Tops rally to down Kentucky for first time since 2022
Published 1:37 pm Wednesday, April 30, 2025
Western Kentucky freshman short stop Reid Howard (3) celebrates hitting a double to send senior second baseman Austin Haller (2) home for a run in the Hilltoppers’ 6-4 the Wildcats at Nick Denes Field on Tuesday, April 29, 2025. GRACE MCDOWELL / DAILY NEWS
Western Kentucky senior pitcher Treyson Peters (19) pitches to University of Kentucky senior left fielder Cole Hage (12) in the Hilltoppers’ 6-4 the Wildcats at Nick Denes Field on Tuesday, April 29, 2025. GRACE MCDOWELL / DAILY NEWS
Western Kentucky freshman short stop Reid Howard (3) catches the ball to get University of Kentucky junior first baseman James McCoy (13) out on first in the Hilltoppers’ 6-4 the Wildcats at Nick Denes Field on Tuesday, April 29, 2025. GRACE MCDOWELL / DAILY NEWS
Western Kentucky freshman short stop Reid Howard (3) catches the ball to get University of Kentucky junior first baseman James McCoy (13) out on first in the Hilltoppers’ 6-4 the Wildcats at Nick Denes Field on Tuesday, April 29, 2025. GRACE MCDOWELL / DAILY NEWS
Western Kentucky junior catcher Camden Ross (8) bats in the Hilltoppers’ 6-4 the Wildcats at Nick Denes Field on Tuesday, April 29, 2025. GRACE MCDOWELL / DAILY NEWS
Western Kentucky junior catcher Camden Ross (8) sprints to first in the Hilltoppers’ 6-4 the Wildcats at Nick Denes Field on Tuesday, April 29, 2025. GRACE MCDOWELL / DAILY NEWS
Western Kentucky junior left fielder Joe Siervo (32) bats in the Hilltoppers’ 6-4 the Wildcats at Nick Denes Field on Tuesday, April 29, 2025. GRACE MCDOWELL / DAILY NEWS
University of Kentucky junior first baseman James McCoy (13) reaches for the ball as Western Kentucky senior second baseman Austin Haller (2) returns safely to first in the Hilltoppers’ 6-4 the Wildcats at Nick Denes Field on Tuesday, April 29, 2025. GRACE MCDOWELL / DAILY NEWS
Western Kentucky junior designated hitter Drew Barragan (21) bats in the Hilltoppers’ 6-4 the Wildcats at Nick Denes Field on Tuesday, April 29, 2025. GRACE MCDOWELL / DAILY NEWS
Western Kentucky junior designated hitter Drew Barragan (21) sprints to first in the Hilltoppers’ 6-4 the Wildcats at Nick Denes Field on Tuesday, April 29, 2025. GRACE MCDOWELL / DAILY NEWS
Western Kentucky sophomore pitcher Zach Lyles (27) pitches to University of Kentucky freshman designated hitter Hudson Brown (23) in the Hilltoppers’ 6-4 the Wildcats at Nick Denes Field on Tuesday, April 29, 2025. GRACE MCDOWELL / DAILY NEWS
Western Kentucky junior left fielder Joe Siervo (32) throws the ball infield after catching a fly ball hit by University of Kentucky freshman designated hitter Hudson Brown (23) in the Hilltoppers’ 6-4 the Wildcats at Nick Denes Field on Tuesday, April 29, 2025. GRACE MCDOWELL / DAILY NEWS
Western Kentucky senior first baseman Kyle Hayes (30) bats in the Hilltoppers’ 6-4 the Wildcats at Nick Denes Field on Tuesday, April 29, 2025. GRACE MCDOWELL / DAILY NEWS
Western Kentucky freshman short stop Reid Howard (3) rounds third base in the Hilltoppers’ 6-4 the Wildcats at Nick Denes Field on Tuesday, April 29, 2025. GRACE MCDOWELL / DAILY NEWS
The WKU baseball team weathered the storm bouncing back from a weekend sweep at FIU to defeat Kentucky 6-4 on Tuesday at Nick Denes Field.
WKU (35-10) overcame an early deficit and a more than two hour weather delay to earn its first win over Kentucky since 2022 and snap a season high three game losing streak.
“I think it’s a big win after the weekend (we just had),” WKU coach Marc Rardin said. “We just needed to be on the board. Just get back to being ourselves. 14 hits, put some runs up on the board, played good defense, pitched well. We’re just kind of back to being in our own skin. Yeah, it was against Kentucky and that’s great, too, but just being ourselves. I just thought that was the best thing for us.”
The win continued WKU’s dominance at home with the Hilltoppers improving to 26-1.
“That’s just crazy,” Rardin said. “We are just a different team at home. We play different a lot of times at home. I think this is one of those games where it was a little different that we didn’t do it with a couple of home runs. It was more some singles and doubles. I put down a few bunts and we did some different things that way, but we just put some hits together more than anything and stuck with it that way.”
Kentucky (25-17) had momentum early with Tyler Bell delivering a single on the first pitch and eventually scoring on a bunt. Ryan Schwartz extended the lead to 2-0 with an RBI single in the fourth and Tyler McCoy connected for his first home run of the season to push the WKU deficit to 3-0 in the fifth.
The Hilltoppers came to life in the bottom of the inning with a four run rally started by the bottom of the order. Austin Haller started the rally with a one out single and nine hitter Reid Howard followed with an RBI double off the wall in left to get WKU on the board.
WKU loaded the bases for Ryan Wideman, who tied the game with a two-run single. Ethan Lizama made it seven straight batters to reach base when his RBI single gave the Hilltoppers a 4-3 lead.
“It’s definitely big, just getting on base so (Carlos Vasquez) and (Lizama) can drive us in,” Howard said. “It’s what we need to do for the top of the lineup. It is definitely going to help us win games.”
WKU added two more in the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Howard and an RBI double to extend the lead to 6-3 and were threatening in the seventh when lightning delayed the game.
After the delay WKU was unable to score again, but reliever Patrick Morris – who tossed a scoreless seventh before the delay – came out and retired the Wildcats in order in the eighth.
Morris got two outs in the ninth, but Kentucky got a two-out single from Bell. WKU brought in Lucas Hartman, who only needed two pitches to get a pop out to preserve the win and record his third save of the season.
“(Morris) told us from the beginning right when it happened, ‘I’ll be good,’ ” Rardin said. “As we went through it he stayed loose and he was good to go. His velo stayed the same. He was fine with it. He could have thrown the last guy too, but we just wanted to switch up the look and obviously Hartman is good as well.”
Treyson Peters earned the win with 1⅓ innings of scoreless relief to improve to 3-0 on the season.
Vasquez paced a 14-hit attack with three hits. Lizama, Haller and Howard added two hits each.
“I definitely think it is really good for us coming off of a not so great weekend,” Lizama said. “This is just going to keep pushing us in the correct direction and give us some momentum for this conference weekend.”
WKU returns to Conference USA play on Friday, opening a three game series with Louisiana Tech at 6 p.m. at Nick Denes Field.
