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WKU Baseball, Bowling Green Hot Rods To Meet In Exhibition Game

The WKU Hilltoppers baseball team will face the minor league Bowling Green Hot Rods in an exhibition game next spring. 

The university’s athletic department and the Midwest League club made the joint announcement Wednesday morning.  The game will be played April 7th at Bowling Green Ballpark.

WKU Athletic Director Todd Stewart says, during his time in college athletics, he’s never been a part of an exhibition game against a professional team.

“I think this is truly unique,” said Stewart. “Because we’re both obviously based in Bowling Green. Fans will be familiar with the players of both teams and the timing of the game, as I said before, is really good. The question was asked ‘do we continue to do this in the future?’ I certainly hope so. I think this is just the beginning of something that people can mark on their calendars."
The WKU baseball team will use wood bats during the exhibition game. Head baseball coach Matt Myers says most, if not all Toppers’ hitters have experience using wood bats, in addition to the aluminum bats they normally use.  Myers says he took part in several similar exhibition games against the Asheville Tourists while coaching at UNC-Asheville.

“We did it every year and it was an unbelievable event for our community,” said Myers.  “It really set their [the Tourists] season off, and like Todd said, we were halfway through ours and it’s a neat thing for our fans and it’s a neat event.”

The Hilltoppers will also face the University of Kentucky at Bowling Green Ballpark March 24th.  The HotRods 2015 season opens April 9th.

“It’s a dream that Jerry and Stuart Katzoff had win they first got here and met with Dr. Ransdell,” said Hot Rods GM Adam Nuse. “so we’d like to thank the athletic department and the Tampa Bay Rays – both were very instrumental in allowing us to do this event.”
 

The award-winning news team at WKU Public Radio consists of Dan Modlin, Kevin Willis, Lisa Autry, and Joe Corcoran.
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