Western Kentucky’s baseball team has plenty of momentum heading into coach Marc Rardin’s third season leading the program.

The Hilltoppers, who finished 36-22 overall and 15-9 in Conference USA play last season, have been picked third in the CUSA preseason coaches’ poll.  That’s up two spots from last year when the Tops were picked fifth in the preseason poll. In Rardin’s first season, WKU was picked last in that same poll — that season, as with the next, Rardin’s teams outperformed those predictions.

There is still room to go up in the ultra-competitive CUSA, but the Hilltoppers may be closer than ever to reaching the top.

“Just with who we’ve brought in roster-wise, when you look where we were our first year to where we’re at our third year, we’re feeling good about it,” Rardin said. “We’re excited about it. I think that our athleticism continues to get better. Our offensive threat continues to get better, being able to do various things offensively.

“Pitching-wise, experience that we’re getting and some depth that we’re getting I just think puts us in a good spot that way.”

The Tops’ season will get off a slightly quicker start than planned with a weather-related change to this weekend’s opening series against Illinois State at Nick Denes Field. WKU will now open its season with a noon matchup Friday against the Redbirds, the first of two nine-inning games set for that day in an effort to avoid inclement weather predicted for the weekend. WKU will then host single games against Illinois State on both Saturday and Sunday, both with noon start times.

Unlike last season’s opener when the Tops saw significant roster turnovers after Rardin’s first year leading the program, this season’s team features more than half a roster worth of returnees — not to mention the entire coaching staff — and Rardin thinks that continuity has been a real benefit for the program.

“It always helps when you win 36 and everybody that has returned would probably saw we should have won at least 40, but we win 36,” Rardin said. “We’re doing things a certain way. They’re seeing the positivity out of it, not just with wins or a team but them as individuals.”

WKU junior right-handed pitcher Jack Bennett said the program has changed a lot since he came to campus in two years ago.

“I think compared to my first year here in 2023, it’s a huge difference,” Bennett said. “Just the type of people that we’ve had here, I think they’re a lot better on the field. We’re way more athletic. I think that was probably the biggest upgrade that I’ve seen so far is athleticism.”

The Hilltoppers had two picks for the All-CUSA preseason team — Bowling Green native Dawson Hall, a junior right-handed pitcher, and outfielder Ethan Lizama were honored after both posted standout seasons last year.

Hall was named All-CUSA Second Team for the second consecutive season after appearing in 10 games with seven starts on the mound for WKU last season. The right-hander’s 1.69 ERA was the sixth-best in WKU history and the best the program has had since the 1981 season (minimum 30 innings pitched). He posted a 3-0 record with 25 strikeouts in 32 innings while holding opponents to a .217 batting average.

Lizama, a senior from Guam, made the CUSA all-tournament team after a stellar performance in the CUSA Championships at the end of the 2024 season. The lefty-swinging Lizama went 6-for-11 (.545) at the plate with three home runs and five RBIs, including a two-homer game against eventual CUSA Champion Dallas Baptist in an elimination game on May 25. Overall, he led WKU with 64 hits and nine home runs last year, while his .309 batting average, 42 RBIs, 39 runs scored and 16 doubles in 2024 are the best of any returner on the 2025 roster.

“It’s really nice to be recognized like that,” Lizama said. “Preseason just means they saw I had a good year last year. I’m just hoping to carry it on to this year and help my team with whatever I can do.”

WKU will have to deal with some added adversity this season. With the ongoing construction of the school’s new $45 million Hilltopper Fieldhouse, the baseball program — whose future home will be in the new facility — have been left without a permanent headquarters this year as the old baseball fieldhouse and hitting facility had to be demolished to make way for the new Fieldhouse.

That has left the Tops operating out of E.A. Diddle Arena this season and using hitting cages at both Bowling Green Ballpark and the WKU Softball Complex. Rardin admits it has been “challenging” for the team.

“It is what it is,” Rardin said. “We’re not going to used it as any excuse and I think we’ve still gotten better. That’s a tribute to my coaching staff and the players that we’ve got on this roster right now.”