WKU Baseball will travel to Nashville, Tennessee, to face the Belmont Bruins at First Horizon Park on Wednesday, March 18th.
The Hilltoppers are coming off a sweep of the FIU Panthers last weekend to open Conference USA play, improving their record to 12-8. In game one, WKU run-ruled the Panthers in seven innings, 15-4. In game two, the Hilltoppers needed 10 innings to defeat FIU 5-4. The series closed with a WKU 9-3 win.
WKU outhit the Panthers 35-26, including hitting .309 with runners on base. The Hilltoppers were the only team to field a perfect 1.000 in CUSA’s opening weekend, not committing an error through three games. Overall, WKU holds a .984 fielding percentage, which is 12th in D1 Baseball.
Junior infielder Lane Arroyos extended his on-base streak to 20 games as he went 6-11 with three walks and five RBIs over the weekend. Redshirt junior infielder Manny Alberto started games two and three due to sophomore infielder Reid Howard getting hurt in the third inning of game one. Alberto went 3-9 against FIU, including his walk-off single in game two, which was his sole RBI in the weekend.
Belmont comes into the matchup with an 8-12 record after dropping two of three games against UAB. The Bruins were run-ruled in game one, 13-3 in seven innings, won game two 10-4, and were run-ruled once more in game three, 12-2 in eight innings.
At the plate, the Bruins are led by senior infielder Charlie Davis, who carries a 360 batting average with 16 RBIs on 31 hits. Against UAB, Davis went 6-13 with five RBIs. In game two, Davis was a double shy of a cycle.
Freshman outfielder Brady Holbrook earned Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Week after going 7-14 with four RBI and a home run last week. Against UAB, Holbrook went 5-9, scoring three runs.
On the mound, graduate right-hander Sam Heyman will get the ball against WKU. Heyman carries a 0-2 record with a 9.64 ERA alongside eight strikeouts and six walks in 9.1 innings. In his last outing, Heyman pitched three innings, giving up two runs on three hits with two strikeouts and one walk against Tennessee Tech on March 11.
This Wednesday marks the 56th matchup between WKU and Belmont, with the Hilltoppers leading the head-to-head 29-26. In their last matchup, WKU won by run-rule 11-1 in seven innings at Nick Denes Field. In Nashville, Belmont led the series 13-15, but this week’s game marks the first-ever neutral-site meeting between the two teams.
First pitch is set for 6 p.m. at First Horizon Park. Tickets are available on Ticketmaster.
