Western Kentucky found a formula for success this season, winning a program record 42 games and counting heading into Wednesday’s Conference USA Baseball Tournament.

WKU coach Marc Rardin isn’t about to start tinkering with what has made his team so strong, postseason or not.

“You try to do what you’ve done for 42 wins,” Rardin said. “You can’t get all intense on them, you can’t be lackadaisical. It’s such a repetitious sport. It’s day-to-day, every day. That’s really just what you try to do is make sure if anything, psychologically, you’re trying to keep them from now all of sudden making it something bigger than it is and they can’t do that.”

The Hilltoppers enter Wednesday’s 11:30 a.m. CT matchup against New Mexico State (23-31) as the No. 2 seed in the CUSA Tournament. The double-elimination tournament will be held at Liberty’s Worthington Field in Lynchburg, Virginia. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.

WKU (42-12) has the confidence of having swept the No. 7 seed Aggies in a three-game series earlier this month in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The Tops outscored New Mexico State 41-11 in those three games. WKU rates as CUSA’s top hitting team with a cumulative .316 batting average and boasts the league’s best earned run average (3.28) as well.

Junior outfielder Ryan Wideman leads CUSA in batting average (.408), hits (89), triples (six) and stolen bases (42), while ranking in the top five in on-base percentage (third, .476), on base+slugging percentage (fourth, 1.141), runs scored (third, 66), RBIs (tied for third, 64) and doubles (tied for second, 20).

Wideman, a 6-foot-5 native of Marietta, Georgia, has been a catalyst this season after transferring from Georgia Highlands College. But the Tops have put together a deep and productive lineup around him.

Redshirt junior infielder Carlos Vasquez ranks second in CUSA in batting average (.377) and hits (78) and is tied for second in doubles (tied for ninth in runs scored (50).

Senior outfielder Ethan Lizama as been the Tops’ most dangerous power hitter with 12 home runs (eighth in CUSA) and tied for second in triples (four), sixth in sacrifice bunts (seven), seventh in slugging percentage (.619) and RBIs (53), ninth in on base+slugging percentage (1.021) and tied for ninth in runs scored (50) and doubles (15).

Senior first baseman Kyle Hayes is tied for fourth in batting average (.367), giving the Hilltoppers three of the top five hitters in CUSA. Hayes is third in slugging percentage (.694), fourth in on-base percentage (.475), third in on base+slugging percentage (1.169), tied for seventh in triples (three), and tied for ninth in RBIs (50) and doubles (15).

Junior catcher Kyle Hvidsten, who has been on a tear with four home runs in his last five games, leads CUSA in on-base percentage (.519), ranks fifth in sacrifice flies (five) and is seventh in on base+slugging percentage (1.049).

The Tops had to scramble in the season-ending series against Louisiana Tech when starting pitcher Jack Bennett pulled a hamstring just in the final stages of warming up for the game. Rardin wasn’t sure of Bennett’s availability for the CUSA Tournament. The junior right-hander from Paducah has been one of WKU’s top pitchers this season, posting a league-best 2.67 ERA and a 6-1 record over 57 1/3 innings.

Sophomore righty Drew Whalen has been the Tops’ most durable starter this season, ranking just behind Bennett among CUSA hurlers in ERA (2.84) and putting together a 9-2 record over a team-high 69 2/3 innings. Whalen tops the league in wins and batters struck out looking (24).

The Tops have also put together solid work out of the bullpen, with left-handed senior Cal Higgins leading the team with six saves.

Recent NCAA Tournament projections have the Hilltoppers around the cut line for making the field as an at-large team. Should WKU win the CUSA Tournament, it would earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.