The Western Kentucky baseball team returned to Bowling Green on Monday 24 hours after its final play in the Keith LeClair Classic at East Carolina.

The Hilltoppers (7-4) started on the 650-mile trip from Greenville, N.C., back to WKU on Sunday morning, then were forced to spend the night in Cookeville, Tenn., because of inclement weather. They eventually arrived back on campus at noon Monday.

The team is coming off a 2-2 week after beating Pittsburgh 3-2 on Sunday in 11 innings. Ty Downing, a former Greenwood High standout, provided the heroics in that win with a walk-off single.

That also gave the Tops their second one-run victory of the week after having defeated Vanderbilt 3-2 last week in Nashville. The team’s two losses, to East Carolina (2-1) on Friday and Ohio State (5-4) on Saturday, also were by a single run. WKU has lost four games this season by a total of six runs.

The Hilltoppers were originally scheduled to play Lipscomb today back at Nick Denes Field, but that game has been postponed until 4 p.m. Wednesday because of the weather. The Bison (4-8) are coming off a three-game series win of Connecticut and have won three in a row against WKU in the overall series.

Sophomore Josh Bartley (1-1, 4.91) will start Wednesday for WKU. A win Wednesday would give the Tops their best start since 2010 when they also were 8-4.

This weekend, Illinois comes to WKU for a three-game series starting with a 3 p.m. game Friday. The Fighting Illini (6-4) have won four straight, taking two from Florida and two from Florida Gulf Coast in Gainesville, Fla., last weekend.

The Hilltoppers took two of three from Illinois in 2011.

As a team, WKU ranks first among 10 Sun Belt teams in saves (five), second in ERA (2.53), third in slugging percentage (.404), fourth in batting average (.277). Senior second baseman Scott Wilcox ranks fifth in batting average (.366) and sophomore shortstop Cody Wofford is second with 12 runs scored. Sophomore Ian Tompkins is tied for the league lead with four saves.

According to WarrenNolan.com, WKU’s RPI begins at 72 this week while Lipscomb ranks 223rd and Illinois is 55th. The Sun Belt is the sixth-best conference overall.

— Follow Western Kentucky University baseball beat reporter Chad Bishop on Twitter at twitter.com/MrChadBishop or visit bgdailynews.com.