Friday night lights prepared senior pitcher Evan Teague to become a key member of Western’s bullpen.

Teague played in four Class AAA football state championships for Boyle County High School, winning three, and was a two-time all-conference pitcher with the baseball team.

He said his high school experiences have given him the confidence to play in big-game situations at Western.

“We were kind of a powerhouse in high school in football, so we always had big crowds, big games,” he said. “When you’re called on in a situation where there’s large crowds, it kind of gives me the adrenaline to perform well.”

This season, Teague has evolved from a “lefty specialist,” only entering games to dispatch one or two hitters, into more of a setup pitcher, coach Chris Finwood said.

“Last year, Evan was basically a matchup guy,” Finwood said. “He’d come in, get the job done and get out of there. Now, he’s had to extend a little bit more because of our lack of depth, and he’s done an excellent job.”

Teague said that he was “timid” when he came to Western, but felt he had developed enough as a pitcher to talk to Finwood and pitching coach Matt Myers before the season about expanding his role on the staff.

“They gave me the opportunity and I’ve performed well, so I guess I’ve earned the ability to go longer innings,” he said. “Coach Myers has told me my stuff is good enough to get anybody out, so I just go out there and try to blow it past people.”

Teague, senior pitcher Ben Paxton and sophomore pitcher Garrie Krueger have provided Finwood with a solid bullpen presence, inheriting a total of 55 runners and only allowing 13 to score.

The rest of the pitching staff has combined to allow 22 of 43 inherited runs to score, but Teague said a number of factors may determine how many runners are able to advance.

“Maybe the situation occurs, or maybe we’re more fortunate than other guys,” he said. “We’re going to go out there every time and give it our best and try to succeed.”

Though Teague, Krueger and Paxton have provided a steady presence on the mound for much of the season, the Toppers (25-10) fell 7-4 at Austin Peay on Tuesday night.

Western’s pitchers allowed 12 walks, which Finwood said was the deciding factor in the game.

“That’s the whole story right there,” he said. “We don’t walk 12 guys, we probably win.”

The Governors also struggled from the pitching mound, walking six batters, hitting three with pitches and allowing a run to score on a balk.

But Western was unable to capitalize, leaving 12 runners on base, including an inning-ending pop-up by senior right fielder Chad Cregar with the bases loaded.

“We’ve had great focus, and I think in some of the midweek games we lose that focus,” Cregar said. “One of our goals is to get an automatic bid (to the NCAA tournament), and we’ve got to get focused like we do when we’re playing a weekend series.”

Though the Toppers have only lost one of seven weekend series this season, they are 5-7 in midweek games.

Finwood said that Western has been able to rely on timely hitting for much of the season, but that wasn’t the case on Tuesday.

“It’s not how many hits you get, it’s when you get them,” he said. “It’s just the breaks of the game, which is why you play so many games. It wasn’t our night.”

The Toppers will travel to take on Arkansas-Little Rock in a three-game series beginning at 6 p.m. on Friday.