Tops clinch spot in CUSA Championships with series win over MTSU
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – WKU Baseball defeated Middle Tennessee 7-4 on Sunday at Reese Smith Jr. Field. The Hilltoppers improve to 31-14 (13-5 CUSA) while the Blue Raiders drop to 14-29 (5-13 CUSA). With the victory, WKU is the first of eight teams to clinch a spot in the 2024 Conference USA Championships.
This marks the second time in two seasons under head coach Marc Rardin that the Hilltoppers have won five consecutive conference series, something that had not been done since 2009 prior to 2023.
It was a well-balanced performance from WKU as eight different batters had at least one hit with five having at least one RBI. The pitching staff kept the MTSU offense under control, only allowing four runs off four solo homers.
At the dish, junior Caleb Marmo had two RBI with a home run while sophomore Dylan O’Connell also drove in two of his own. Junior Ryan Fowler, junior Eli Burwash, and sophomore Camden Ross each had an RBI while juniors Austin Haller and Blake Cavill tallied multi-hit efforts with two a piece.
On the mound, sophomore Lucas Litteral earned the win in relief as he struck out three in 2.0 innings of work while conceding just one run. Graduate Student Coby Moe was perfect in 1.2 frames, fanning two Blue Raiders on his way to claiming a hold.
MTSU struck first with a solo home run in the first inning, but Marmo put the Tops in front with a two-run shot to right field in the second frame.
The second home run of the day for the Blue Raiders knotted the score at 2-2 in the third, but back-to-back singles from Fowler and O’Connell drove in three runs and gave WKU the lead 5-2 in the fourth.
Two more solo long balls for Middle Tennessee in the fifth and sixth innings cut the Tops lead to 5-4, but a sacrifice fly from Ross in the seventh and a pinch-hit, sacrifice bunt from Burwash in the eighth added a pair of insurance runs.
Up 7-4 in the ninth, the Hilltoppers closed out the game with another save from senior Mason Burns. The right-hander claimed his 14th of the season, tying nation’s lead and the all-time single-season program record set by Ian Tompkins.
