TWIN KILLING: Tops roll in doubleheader to sweep Louisiana Tech

Published 10:50 am Monday, May 5, 2025

By Micheal Compton

The Western Kentucky baseball team completed a historic sweep of Louisiana Tech, taking both games of a doubleheader on Sunday at Nick Denes Field.

WKU held off a late rally to take the first game 5-4, then overcame a seven-run deficit in the first inning to roll to a wild 22-12 win in the nightcap.

It was the sixth doubleheader sweep of the year in six tries for WKU (38-10 overall, 14-7 Conference USA) and the first three-game sweep against Louisiana Tech since 1996.

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“I just want us to be playing good baseball and everything will take care of itself,” WKU coach Marc Rardin said. “Right now we are playing well. We are hitting balls hard. We’re having good ABs. We are putting up some decent scores. That is all we can concentrate on. I don’t want to get ahead to the conference tournament. I don’t want to get ahead to anything right now.”

In Game 1, the Hilltoppers overcame nine walks and one hit batter by the pitching staff — blanking Louisiana Tech through the first six innings.

WKU held the Bulldogs hitless until the sixth inning. Louisiana Tech stranded nine base runners.

“There are some days that you can fight through that like we did,” Rardin said. “Obviously you guys know that’s not who we are. That’s not who we’ve been. There are some days where it is not going to be your day, yet you have to find a way to battle through it and that is what we did.”

Ethan Lizama had an RBI triple during a two-run second and doubled home a run during a two-run third that extended the lead to 4-0.

Lizama capped his big game with a solo homer to left in the fifth that made the score 5-0. He finished game one a single shy of the cycle, accounting for three of WKU’s five hits.

“I think we are just stacking days and trying to be good every day,” Lizama said. “I think if we can just continue to get better every day — as cliche as it sounds — we are going to be really good.”

Louisiana Tech (27-20, 11-9) made it interesting, scoring four times in the seventh before Cal Higgins got a strikeout with the tying run at second to close it out for his sixth save of the season.

Louisiana Tech’s offense picked up in Game 2 where it left off in the opener, scoring seven runs with two outs. The momentum quickly shifted to WKU in the bottom of the inning. The first three batters reached, with a two-run single by Kyle Hayes got WKU on the board.

After the next two batters were retired, the Tops went on a massive two-out rally with the next 10 batters reaching base. The big hits included a two-run single from Carlos Vasquez that tied the score 7-7 and a two-run double from Ryan Wideman that pushed WKU in front.

“I think it starts on an individual level, trying to win one at-bat at a time,” Vasquez said. “Trying to get on first, trying to get stuff going — it caught on pretty quick.”

Every batter reached base at least once in the inning, with WKU scoring 12 times to surge in front 12-7.

“It was about getting a couple of guys on,” Rardin said. “We just needed to change the tempo a little bit. Offense is all about momentum. They had all the momentum and then all of a sudden we get a walk and hit and even though they’ve got the 7-0 lead, momentum starts to shift. Momentum offensively is everything.”

The offense continued to thrive, scoring once in the second and answering a two-run third by the Bulldogs with another run in the bottom of the third to make the score 14-9.

Austin Haller’s RBI double fueled a four-run rally in the fifth that extended the lead to 18-9. Sebastian Mexico hit a solo homer for Louisiana Tech in the top of the sixth, but WKU answered with four more in the bottom of the inning — including RBI doubles from Camden Ross and Reid Howard.

Louisiana Tech added a two-run homer in the seventh, but was unable to get any closer.

WKU finished with 18 hits in Game 2. Eight players had at least two hits with Vasquez, Ross and Howard all finishing with three hits each.

The Hilltopper offense produced 27 runs on 23 hits with 18 walks and 24 RBIs in the doubleheader.

Taylor Penn earned the win in Game 2, with Zach Lyles working the final four innings to earn the save.

With the two wins WKU improved to 29-1 at Nick Denes Field this season, eclipsing the record of 27 home wins in a season set on three occasions — the last time in 2009.

“We’re 28-1 at home,” Rardin said. “We’re 6-0 in doubleheaders. Those are just crazy numbers.”

WKU will return to action at 7 p.m. CDT on Friday, opening a three game series at New Mexico State.

About Micheal Compton

I am a sports reporter and movie critic for the Bowling Green Daily News.

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