Western Kentucky's Steven Kraft fields a ground ball Friday, April 13, 2018, during Western Kentucky's 6-5 loss to Marshall at Nick Denes Field. (Bac Totrong/photo@bgdailynews.com)

Western Kentucky was one hit, walk or error away from a victory April 29 against Louisiana Tech.

The Hilltoppers loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning of a 2-2 game. Colie Currie hit a ground ball that the Bulldogs used to retire Tyler Robertson and Ray Zuberer III, snuffing out the rally.

Two innings later, La Tech scored two runs and claimed both a 4-2 win and a 2-1 series victory.

Fast forward to May 19. WKU was up 5-3 at Florida Atlantic with two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning. Topper relief pitcher Michael Darrell-Hicks had a 2-2 count on Owls hitter Richie Nizza.

The infielder Nizza connected on the 2-2 pitch for a single up the middle. Eric Rivera scored on the hit, and Steven Revilla came around to tie the game 5-5 when WKU committed a fielding error on the play.

FAU scored the walk-off run an inning later and defeated the Hilltoppers 6-5 in 11. That loss turned out to be the final game of the season for WKU (21-31 overall, 11-18 Conference USA) and officially eliminated at the Tops from C-USA Tournament contention.

As athletic director Todd Stewart reflected last week on WKU’s 2018 baseball season, he brought up those two games as illustrations for the year.

“If we just win those two games, if we get the play against the La Tech and we close out the FAU game, we’re in the Conference USA Tournament and I think things look a lot differently,” Stewart told the Daily News.

The WKU baseball program has fallen on hard times since 2009, a year Stewart called “the high-water mark” for the team.

The Hilltoppers were one game away from a Super Regional that season. Mississippi ace – and current Boston Red Sox pitcher – Drew Pomeranz pitched the host Rebels to a 4-1 win over former coach Chris Finwood’s WKU squad, eliminating a Topper team that finished the year with a 42-20 record.

Stewart was then a member of WKU’s athletics media relations staff. He became AD in 2012.

“That was a great spot,” Stewart said of nearly making a 2009 Super Regional. “After that we went downhill and we’ve flatlined since then. We have not gotten back to that.”

The Hilltoppers haven’t been to an NCAA Regional since then, a drought of nine seasons. WKU has only won two conference tournament games during that period and hasn’t qualified for a C-USA Tournament during its four years in the league.

Finwood’s 2010 and ’11 Tops teams combined for a 68-47 record. He left after the 2011 season to lead Old Dominion’s program.

Matt Myers was promoted from Finwood’s staff and posted a 106-118 record over four seasons. He was fired after a 24-28 season in 2015 and now coaches at Bowling Green High School.

Myers’ replacement, John Pawlowski, is 61-100 in three seasons leading the Hilltoppers. That includes a 16-39 record in 2017 that ranked as the program’s fewest wins in a year since the 1976 WKU squad went 12-24.

Pawlowski’s Toppers have finished 10th, 12th and, this season, 10th in the C-USA standings during his three-year tenure. Only the top eight teams in the league make the conference’s annual tournament.

“The lack of postseason success is something we obviously have to change – really lack of postseason play, also,” Stewart said. “It’s just something we have to change.”

Pawlowski will return for a fourth year, Stewart said.

WKU’s 2018 team looked to be making positive progress for much of the year. The Hilltoppers took two of three from perennial power Rice in their second C-USA series of the year and were 10-9 after 19 league games, in position to qualify for the league tournament.

Then came a late-season collapse that saw WKU lose nine of its final 10 conference games and fall out of contention for a tourney berth.

The Tops finished the year ranked 10th of 12 C-USA teams in runs scored during league games (137) and eighth in runs allowed during league play (178).

Early-season injuries to infielder Sam McElreath and outfielder Dillon Nelson affected WKU’s lineup depth.

Freshman outfielder Luke Brown led C-USA hitters in league play with a .415 average, while Steven Kraft hit at a .409 clip in such games. But Zuberer III (.316) was WKU’s only other player to hit above .280 in conference play.

WKU’s bullpen was led by senior and Bowling Green native Ben Morrison (1.29 ERA in 11 C-USA games). Austin Tibbs (1.86), Darrell-Hicks (2.16) and Conner Boyd (2.63) were also strong in league play as relief pitchers.

Meanwhile no Hilltopper hurler who made multiple starts in C-USA play had an ERA better than Evan Acosta’s mark of 5.16. WKU’s 5.35 team ERA in league games ranked ninth in the conference.

Despite some of the Toppers’ issues, they had their chances to win more games.

WKU dropped five conference contests either by one run or in extra innings. In nonconference play, the Hilltoppers fell by one run in games at No. 7 Kentucky, at No. 15 Vanderbilt and at Louisville.

Stewart said he sees those close losses as signs the program is closer to getting over the hump. Compare WKU’s 2018 run differential (259-299, -40) to that same category in 2017 (255-413, -158).

The Bowling Green native Brown will be back as a sophomore, while the Owensboro native Zuberer III will return as a junior. Those two hitters form a solid foundation for the 2019 Hilltopper lineup.

“There’s an old saying that sometimes things look the darkest before dawn,” Stewart said. “We’re not where we want to be and not where we need to be. But I do think we’re closer than it might appear.”{&end}