, catcher Camden Ross, and pitchers Dawson Hall, Gavin Perry, Zach Lyles and Dominic Monaco.
“Position-wise, when you’re talking about the top to kind of the middle of the lineup type guys, that tends to be pretty big,” Rardin said. “Then you got Lyles and Gavin Perry and Dawson Hall and Dom Monaco, those guys are big pitching staff-wise.”
Another loss comes at the departure of pitching coach Dillon Napoleon, who has been a part of Rardin’s coaching staff for six years, dating back to his years at Iowa Western Community College. Napoleon is now the pitching coach at the University of Illinois.
“It was really hard for him, but I told him, you are in this profession, you do what’s best for you and your family,” Rardin said.
Rardin found his next pitching coach in Brett Nefondorf, who was named as part of the staff in June 2025. Nefondorf was the head coach at Indiana University Southeast, where he led them to a 69-38 record over two seasons. Overall, Nefondorf brings over a decade of coaching experience to the Hill.
“He [Nefondorf] has been tremendous this fall with what we’re doing to keep up with where we’ve been and where we’re going,” Rardin said.
WKU opens the 2026 season with a four-game series against BYU, beginning a difficult schedule that will challenge the Hilltoppers early. After BYU, their non-conference schedule includes Indiana, UK, Louisville and Cincinnati. Conference play kicks off March 13-15 against FIU at Nick Denes Field, with a notable matchup against Dallas Baptist May 8-10 at Nick Denes Field. The CUSA Tournament will be held May 20-24 at Kennesaw State.
“We’re at WKU, going to school, getting our degrees and getting to play baseball,” Rardin said.
