BOWLING GREEN, KY -- After sweeping three of the last four weekend series, North Texas will travel north to take on the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers, who lead the Conference USA East Division with a 10-2 conference record.
North Texas also has a 10-2 C-USA record and holds the top spot of the C-USA West Division. That's right. It's the best against the best this weekend at WKU. Saturday will present a doubleheader with game one starting at 1 p.m., and Sunday's lone game will also start at 1 p.m.
"We never want to have people come here [Lovelace Stadium] and beat us on our own turf," senior Harley Perella said. "When you do it on other people's turf, it's really fun and it puts the nail on the head. We're going to have to grind because it's not going to be easy."
Katie Clark will return to the field for North Texas after missing the last two weeks due to a lingering wrist injury. Clark is an absolute talent in center field for North Texas with great speed, ball skills and even holds a team-leading .416 batting average. The only question is "will she be able to return to form?" If she can, it will be vital to UNT's success this weekend and in the postseason.
WKU's offense has hit .296 this season, compared to UNT's team batting average of .292. The Hilltoppers have only struck out 129 times all season, which will present a challenge for Hope Trautwein and Bailey Tindell throughout the weekend.
However, this particular Mean Green team has shown that they belong atop of C-USA. An eight-run comeback against LA Tech and wins against a top 10 team have proven that.
The last time North Texas faced off against the Hilltoppers goes back to 2016 when the Mean Green took two out of three to claim the series victory. However, the 2016 WKU team went 17-30 and the 2016 UNT team went 22-33. Needless to say, this year's matchup features two very improved programs and comes at a time when both teams are trying to gain outright first place in Conference USA.
Well, what a series we have ahead of us.
Here is the KEY MATCHUP for this weekend:
North Texas offense and WKU pitching staff:
The Mean Green offense has been deadly this year, with four batters sporting a batting average greater than .300. It will be interesting to see how they matchup with WKU's pitching. The Hilltoppers are second in C-USA with a 2.60 ERA, and opponents have hit just .201 off this staff.
The Hilltoppers have also allowed a C-USA low 170 hits throughout the season, which is 50 less than Southern Miss' second place 220 hits allowed. On the other hand, North Texas leads the conference in doubles (62) and walks (162), so the Mean Green will give this staff all they can handle.
Shelby Nunn leads the Hilltoppers in the circle with a 2.10 ERA, while Kelsey Akin and Kennedy Sullivan have racked up a combined 257 strikeouts this season.
"They're throwing really well," DeLong said. "Two of their pitchers throw hard and up and inside well. They're all talented, so that'll present a challenge within itself."
This will be an interesting matchup to watch all weekend, especially since North Texas has faced great pitching already this year against teams such as No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 10 Louisiana, No. 15 Texas Tech and Baylor.
"Part of the reason why we play the challenging schedule is to prepare us for these kinds of series," DeLong said. "We knew all along that those games would make us better and teach us how to compete against elite pitching and elite lineups."
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