Sun Belt Conference Baseball news and notes - KAIT-Jonesboro, AR-News, weather, sports

Week 2 Sun Belt Conference Baseball Player of the Week

Nolan Earley (South Alabama, Senior, RF)
Earley batted .700 with three doubles, eight RBI and seven runs scored and eight walks in four games last week. He posted a 1.842 OPS, including an .842 on-base percentage. Earley extended his on-base streak to 25 games over four games last week, hit safely in all four games – including two multiple-hit contests – and drove in at least one run in every game.

Week 2 Sun Belt Conference Baseball Pitcher of the Week

Jeremy Strawn (Florida Atlantic, RS-Junior)
Jeremy Strawn came through in a big way and lead the Florida Atlantic baseball team avoid a three-game home sweep to Alabama. The right hander scattered four hits and recorded a career-high six strikeouts over eight scoreless innings. Strawn also threw 64 strikes of the 87 pitches he threw and only allowed one base runner to reach second base. The Lakeland, FL native allowed just four singles – three of which came with two outs in an inning. He retired the leadoff batter in seven of the eight innings. Strawn picked up his first career victory in Sunday's win over an undefeated Alabama team. For the season, the right hander stands 1-0 with a 1.29 earned run average and 10 strikeouts to issuing just one walk over 14 innings.

Recent Results

February 19 (Tuesday)
Louisiana Tech 6, UALR 3
Middle Tennessee 2, Austin Peay 5
Arkansas State 3, Memphis 2 (10 innings)

February 20 (Wednesday)
FIU 0, Bethune-Cookman 1
No. 23 Miami 5, Florida Atlantic 4 (11 innings)
Northwestern St. 2 Louisiana-Lafayette 12
Lyon at Arkansas State - POSTPONED
Alabama St. 4, South Alabama 15

February 22 (Friday)
Troy 10, Texas Tech 3
Central Michigan 4, WKU 2
Manhattan 4, FIU 14
Alabama 5, Florida Atlantic 2
UT San Antonio 6, Louisiana-Lafayette 18
Louisiana-Monroe 2, Sam Houston St. 1
New Orleans 6, South Alabama 29

February 23 (Saturday)
(1) Middle Tennessee 2, Auburn 1
SIU Edwardsville 1, UALR 2
W. Illinois 2, Arkansas State 1
Troy 8, Connecticut 13
UT San Antonio 6, Louisiana-Lafayette 9
Central Michigan 6, WKU 12
SIU Edwardsville 0, UALR 2
Alabama 4, Florida Atlantic 2
Manhattan 6, FIU 18
W. Illinois 3, Arkansas State 6
Louisiana-Monroe 2, Sam Houston St. 4
(1) Middle Tennessee 8, Indiana St. 1

February 24 (Sunday)
(1) Middle Tennessee 4, Col. Of Charleston 3
Alabama 0, Florida Atlantic 3
Manhattan 7, FIU 8
Central Michigan 2, WKU 4
SIU Edwardsville 1, UALR 13
W. Illinois 6, Arkansas State 14
Louisiana-Monroe 3, Sam Houston St. 7
UT San Antonio 1, Louisiana-Lafayette 2
New Orleans 1, South Alabama 4
New Orleans 2, South Alabama 5
Troy at UCF - CANCELED

Upcoming Games

February 25 (Monday)
Texas Tech at FIU 5:00 PM

February 26 (Tuesday)
Texas Tech at FIU 12:00 PM
Middle Tennessee at Tennessee Tech 3:00 PM
UALR at Oklahoma State 4:00 PM
Arkansas State at Vanderbilt 4:00 PM
WKU at Belmont 4:00 PM
Florida Gulf Coast at Florida Atlantic 5:30 PM
Southern Miss at Louisiana-Monroe 6:00 PM
LSU at Louisiana-Lafayette 6:00 PM
Troy at Alabama St. 6:00 PM
South Alabama at Jacksonville St. 6:30 PM

February 27 (Wednesday)
South Alabama at Jacksonville St. 3:00 PM
Belmont at WKU 3:00 PM
Jackson St. at Troy 5:00 PM
Nicholls St. at Louisiana-Lafayette 6:00 PM

March 1 (Friday)
WKU at S. Illinois 2:00 PM
Kennesaw St. at Middle Tennessee 3:00 PM
Louisiana-Monroe at Memphis 4:00 PM
(2) Florida Atlantic at Coastal Carolina 4:00 PM
South Alabama at Col. Of Charleston 5:00 PM
Ole Miss at FIU 5:00 PM
W. Illinois at UALR 6:00 PM
Sacred Heart at Louisiana-Lafayette 6:00 PM
Southern Miss at Troy 6:00 PM
Arkansas State at Sam Houston St. 6:30 PM

March 2 (Saturday)
South Alabama at Col. Of Charleston 1:00 PM
Southern Miss at Troy 1:00 PM
Arkansas State at Sam Houston St. 2:00 PM
Louisiana-Monroe at Memphis 2:00 PM
Sacred Heart at Louisiana-Lafayette 2:00 PM
WKU at S. Illinois 2:00 PM
Kennesaw St. at Middle Tennessee 2:00 PM
W. Illinois at UALR 3:00 PM
Ole Miss at FIU 3:00 PM
(2) Florida Atlantic vs. North Carolina St. 4:00 PM

March 3 (Sunday)
South Alabama at Col. Of Charleston 12:00 PM
Ole Miss at FIU 12:00 PM
(2) Florida Atlantic vs. West Virginia 12:30 PM
W. Illinois at UALR 1:00 PM
Arkansas State at Sam Houston St. 1:00 PM
Louisiana-Monroe at Memphis 1:00 PM
Sacred Heart at Louisiana-Lafayette 1:00 PM
WKU at S. Illinois 1:00 PM
Kennesaw St. at Middle Tennessee 1:00 PM
Southern Miss at Troy 1:00 PM

Previous Players/Pitchers of the Week
02.18 - PLAYER: Danny Collins, TROY| PITCHER: Hunter Adkins, MT
02.25 - PLAYER: Nolan Earley, USA| PITCHER: Jeremy Strawn, FAU

AROUND THE LEAGUE
Sun Belt Conference baseball teams are a combined 52-17 (0.754) on the season. This ranks second only to the ACC who is currently 64-17 on the season. Through 69 games played so far this season, SBC teams have scored 495 runs, up from 371 runs scored through the same weekend last season. Additionally, SBC teams have only allowed 251 runs. The combined ERA of all ten teams in the SBC is 2.98. FAU (4-3) leads the SBC with a 2.32 ERA and is coming off of a shutout victory on Sunday. There have been eight shutouts so far. South Alabama's Nolan Earley and Troy's Danny Collins lead the SBC through seven games with a .550 batting average. Both are 11-for-20 at the plate. The 29 runs scored in South Alabama's 29-6 drubbing of New Orleans stands as the most runs scored by a Jaguar squad in school history as the Jags went on to sweep the Privateers. Troy's Trae Santos has started off as one of the hottest hitters in the league. Santos has 14 RBI through six games for the Trojans.

The UALR Trojans went 3-1 in the second week of the 2013 season, sweeping three games from the SIU Edwardsville Cougars at Gary Hogan Field.

The Arkansas State baseball team continued one of the best starts in school history over the past week, picking up wins in three of the four games it played. The Red Wolves used late inning heroics at Memphis to capture a 3-2 victory, and then went 2-1 against Western Illinois in a weekend series at home to improve to 6-1 on the year.

Florida Atlantic closes out its eight-game home stand to open the 2013 season when it host in-state rival Florida Gulf Coast on Tuesday, February 26 at 6:30 p.m. The Owls enter the week with a 4-3 record after dropping a home series to Alabama of the Southeastern Conference. The three games against Crimson Tide were competitive with the visitors earning 5-2 and 4-2 victories in the first two games of the set. FAU answered with a 3-0 shutout win on Sunday, February 24.

Zach Sweety's two-run home run in the seventh tied the game and Oscar Aguirre's RBI double proved to be the game-winner for FIU in an 8-7 victory over the Manhattan Jaspers Sunday afternoon at the FIU Baseball Stadium. The win gave FIU its second-consecutive weekend sweep to start the 2013 season.

Head coach Tony Robichaux picked up career win No. 900 on Saturday becoming the 22nd active Division I head coach with 900 career victories. Robichaux joins a list of coaches that includes Texas' Auggie Garrido, Florida State's Mike Martin, Wichita State's Gene Stephenson, Rice's Wayne Graham, Stanford's Mark Marquess and Miami's Jim Morris to name a few. His son, Austin, turned in the pitching staff's first quality start of the season scattering four hits and allowing only one hit when UTSA had runners on base in his six innings of work in Sunday's 2-1 victory that completed a series sweep.

ULM and Southern Miss will meet on the baseball diamond for the 62nd time on Tuesday night justs after a devastating tornado tore through Hattiesburg. The Warhawks will look to get back on track after dropping the weekend series to Sam Houston State over the weekend.

MT knocked off host Auburn in the opening game of the Auburn Tournament on Feb. 23. It marked the first win for MT over Auburn since Feb. 20, 1999, and just the third in program history. The Blue Raiders went on to sweep the weekend with wins over Indiana State and College of Charleston.

South Alabama (7-0) took a midweek contest from Alabama State and swept New Orleans in three games at Stanky Field last weekend. It marked the first time since 2001 the Jags have opened the season 7-0. USA batted .355 with 47 RBI in four games last week, including a 29-run effort Friday against New Orleans.

Troy split a pair of games at the Wawa Weekend Classic hosted by Central Florida as the Trojans defeated Texas Tech 10-3 in the opener and fell to Uconn 13-8 in game two; their final game of the weekend, against Central Florida, was canceled due to travel restrictions. The Troy bats continued to be the story of the season as the Trojans hit .342 with eight doubles, a triple and a pair of home runs in the two games.

WKU picked up its first series win of the 2013 campaign, taking the final two games against Central Michigan. After falling 4-2 in game one of the series, the WKU bats came alive, as the Hilltoppers piled on 16 runs and 25 hits over the final two games to even their record at 3-3 on the year. For the series, WKU out-hit the Chippewas 30-19, while hitting .278 with runners in scoring position after hitting .200 in the season-opening series against Bowling Green State.

TEAM NOTES

UALR
The UALR Trojans went 3-1 in the second week of the 2013 season, sweeping three games from the SIU Edwardsville Cougars at Gary Hogan Field… On Tuesday, UALR dropped its first midweek game of the year, falling to the visiting Louisiana Tech bulldogs 6-3… Junior Austin Pfeiffer led the Trojans that day with two hits, one run scored, and one RBI… In the weekend series, the UALR pitching staff dominated and simply overwhelmed the SIUE Cougars… In the 27 innings played this weekend, the Trojan pitching staff allowed a grand total of two runs (only one earned) to SIUE, rebounding from Tuesday's loss to Louisiana Tech… Senior pitcher Chance Cleveland set the tone for the weekend with his first win of the year… Cleveland struck eight batters in eight innings pitched while scattering three hits and yielding only one walk… Junior Dillon Mortiz picked up his second save of the season en route to a 2-1 win in game one of a Saturday double header… In game two of the double header, senior pitcher Blake Huffman picked up right where Cleveland left off…The senior from Tyler, Texas worked six innings of shutout baseball, striking out six and walking only one batter…. Sophomore Cameron Allen came in relief and worked a perfect seventh and eighth inning, picking up three strikeouts in the process…. The Trojans turned the ball over to Moritz again in the ninth inning as the right-hander from Aurora, Colo. picked up his second save of the day, capping a masterful performance from the entire UALR pitching staff… In Saturday's double header, SIUE scored an unearned run in the bottom of the first inning, but were then shut out by the Trojan pitching staff for the remaining 17 innings… In the series finale, the UALR bats came to life with 13 runs on 12 hits as the Trojans used the long ball to distance themselves from the Cougars…A grand slam by Pfeiffer, a three-run home run by junior Bryson Thionnet and a solo shot by senior John Clark paved the way for the blowout, giving head coach Scott Norwood his 100th career win at UALR in the process...For the week, Pfeiffer batted .428 (6-14), scored three runs, recorded five RBIs and stole two bases… UALR will ride the momentum of its three game sweep of SIUE and take it on the road with a game against Oklahoma State this coming Tuesday…For the Trojans, Tuesday's game against Oklahoma State will be the first road game of the year… Next weekend UALR will play host to Western Illinois for a three game series.

Arkansas State
The Arkansas State baseball team continued one of the best starts in school history over the past week, picking up wins in three of the four games it played. The Red Wolves used late inning heroics at Memphis to capture a 3-2 victory, and then went 2-1 against Western Illinois in a weekend series at home to improve to 6-1 on the year. ASU won its five games to start the year with the win over Memphis. The Red Wolves were down to their last in the top of the ninth inning, but Collin Massanelli drove in the tying runs on a two RBI single and Ryan Emery brought home the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth inning to give ASU a 3-2 lead. Freshman Tanner Ring pitched the bottom half of the extra-frame to earn his first career save. A-State midweek home game against Lyon College was postponed due to inclement weather and the Red Wolves took the field on Saturday for a doubleheader against Western Illinois. ASU suffered its first loss in game one, but the Red Wolves bounced back in game two behind a strong performance from senior Daniel Wright. He pitched seven innings, struck out eight and allowed three runs on six hits to give ASU a split in the double header. On Sunday, ASU jumped out to a 6-0 lead but the Leathernecks rallied to tie the score. Logan Uxa provided a spark with a towering shot over the right field fence and ASU helped ASU prevail 14-6. The Red Wolves have plated 56 runs through its first seven games this season and are hitting .321 as a team. The pitching staff has given up just 21 runs, has a 2.67 ERA and has struck out 77 batters. ASU will travel to Vanderbilt on Tuesday for a midweek game against the Commodores and will then go to Sam Houston State for its first three-game road series of the year.

Florida Atlantic
Florida Atlantic closes out its eight-game home stand to open the 2013 season when it host in-state rival Florida Gulf Coast on Tuesday, February 26 at 6:30 p.m. The Owls enter the week with a 4-3 record after dropping a home series to Alabama of the Southeastern Conference.  The three games against Crimson Tide were competitive with the visitors earning 5-2 and 4-2 victories in the first two games of the set.  FAU answered with a 3-0 shutout win on Sunday, February 24. Right hander Jeremy Strawn anchored the Owls to the victory over the unbeaten SEC school with eight shutout innings.  He picked up first career victory behind a career-best six strikeouts.  Strawn allowed just one base runner to reach second base and allowed four singles. FAU's pitching staff did not allow an extra base hit for the entire three game series.  The staff has a 2.32 earned run average through the first seven games. The Owls also dropped a 5-4 game to No. 20-ranked Miami earlier in the week.  FAU had a 4-2 lead until the Hurricanes tied the game with two runs in the eighth inning.  Miami scored the game-winning run in the top of the 11th inning. After playing Florida Gulf Coast, who stands 5-1 after a three-game sweep at Florida, the team travels to Coastal Carolina's tournament.  The Owls face Coastal Carolina on Friday, March 1 before finishing the tournament against North Carolina State on Saturday, March 2 and West Virginia on Sunday, March 3.

FIU 
Zach Sweety's two-run home run in the seventh tied the game and Oscar Aguirre's RBI double proved to be the game-winner for FIU in an 8-7 victory over the Manhattan Jaspers Sunday afternoon at the FIU Baseball Stadium. The win gave FIU its second-consecutive weekend sweep to start the 2013 season. The Panthers swept last season's CWS participant Stony Brook last weekend. The Panthers will return to the diamond on Monday, Feb. 25, when they welcome the Texas Tech Red Raiders for a two-game series. First pitch for Monday's game is scheduled for 5:00 p.m., while Tuesday's contest is slated for a 2:00 p.m. start.

Louisiana-Lafayette
Head coach Tony Robichaux picked up career win No. 900 on Saturday becoming the 22nd active Division I head coach with 900 career victories…Robichaux join a list of coaches that includes Texas' Auggie Garrido, Florida State's Mike Martin, Wichita State's Gene Stephenson, Rice's Wayne Graham, Stanford's Mark Marquess and Miami's Jim Morris to name a few…His son, Austin, turned in the pitching staff's first quality start of the season scattering four hits and allowing only one hit when UTSA had runners on base in his six innings of work in Sunday's 2-1 victory that completed a series sweep…As a team, Louisiana finished the UTSA series with a .366 average in the series with eight different hitters collecting multiple hits…Seth Harrison's seven hits topped the squad and the trio of Michael Strentz, Blake Trahan and Des Kjerstad each had five hits…Harrison ended the UTSA series 7-for-10 at the plate with a team-high seven runs scored….Harrison's on-base percentage in the series was .786 as he finished the series reaching base in his last nine plate appearances…Michael Strentz posted an RBI all four games last week, upping his season, team-leading total to 12…Through the season's first two weeks, the Ragin' Cajuns are averaging 8.1 runs per game and hitting .322…A year ago, the Cajuns scored just 4.7 runs per game and hit .263 in 53 games…Matt Hicks, appearing for the fourth time out of the bullpen on Sunday, collected his third save of the season…Dating back to his final start of the 2012 season (three-hit shutout at Middle Tennessee), Robichaux has held the opposition to four hits or less in his last three weekend series starts…The Cajuns used the same rotation for the UTSA series as opening weekend with Chase Traffica getting the Friday night start, junior college transfer Cody Boutte starting on Saturday and Austin Robichaux closing out the series…In the UTSA series opener, Louisiana's 18 runs were the most scored since March 2010 and the 20 hits marked the first 20-hit game since piling up 22 at UNO on May 16, 2009…Dylan Butler's six RBI marked the most by a Cajun since Matt Goulas' seven RBI vs. UNO on May 16, 2008 at "The Tigue"…Matt Plitt (6.0 innings), Kody Smith (5 innings) and Kendall Mayer (3 innings) all extended their season-opening scoreless relief streaks with an appearance on Friday…Louisiana begins the final stretch of its season-opening, 14-game homestand on Tuesday hosting LSU at "The Tigue", marking the Tigers' first visit since March 2002…A Wednesday contest with Nicholls State and three-game weekend series with Sacred Heart University closes out the five-game week for the Cajuns.

Louisiana-Monroe
ULM and Southern Miss will meet on the baseball diamond for the 62nd time on Tuesday night. Seven different Warhawks recorded one hit in the finale at Sam Houston State... Taylor Abdalla and Judd Edwards recorded one RBI, while Edwards, Chris Dudley and Jeff Fuller each scored one run. Tyler Bray logged a career high 4.2 innings as he surrendered just one hit while striking out a career best three batters in the middle game of the Sam Houston State series. Corben Green led the Warhawks at the plate with three hits (all to right field) and two RBI in the opener at Sam Houston State... Green's two-out, two-RBI single in the top of the eighth gave ULM a 2-0 lead and the club held on for the 2-1 win. Friday night starter Cale Wine went the distance against Sam Houston State as he recorded his second straight quality starter... The Warhawk right-hander recorded career-highs in innings pitched (9.0) and strikeouts (7) as he scattered nine hits and allowed just one run (bottom of the eighth) in the 2-1 victory. Kodie Tidwell led the Warhawks on the final day of the ULM Baseball Tournament as he totaled five hits, three RBI and two runs in two games. Judd Edwards helped the Warhawks improve to 3-1 on the season as he finished with three hits and drove in four runs in the 7-3 win over Alcorn State. Carey Taylor made two relief appearances on the final day of the ULM Baseball Tournament... In the finale against Alcorn State, the junior picked up his first win in a Warhawk uniform as he pitched four innings and surrendered just one run on six hits while striking out four... Against Wake Forest, Taylor faced one batter and recorded a strikeout to close the Demon Deacon eighth. Shelby Aulds logged six strong innings against Alcorn State... The senior scattered four hits and two walks while striking out a career-best 10 batters en route to the victory... Devin Malone earned his first career save after tossing three innings of shutout baseball. Kodie Tidwell led the offensive attack against Alcorn State as the rookie finished with two hits, two runs and three RBI... In the third inning, Tidwell collected his first career hit -- a three run bomb over the wall in right center. With the 9-0 win over Wake Forest, ULM improved to 5-2 in season openers under head coach Jeff Schexnaider... The Warhawks have also won four consecutive home openers. Justin Stawychny led the squad against the Demon Deacons as he posted three hits, three runs and three RBI... The sophomore finished a triple shy of the cycle while setting a new career high in runs scored... His three RBI tied a career best (vs. UALR, 5/5/12 -- Walkoff, bases clearing double). Corben Green finished 2 for 4 with one run in the season opener... Meanwhile, Judd Edwards scored two runs to help lead the Warhawks to the victory. Senior Cale Wine earned the win after 6.2 strong innings on the mound... During his 99-pitch performance the right hander scattered six hits while striking out five... Just three Demon Deacons moved into scoring position on his watch. Newcomers Alex Dumaine and Tyler Bray combined to close the door on Wake Forest... The pair tossed 2.1 innings of shutout baseball with two strikeouts a piece and zero hits.

Middle Tennessee
MT knocked off host Auburn in the opening game of the Auburn Tournament on Feb. 23. It marked the first win for MT over Auburn since Feb. 20, 1999, and just the third in program history. The Blue Raiders went on to sweep the weekend with wins over Indiana State and College of Charleston. Adkins got the Blue Raiders off on a high note to start the 2013 campaign, earning Sun Belt Pitcher of the Week honors after leading MT to a 1-0 victory against Ball State in the season opener. He retired the first seven batters he faced and allowed just four hits through eight innings of work and struck out seven. Adkins allowed Ball State to hit just .160 in the contest. It marked the third weekly honor of his career. He followed that up with another dominating performance, going eight innings to pick up the win against Auburn on Feb. 22. He allowed just one run on three hits while striking out five in the contest. Through 16 innings, he has allowed just one run. Sophomore catcher Michael Adkins ripped his first career home run against Austin Peay on Feb. 19. Adkins took the first pitch he saw over the left field wall at Reese Smith Jr. Field, a two-run shot with two outs. Second baseman Johnny Thomas drove in the game-winning run in Middle Tennessee's first three victories, including a two-run blast against Auburn. In the fourth game, he knocked in the tying run. Thomas is one of two Blue Raiders to reach base safely in every game this season. Ford has also reached safely in every game and both middle infielders have three-game hitting streaks, the longest on the team.

South Alabama
South Alabama (7-0) took a midweek contest from Alabama State and swept New Orleans in three games at Stanky Field last weekend … It marked the first time since 2001 the Jags have opened the season 7-0 … USA batted .355 with 47 RBI in four games last week, including a 29-run effort Friday against New Orleans which set a school record for runs scored in a game … USA outscored its opposition 53-13 in four games last week … The Jaguar pitching staff posted a 2.75 team ERA and struck out 44 batters against 10 walks … Nolan Earley hit .700 with three doubles, eight RBI and seven runs scored in four games to lead all Jaguars at the plate … Left-hander Jacob Noble earned his second win in as many starts on Sunday in which he set a career high in strikeouts (8) … Right-hander Brandon Boyle earned his second save of the season over the weekend, while Tripp Cecil and Kyle Bartsch each earned their first saves of the year … South Alabama will begin a six-game road swing beginning Tuesday with the first of two midweek contests at Jacksonville State … The Jags will take on College of Charleston in Charleston, S.C., this weekend, followed by a trip to Nicholls State next Tuesday to complete the road trip.

Troy 
Troy split a pair of games at the Wawa Weekend Classic hosted by Central Florida as the Trojans defeated Texas Tech 10-3 in the opener and fell to Uconn 13-8 in game two; their final game of the weekend, against Central Florida, was canceled due to travel restrictions. The Troy bats continued to be the story of the season as the Trojans hit .342 with eight doubles, a triple and a pair of home runs in the two games. Logan Pierce led the way batting at a .700 clip (7-for-10) with a pair of doubles, a homer and four RBIs. Tyler Vaughn, Danny Collins and Jo-El Bennett all hit .500 while Garrett Pitts hit his first home run as a Trojan. Troy pitchers combined for 18 strikeouts over 17 innings of work led by five from Matthew Howard in just two innings; in fact, Howard struck out four of his five batters on just three pitches. Troy has a busy five-game week coming up with a road contest at Alabama State on Tuesday and then home games against Jackson State (Wednesday) and Southern Miss (weekend).

Western Kentucky
WKU picked up its first series win of the 2013 campaign, taking the final two games against Central Michigan. After falling 4-2 in game one of the series, the WKU bats came alive, as the Hilltoppers piled on 16 runs and 25 hits over the final two games to even their record at 3-3 on the year. For the series, WKU out-hit the Chippewas 30-19, while hitting .278 with runners in scoring position after hitting .200 in the season-opening series against Bowling Green State. The story for WKU was once again superb pitching efforts, as the WKU staff held Central Michigan hitters to just a .202 average in the series, striking out 31. For the season the WKU pitchers have held the opposition to just a .178 batting average while allowing an average of just over five hits per game. A large reason for the pitching numbers has been the performance from the WKU bullpen. The Hilltopper relievers have now thrown seven-straight scoreless innings, while allowing just five earned runs in 32.0 innings in 2013 for a just a 1.40 ERA. As a team, WKU struck out 11 Central Michigan batters on Sunday, marking the fifth time this season that the WKU staff has struck out at least 10 batters. On the offensive side, WKU has out-hit the opposition 54-34, but have also left 51 batters on base through six games. Junior Scott Wilcox hit .500 (5-for-10) in the three-game series against Central Michigan, including going 5-for-6 in his final six at-bats, which included picking up his 100th career hit on Sunday. WKU will travel to Belmont on Tuesday for its first road game of the season. The Hilltoppers will then return home on Wednesday to face Belmont once again, before hitting the road for a three-game series against Southern Illinois.