Tops drop series to DBU to end regular season

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) - WKU Baseball dropped two games to No. 17 Dallas Baptist, 6-11 and 1-7, on Sunday afternoon at Horner Ballpark.

With the two losses, the Hilltoppers finish the regular season with a 31-24 (16-14 in C-USA) record while the Patriots improve to 42-13 (25-5 in C-USA). The Hilltoppers have officially clinched the No. 4 seed in the Conference USA Championships.

Due to inclement weather, Game two was suspended yesterday and resumed today with the Patriots leading 7-5 with two outs in the top of the sixth inning. DBU crossed four more times en route to the game two victory, only allowing one run on two hits from WKU the rest of the way. Tristin Garcia had the only RBI in the final three frames with an RBI single with two outs in the top of the ninth.

The loss to the Patriots set up a rubber match for the series and regular season finale.

In game three, The Tops were held scoreless for the first four innings while Dallas Baptist jumped out to a 7-0 lead, putting up three in the first inning and four in the third. WKU got on the board in the top of the fifth by way of a sacrifice fly from Ty Crittenberger to score Brett Blomquist, but the final four frames all went scoreless resulting in the 7-1 loss.

RHP Beau Coffman had the most effective outing out of the bullpen in 3.0 relief innings. Coffman did not allow a run on two hits and two walks with one strikeout and assisting on a 1-4-3 double play.

Aidan Gilroy notched his third three-hit game of the year in a 3-for-4 outing while Ty Crittenberger had the only RBI of the afternoon with a sacrifice fly in a 0-1 day at the plate.

The No. 4 seeded Hilltoppers will face off against No. 5 seeded Florida Atlantic in the Conference USA Championships beginning on Wednesday, May 24 at Reckling Park in Houston, Texas.

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