Western Kentucky freshman Trevor Drew led the Hilltoppers to a seventh-place finish after Tuesday's final round of the Mesquite Desert Classic in Mesquite, Nevada. (WKU ATHLETICS)

Led by newcomers Trevor Drew and Rafe Blankenship, Western Kentucky’s men’s golf opened its spring season with a seventh-place finish at the Mesquite Desert Classic on Tuesday in Mesquite, Nevada.

Freshman Trevor Drew finished fourth – his best career finish by 71 spots – with a 7-under par 209. Sophomore transfer Rafe Blankenship posted his first top-10 finish as a Hilltopper, firing a 2-under 70 on Tuesday to finish the tournament with a 3-under 213. Nic Hofman (tied for 23rd) and Stephen Warren (tied for 25th) rounded out four Hilltoppers in the top 25 at the event.

“Having two underclassmen lead the way to open our spring schedule was an encouraging step forward for both Trevor and Rafe,” WKU coach Austin King said in a news release. “They’ve both been working extremely hard and I’m happy to see them put it together this week. As a team, we are close to putting it all together at the same time and I’m excited for the guys to continue working hard to do that as we go throughout the spring.”

Drew and Hofman were the two best players in the field on par 3s this week. Drew was 4-under and Hofman 3-under. Stephen Warren also played those holes at 1-under, good for fifth-best in the field.

Drew’s 18 birdies were second-most in the field.

Hayden Warren (34), Rafe Blankenship (34) and Gage Doyle (33) were all top 10 in the field for pars.

WKU was best in the 12-team field on par 3s at 2-under for the week and was 7-under on the par 5s Tuesday, its best round of the tournament on such holes. The Tops had 160 pars on the week, second-most in the field.

The Hilltoppers are back in action on March 10-11 for the Seminole Intercollegiate in Thomasville, Georgia.

TEAM LEADERBOARD (12 teams)

1. Utah Valley | 284-277-282—843 (-21)

2. Eastern Kentucky | 283-273-290—846 (-18)

3. Cal Poly | 291-275-281—847 (-17)

4. Utah Tech | 284-281-289—854 (-10)

5. Seattle | 278-291-290—859 (-5)

7. Western Kentucky | 290-285-296—871 (+7)

INDIVIDUAL LEADERBOARD (64 individuals)

1. Dane Huddleston (Utah Valley) | 65-70-67—202

4. Trevor Drew (ind.) | 67-70-72—209 (-7)

T10. Rafe Blankenship | 75-68-70—213 (-3)

T23. Nic Hofman | 71-73-73—217 (+1)

T25. Stephen Warren | 70-72-76—218 (+2)

T48. Gage Doyle | 75-72-77—224 (+8)

T50. Hayden Warren | 74-75-76—225 (+9)