Western Kentucky's baseball team awaits the start of Friday's game against Georgia Tech in the NCAA Oxford Regional tournament Friday in Oxford, Mississippi. WKU lost 9-2. (SAVANNAH PHILPOT / WKU Athletics)

Western Kentucky’s baseball team dropped its NCAA Oxford Regional opener to No. 18 Georgia Tech 9-2 on Friday evening at Swayze Field at Oxford-University Stadium in Oxford, Mississippi.

WKU, the No. 3 seed in the regional, drops to 4-1 in postseason play and 46-13 overall. The Hilltoppers still sit one win shy of tying of the program-best 47-win 1980 squad. WKU falls to 1-6 all-time against No. 2 seed Georgia Tech. The Hilltoppers drop to 6-9 all-time in the NCAA Regionals.

“You always want to come into this venue – a regional – and put your best foot forward in the way of performance, and for us today I don’t feel that,” WKU coach Marc Rardin said in a news release. “I feel for our guys because they know and I’m disappointed and our guys are disappointed. We have better in us and obviously as a coach we need to get over it quick.”

Georgia Tech took a 3-0 lead with a three-run homer in the first inning.

The Yellow Jackets tacked on another with a sacrifice fly in the second.

A sacrifice bunt added another run to grow Georgia Tech’s lead to 5-0.

WKU got on the board in the seventh with an RBI single from Reid Howard.

A Hilltopper error allowed a run to come around and score to extend the Jacket’s lead to 6-1.

Kyle Hayes drove in another run for WKU with a sacrifice fly in the top of the eighth, cutting the Tops’ deficit to 6-2.

Another Georgia Tech three-run homer in the eighth made the final score 9-2.

Drew Whalen got the starting nod on the mound for the Hilltoppers. The right-hander struck out two in five innings of work, allowing five runs on seven hits and two walks.

Taylor Penn, Treyson Peters and Zach Lyles saw action out of the bullpen. Penn tossed a scoreless frame, surrendering just one hit and a walk while collecting one strikeout. Lyles inherited a couple of runners in the seventh and retired three in a row with two strikeouts to escape the inning unscathed.

The Tops scored two runs on nine hits and two walks with two RBIs.

Howard finished the day 2-for-4 with an RBI, while Hayes posted the other RBI in a 0-for-2 outing with a walk.

Ethan Lizama and Camden Ross each produced multi-hit performances, going 2-for-4. Ross had the only extra-base hit with a double in the second inning.

WKU plays No. 1 seed Ole Miss (40-20) in an elimination game Saturday at Swayze Field at Oxford-University Stadium. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. CT.