NASHVILLE-The first of senior right fielder Chad Cregar’s home runs in Wednesday night’s 9-3 win at Lipscomb bounced out of the park off the yellow lining on top of the Dugan Field wall.
Cregar didn’t leave any doubt as to whether his second home run would count.
Lipscomb freshman right fielder Antonio Butler didn’t even bother to follow the ninth-inning blast, which was Cregar’s 35th in two seasons and tied him for fourth in Western history.
“It’s just whatever you can do to help the team win,” Cregar said. “I got some good pitches to hit, but everybody else did too. It was a good win for us.”
After senior designated hitter Matt Hightower hit a two-out triple that also bounced off the top of the wall in the third inning, junior third baseman Wade Gaynor and senior right fielder Chad Cregar hit back-to-back home runs to give the Toppers (31-10, 16-5 Sun Belt Conference) a 3-1 lead.
Freshman second baseman Logan Robbins hit a two-run home run in the fourth inning to protect the lead, and the Bison didn’t challenge Western the rest of the way.
“I think we’re getting back to driving the ball, and that’s good to see,” coach Chris Finwood said. “Those kids drove a bunch of balls out there, and it kind of snowballed.”
Cregar’s home runs tied him for fourth place in Western history, while Gaynor’s 36th career home run put him in third place all-time.
“It’s not something you really think about, but I’m not complaining about it,” Gaynor said. “It’s just all about making sure we get the wins, finish the season strong.”
At least one Topper reached base in every inning but the eighth, which Gaynor attributed to timely hitting.
“It’s not always how many hits you get, but when you get them,” he said. “The last two weeks, we went through a stretch where we weren’t getting a lot of hits, so it’s good for us to get back in a rhythm and start hitting the ball real well.”
Finwood said that there’s no question the team’s seniors are the reason the Toppers in first place in the conference and predicted to win the SBC regular season for the first time in program history.
“That group of seniors is a great bunch of kids,” Finwood said. “They’ve helped us rebuild this program, and I’m proud as heck of them, because they’re putting together a heck of a season.”
The Toppers will play for their 700th win at Denes Field when they begin a three-game series with Arkansas Little-Rock at 6 p.m. tomorrow, a series Finwood said is a must-win for the team.
“It’s very, very important that we win this series,” he said. “We’ve got to take it one game at a time. All the cliches apply, but I like the way we’re playing right now, I really do.”
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