Bat 'Cats Travel to Western Kentucky for Midweek Action

After having their 17-game winning streak snapped on Sunday, the Bat Cats will look to start a new streak on Tuesday.

Kentucky baseball travels to Bowling Green for a midweek matchup with Western Kentucky on Tuesday night before a weekend series with SEC-foe Missouri. Although the ‘Cats dropped Sunday’s game in controversial fashion, they still won last weekend’s Alabama series in Tuscaloosa. Kentucky is now 21-3 and ranked No. 18 in the country by D1Baseball and Baseball America. The ‘cats are also all the way up to No. 1 in College Baseball RPI.

Om Tuesday, Kentucky will be looking for payback in this one, as the Hilltoppers toppled the ‘Cats 7-5 last season at Kentucky Proud Park. It was the program’s first win over Kentucky since 2016.

WKU enters the in-state matchup at 16-9 after losing two of three to Louisiana Tech last weekend. This game will be a small ball battle. The Hilltoppers’ offense currently leads all of Conference USA in sacrifice bunts (25), 11 more than second-place UAB (14). Both WKU and UK are top five in the country in sac-bunts, with UK in third (26) and WKU (25) in fourth.

WKU and Kentucky have met 68 times in program history, with the Wildcats owning a 39-29 all-time series edge.

Western Kentucky Impact Players

Eight WKU players are hitting .300 or better, with graduate student Drew Reckart leading the way. Reckart is hitting .376 with 32 hits in 85 at-bats this season. Reckart leads the Toppers in doubles (12) and RBI (22) and is the force of their lineup. Redshirt junior Drew Crittenberger is WKU’s most reliable offensive player, as he leads the Toppers in hits (39) and total bases (62). Freshman Lukas Farris has been very impressive in his first year of college baseball, leading the ‘Tops in home runs hit this season (five). The Toppers rank top 30 in the nation in batting average, while three of the top 10 C-USA hitters hail from WKU.

WKU boasts a 4.65 team ERA with 220 strikeouts in 217.0 innings of action. The Toppers lead C-USA in saves (eight) and rank third in opponent batting average (.249) and home runs surrendered (18). Safe to say they’ve been reliable this season. Senior Devyn Terbrak has been their strongest arm, compiling a 1.95 ERA with a 35:27 K-BB ratio in 37 innings pitched this season. Tuesday’s matchup with the ‘Cats, however, may be a bullpen game for the ‘Tops, as they pitched seven different pitchers in last Tuesday’s game against Louisville.

Western Kentucky has made the NCAA Tournament on four separate occasions, with its last appearance coming in 2009. They have yet to win a C-USA Championship.

Kentucky Impact Players

The Bat ‘Cats just keep on mashing. The Wildcats are scoring 8.6 runs per game with an overall .307 batting average. Hunter Gilliam, who has emerged as one of the most surprising players in all of the SEC, is riding a 17-game hitting streak and looks to continue that on Tuesday. Gilly leads the ‘Cats in hits (36), home runs (five), and RBI (35). It seems as if Kentucky had a new hero every single game in their winning streak, as unlikely heroes such as Nolan McCarthy and Grant Smith would step up to will Kentucky to a win. The ‘Cats will need these types of performances for the rest of the season if they want to hit that all-encompassing 15 SEC win goal that will almost certainly guarantee a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

Redshirt freshman Travis Smith will be making his weekly start for the Wildcats on Tuesday afternoon. Smith continues to impress as he boasts a 3.57 ERA with a 19:10 K-BB ratio in 17.2 innings pitched this season. He also continues to claw his way back to 100% from Tommy John Surgery. “I have to remind myself sometimes that he’s a freshman coming off a major injury. We have high expectations for him and I think he can handle them,” Coach Mingione told KSR after last Tuesday’s win over EKU.

First pitch between the ‘Cats and Hilltoppers will be at 6:30 p.m. EST Tuesday night at Nick Denes Field in Bowling Green.