Western Kentucky’s baseball team beat UNC Asheville 8-2 and 17-5 to sweep the doubleheader on Saturday at Nick Denes Field.

The wins move the Hilltoppers to 14-1, marking just the second time in program history WKU has won 14 of its first 15 games – 1928 and 2025. The 1928 Hilltopper baseball team finished the season with a 15-1 record.

“It’s hard to win doubleheaders at the Division I level,” WKU coach Marc Rardin said in a news release. “It’s just long days. To put ourselves in the hole in that second game starting off in that first inning. All I told our guys is that if it’s going to happen to us like it did, at least it happened in the first inning.

“All I said in the first inning and the second inning is, ‘We’ve got three hours.’ We panicked. We started taking bad swings. … They did a good job after that at catching their second wind and we started grinding it out after that.”

Joe Siervo continued his hot hitting as he walked off the Bulldogs with a three-run home run to clinch the run-rule win, doubleheader sweep and series win for the Tops.

UNC Asheville struck first in the opener with an RBI double to take a 1-0 lead in the first inning.

WKU responded in the bottom of the frame with an RBI double from Thomas Marsala to even the score at 1-1.

In the second inning, Carlos Vasquez blasted a two-run homer to the opposite field to put the Hilltoppers in front, 3-1.

Austin Haller and Reid Howard drove in a run each in back-to-back at-bats in the third frame to extend the WKU lead to four.

The Bulldogs cut their deficit to three with an RBI double in the top of the sixth.

Three insurance runs came across for the Tops in the sixth. Camden Ross walked with the bases loaded before Vasquez scored on a wild pitch. Henry Brown put the final run of the game on the board to make the final score 8-2.

In the nightcap, UNC Asheville scored four unearned runs in the top of the first with a pair of RBI singles and a groundout.

The Hilltoppers knotted it up with a four-run rally in the third frame. Ethan Lizama tripled down the right line to score a run before Ryan Wideman and Marsala had back-to-back RBI singles to make it a one-run game. The tying run came off the bat of Ross with an RBI double off the left-center wall.

WKU took the lead in the sixth as five runs came across to score. An RBI double from Vasquez put the Tops in front before Wideman made it a two-run game by driving in a run on a fielder’s choice. Following that, Marsala doubled the lead with a two-run single and Kyle Hayes capped the scoring in the inning with an RBI on a groundout.

UNC Asheville cut the deficit to 9-5 with an RBI single in the top of the seventh.

Eight runs scored for WKU in the seventh for the walk-off run-rule win. An error brought home a run on a sacrifice fly from Marsala before Ross walked with the bases loaded. Hayes and Howard brought in three runs with back-to-back singles to make it a nine-run game. Siervo walked it off with a three-run homer to reach the 10-run rule and make the final score 17-5.

The Hilltoppers improve to 6-2 all-time and 6-0 at home against UNC Asheville with the win. WKU is perfect at home this season. The Tops are 13-0 at Nick Denes Field. WKU has not lost a weekend game this year. The Hilltoppers are 12-0 in games played on Friday, Saturday or Sunday.

Drew Whalen made his fourth start of the season on the mound for WKU in the opener. The right-hander picked up his third win of the year after tossing 5 2/3 innings with seven strikeouts and two runs allowed on five hits and a walk.

Evan Jones and Cal Higgins saw action out of the bullpen in game one. Higgins recorded two strikeouts in 1 1/3 innings of work on his way to his second save of the season.

Jack Bennett earned the starting nod in game two of the doubleheader. The right-hander picked up his third win of the year after striking out four in six innings. The right-hander hasn’t allowed an earned run in three outings this season.

Dawson Hall was the only relief pitcher to see action out of the bullpen in game two. The Bowling Green native surrendered one run on one hit and one walk while collecting a couple of strikeouts.

On the offensive end, WKU scored 25 runs on 21 hits and 15 walks with 24 RBIs.

Marsala registered five RBIs in a 3-for-5 day with four runs and a double while Lizama went 3-for-6 with four runs, a triple, a double and an RBI.

Vasquez and Siervo each homered and recorded two hits apiece. Vasquez also scored four times with three RBIs and a double, while Siervo had four runs with three RBIs.

Ross had three RBIs with a double and a run scored in a 2-for-3 outing.

Hayes had three RBIs off the bench with a hit and a run scored. Wideman and Howard had two RBIs and two hits each, with Wideman adding four runs.

WKU and UNC Asheville conclude the four-game series Sunday afternoon. First pitch from Nick Denes Field is scheduled for 1 p.m.