Western Kentucky’s baseball team beat Central Michigan 8-4 to sweep the four-game series on Sunday at Nick Denes Field.

The win moves the Hilltoppers to 10-1, marking just the third time in program history WKU has won 10 of its first 11 games – 1924, 1928 and 2025.

“It’s really hard to win two out of three, much less when you go into a four-game series. Our pitching staff was really good,” WKU coach Marc Rardin said in a news release. “Our bullpen was tremendous. Everybody has to match everybody on the other team. Whether it’s the starting pitcher versus the other starting pitcher, the catcher versus the other catcher. You’re always trying to be better than the guy on the other team at every position.

“I just know we’ve done that a lot this weekend. More importantly than that, we got runs two at a time, three at a time.”

WKU starting pitcher Gavin Perry tossed four shutout innings in his second start of the season, while Henry Brown hit his first home run of the year to help the Tops achieve an 8-4 win and finish the series sweep.

WKU got on the board in the first inning with an RBI single from Thomas Marsala to take a 1-0 lead.

Marsala added his second RBI of the day with a sacrifice fly in the third inning. A Chippewa error tacked on another in the frame to give the Tops a 3-0 advantage.

A solo home run cut the Chippewa deficit to 3-1 in the top of the sixth.

Ethan Lizama got things going for the Tops in the bottom of the frame with an RBI single before Kyle Hvidsten walked with the bases loaded to make the score 5-1.

Brown’s solo home run extended the WKU lead to 6-1 in the seventh.

Central Michigan used two doubles to bring in three runs in the eighth and make it a two-run game, 6-4.

The Hilltoppers added two insurance runs in the bottom of the frame with a two-RBI single from Caleb Niehaus to make the final tally 8-4.

Perry only allowed two hits in his longest outing of the season.

Zach Lyles, Taylor Penn, Dominic Monaco and Evan Jones made appearances out of the bullpen for WKU.

Lyles picked up the win after collecting a trio of strikeouts in three innings – the longest outing of his career – while surrendering just one run on two hits and a walk.

The save went to Jones – his second of the season – as he struck out one batter in 1 1/3 shutout frames while not allowing a runner on base.

WKU totaled 11 hits with seven RBIs. Ryan Wideman, Brown and Howard each had two-hit efforts in the win.

Wideman was 2-for-4 with two runs and a double, while Brown was 2-for-5 with an RBI, a run and a home run.

Howard had a 2-for-5 day – the first multi-hit outing of his career – and a run scored.

Marsala and Niehaus had two RBIs apiece. Marsala was 1-for-3 with a run scored, while Niehaus went 1-for-5.

WKU improves to 8-9 all-time against Central Michigan with the sweep.

The Hilltoppers hit the road for the second time this season as they visit Tennessee Tech on Monday. First pitch from Bush Stadium in Cookeville, Tennessee, is scheduled for 1 p.m. CT.