Tops fall to Jax State in regular-season finale

Published 10:58 am Sunday, May 18, 2025

1/18

Western Kentucky senior second baseman Austin Haller (2) crosses first base safely as Jacksonville State junior first baseman Brady Thomas (7) reaches for the ball in the Hilltoppers’ 9-6 loss to the Gamecocks at Nick Denes Field on Saturday, May 17, 2025. WKU will travel to Lynchburg, Va., next week to play in the C-USA Tournament. GRACE MCDOWELL / BOWLING GREEN DAILY NEWS

Western Kentucky has been nearly unbeatable at Nick Denes Field this season.

The Hilltoppers entered Saturday’s regular-season finale against Conference USA rival Jacksonville State sporting a stellar 30-2 record – the most home wins in program history – at Nick Denes Field. That’s close to perfect, but the Gamecocks evidently weren’t impressed as they spoiled the Tops’ Senior Day by claiming a 9-6 win to deal WKU its first home series loss of the season.

After losing two of the final three at home, the Tops wrapped up the regular season with a school-record 42 wins. WKU (42-12 overall, 18-9 CUSA) enters next week’s CUSA Tournament as the No. 2 seed and will face No. 7 New Mexico State on Wednesday at Worthington Field in Lynchburg, Virginia. Game time is 11:30 a.m. CT with ESPN+ offering the livestream.

“We’re 30 games above .500 in the regular season,” Hilltoppers coach Marc Rardin said. “That’s pretty good. That’s what I just told our guys. We didn’t go undefeated in the regular season and we were fighting this weekend. With the tournament starting Wednesday you’ve got to keep guys limited. (Jack) Bennett got hurt, so we were always chasing those 12 outs that he would have got. That’s 12 innings that we’re just trying to make up the rest of the weekend while we’re also trying to get ready for Wednesday. So it’s a fine line of just trying to battle a good team and battle yourself.”

Bennett, scheduled to start the series opener on Thursday, pulled a hamstring just a few pitches before completing his warmup. That forced the Tops to start Patrick Morris on Thursday and required extra work from the bullpen. Morris got the start again Saturday, with the senior left-hander scheduled to again provide just a couple innings.

Jax State (33-23, 14-12 CUSA) jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead when Drew Collins led off the game with a solo home run.

WKU freshman shortstop Reid Howard tied the game in the bottom of the second with a solo home run of his own, but the Gamecocks pushed back out front in the top of the third on Carson Hornung’s RBI single.

Hilltoppers senior right fielder Ethan Lizama answered with a soaring two-run home run to left-center field in the bottom of the inning. The homer boosted Lizama’s team-leading total to 12 and pushed the Tops out front again 3-2.

The Gamecocks rallied for five runs in the top of the fifth. Cooper Blauser stroked a two-run single, then Ace Williamson delivered a bases-clearing double for three RBIs to push the lead to 7-3.

“I thought we hit some of ours hard to right-center and it wasn’t going to carry there,” Rardin said. “The balls were carrying more to the left. We were kind of unfortunate where we hit some of them. Hvidsten just hit one off the end of the barrel where we tagged up at second and third, but he just missed being able to hit that thing out. But that’s what this game is sometimes, a game of inches.”

Hvidsten, who sang “The Star Spangled Banner” before the game, continued his torrid stretch with a homer – his fourth in five games – and three RBIs. Howard had a four-hit day with a home run, Carlos Vasquez and Austin Haller each tallied three hits and Kyle Hayes went 2-for-5. The Tops outhit the Gamecocks 15-8.

Trevor Caldwell picked up the win in relief for Jax State, with WKU reliever Lucas Litteral taking the loss.