Louisiana Tech (30-19, 13-11 CUSA) will host Western Kentucky (23-22-1, 14-9-1 CUSA) at the Ruston High School baseball field for senior weekend beginning Friday night.

With two weekends remaining in conference play, Louisiana Tech is in fourth place in the conference standings while Western Kentucky is alone in third place.

Series Info:

Game Times: Friday 6 p.m., Saturday 4 p.m., and Sunday 1 p.m.

Where: Ruston High School Baseball Field

TV: None

Radio: KNBB 97.7FM

RPI Watch:

Tech | 46

Western Kentucky | 161

Tech Starting Pitcher Probables:

Friday: RHP Matt Miller (5-1, 3.41 ERA, 71.1 IP, 58 hits allowed, 27 BB, and 86 K)

Saturday: LHP David Leal (2-1, 4.05 ERA, 33.1 IP, 33 hits allowed, 4 BB, and 34 K)

Sunday: LHP Logan Bailey (5-5, 6.16 ERA, 61.1 IP, 86 hits allowed, 20 BB, and 54 K)

Senior Weekend

Although Louisiana Tech is unable to play at J.C. Love Field due to the EF3 tornado that ripped through Ruston two weeks ago, 12 Bulldog seniors will be honored prior to Saturday’s game. Logan Bailey, Chris Clayton, Graham Hackbarth, Tanner Huddleston, David Leal, Quinton Logan, Mason Mallard, Matt Miller, Logan Robbins, Mason Robinson, Braxton Smith, and Shelton Wallace will play their final “home” series this weekend.

Scouting the Hilltoppers:

John Pawlowski is in his fourth year as the head coach at Western Kentucky. The Hilltoppers enter this weekend’s series as winners of five of their last seven games, including a weekend sweep of Rice last weekend.

Pitching Probables:

Friday: RHP Reece Calvert (1-2, 4.61 ERA, 41 IP, 47 hits allowed, 15 BB, and 30 K)

Saturday: LHP Troy Newell (3-3, 6.66 ERA, 50 IP, 60 hits allowed, 33 BB, and 52 K)

Sunday: RHP Joe Filosa (1-0, 5.14 ERA, 35 IP, 39 hits allowed, 21 BB, and 28 K)

Key Relievers:

RHP Bailey Sutton (5-1, 3.51 ERA, 33.1 IP, 39 hits allowed, 14 BB, and 43 K)

RHP Jacob Green (3-2, 5.13 ERA, 26.1 IP, 26 hits allowed, 10 BB, and 28 K)

Sanford Enjoying Historic Season:

Jake Sanford is the name to know when it comes to scouting the Hilltoppers. Sanford is leading Western Kentucky with a .420 batting average to go along with 20 home runs and 62 RBI. In fact, Sanford leads Conference USA in batting average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, hits, RBI, home runs, and total bases.

Statistical Comparison (Tech | Western Kentucky):

Batting Average: .281 | .285

Slugging Percentage: .431 | .428

On-Base Percentage: .372 | .370

Home Runs: 48 | 40

Runs per Game: 6.3 | 6.5

ERA: 4.49 | 6.32

WHIP: 1.41 | 1.74

Strikeout to Walk Ratio: 2.53 | 1.43

Fielding Percentage: .973 | .969

SB per Game: 1.1 | 0.6

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