WKU Baseball: Where Is The Hype?

Opening Day is in 15 days. Someone needs to tell the WKU social team.

One of the best times of the year, the start of the college baseball season, is on the cusp of being two weeks away.

There’s a lot to look forward to on the Hill this year: Despite massive roster turnover, the Tops are looking to improve upon their best season in over a decade. While the official CUSA preseason poll has yet to come out, I’d imagine the Tops are picked either third or fourth, behind Dallas Baptist, Liberty and fighting for that third spot with La Tech.

Perfect Game has three Hilltopper transfers ranked in their top 50 of JUCO to Four-Year School Rankings and has another, Mason Burns, in their Top 50 of Collegiate Seniors.

Bradley comes to Nick Denes Field on Friday, Feb. 16, to open the season.

But, outside of our coverage, have you heard anything about the upcoming season?

The (Lack of) Numbers

Since the calendar turned to 2024, the WKU Baseball Twitter account has tweeted 11 times, not including retweets.

One was a “Happy New Years!” post. One was about Burns’ naming to the PG Top 75 Seniors list. One promotion for camps. One snow beauty shot. Two countdown tweets (one month, three weeks). One promoting Marc Rardin on local radio.

The other four were either promoting or recapping Johnny Bench’s appearance at the program’s First Pitch Banquet.

And that isn’t counting the multiple retweets from the official WKU sports page (or its own page) promoting the event.

You know what is missing?

Almost anything to do with the upcoming season.

No first day of practice posts.

No posts for the sickos, like me, who enjoy the gear and uniform glamor shots.

Not even a post similar to this, promoting Louisville’s visit to the Nick in April.

I guess the Tops have a similar “get your tickets post,” but ticket information wasn’t even front and center.

Does any of this matter in the long run? Depends on how you mean it. No, WKU’s social presence isn’t going to impact the Tops’ on-field performance.

But this is a team that’ll feature over 30 newcomers. Wouldn’t it be cool to not only gin up the excitement last season ended with not only with some hype - literally anything! - but a chance for fans to get to meet the newcomers?

Come on, Now…

If last year was any indication, WKU could be building into a program in the vein of La Tech or Liberty - one that can flirt with a ranking and make, if not host, regionals in the future. Rardin had that pedigree at the JUCO level and there’s no reason WKU can’t break through in a sport that values mid-majors unlike almost any other in college athletics.

But if the program is hidden, even with its success, what’s the point?

I’m excited for the upcoming season. But, as stated above, I’m a sicko. WKU needs to step up their social game to spread the excitement. It’s late in the game, but it’s never too late to try and get folks on board.

The Tops have just a good a shot as any to rival their conference peers between the lines. But they have a long ways to go in the program’s visibility.