After coming back from two 3-0 deficits Friday, Western Kentucky led wire-to-wire to clinch a three-game series sweep.

The Hilltoppers took a 2-0 lead in the first inning Sunday and went on to beat Rice 6-4 at Nick Denes Field, clinching the school’s first-ever series sweep of the Owls.

WKU (23-22-1 overall, 14-9-1 Conference USA) has won four straight conference games. The team is on solid ground in its effort to finish in the top eight of the league standings and qualify for the C-USA Tournament for the first time.

Coach John Pawlowski’s squad sits third in the C-USA standings with six regular-season league games to play. The Toppers trail only Southern Mississippi (31-15, 18-6) and Florida Atlantic (32-15, 17-7).

“Being in the conference tournament, that’s what we want to get to,” said pitcher Bailey Sutton, who worked a perfect ninth inning Sunday to earn his second save. “Being the third team in conference now, it’s good going in. It gives us a little cushion.”

The weekend’s series started with a Friday doubleheader. WKU overcame three-run deficits in both games that day to claim victories of 6-3 and 9-5.

On Sunday, the Hilltoppers jumped out in front early. Right fielder Jake Sanford doubled home Ray Zuberer III with one out in the first inning, and Jackson Swiney singled Sanford home two batters later to make it 2-0 WKU.

Andrew Dunlap’s second-inning homer off Tops starter Joe Filosa brought Rice (21-27, 12-12) back within a run. Catcher Collin Hopkins put WKU back up by two in the bottom of the inning with an RBI single to score Nick Brunson.

A Matt Phipps third-inning RBI groundout made it 4-1 Hilltoppers, and Sanford’s RBI single in the fifth grew the margin to 5-1.

Filosa worked 4 2/3 innings, giving up only one run. He struck out three while allowing four hits and two walks.

WKU entered the weekend with a 6.20 team ERA in Conference USA play. Three quality games on the mound against the Owls lowered that number to 5.83.

“With our hitters doing what they’re doing, a lot of guys are going up there and putting up good at-bats,” the redshirt sophomore Sutton said. “If the pitchers can step it up a little bit and do what we’ve got to do and put zeros on the board, it’ll be good for us.”

Rice struck for two runs in the sixth inning off reliever Dalton Shoemake. Zuberer tallied his fourth homer of the year one inning later, going deep off Garrett Gayle to put WKU up 6-3.

The Owls got another run in the eighth inning against Topper reliever Collin Lollar, but he and Sutton shut the door from there and helped WKU to its 14th conference win.

Pawlowski said the Hilltoppers’ sweep this weekend was especially meaningful since it overlapped with WKU’s All-Century Team celebrations. Those program greats were honored on the field both Friday and Sunday and at a brunch Saturday.

“I thought our team responded very well,” Pawlowski said. “They played extremely well. We played good defense, we pitched, got timely hitting.

“What a tremendous weekend for the Tops.”

Up next

With WKU’s finals week starting Monday, the Hilltoppers won’t play any midweek contests over the next few days.

WKU returns to action at 6 p.m. Friday to begin a three-game series at fourth-place Louisiana Tech (29-19, 13-11). Those contests will take place at Louisiana-Monroe because an April storm heavily damaged the Bulldogs’ own home field.

Notes

Pawlowski is 84-122-1 in his fourth year at WKU and 589-440-2 overall in his coaching career. … The Hilltoppers are 7-16 all-time against Rice but have won five games in a row against the Owls. … WKU’s 14 conference wins are its most as a C-USA member and most since the 2014 squad went 15-15 in Sun Belt Conference play under then-coach Matt Myers. … Announced attendance at Nick Denes Field was 358.

Rice (21-27, 12-12) – 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 – 4 9 0

Western Kentucky (23-22-1, 14-9-1) – 2 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 x – 6 9 0

WP: Lollar (5-2) LP: Parthasarthy (3-7) S: Sutton (2){&end}