Western showed its offensive power against Kent State and showcased its defense at last weekend’s QTI Baylor Classic.

As a result, senior pitcher Shane Cameron said the Toppers can now brag on their balance.

“This is a very balanced team, and on any given day our pitchers or hitters can light it up,” Cameron said.

Since allowing 13 runs in their first game of the season, the Toppers (5-1) have given up only nine runs in the five games — which were all wins.

Last weekend, eight pitchers took the mound for Western as it knocked off Texas A&M, Texas State and Baylor to win the QTI Baylor Classic.

“The pitching did good all weekend,” junior catcher Matt Rice said. “They kept us in games and got outs when we needed.”

Offense was dominant in 2009, but Head Coach Chris Finwood said the Toppers have had to rely more on their pitching to win games this season.

“We have a lot of younger position players and veteran pitchers, so we knew pitching would be a strength this year,” Finwood said.

The Toppers lost senior pitcher Matt Hightower after last season, but Finwood brought in freshmen and junior college transfers, as well as sophomore closer Rye Davis back from an injury to bolster the pitching staff.

Rice said this year’s pitchers are the best he has seen in his three years at Western.

“They have performed very well so far, but we all knew they would,” Rice said. “There is just so much depth in the pitching staff, and they all bring stuff to the table.”

Compared to pitching, the Topper offense doesn’t have consistency to brag about. Western is averaging 7.2 runs per game ranging from as many as 13 runs in a single game and as few as four.

Finwood said the offense is still a “work in progress.”

“We have a very balanced offensive attack, but it is not yet consistent,” Finwood said. “We have a long way to go to get better.”

Western had a come-from-behind win on Saturday, and Rice and sophomore center fielder Kes Carter belted the Toppers’ first two home runs of the season on Sunday.

Cameron said once the offense gets rolling, Western they will be tough to beat.

“They can all hit, and I have always had confidence in them to do their part,” Cameron said.

But Finwood said the offense is doing just enough to win games for them.

“We didn’t hit the ball too well over the weekend, but we got many key hits, and our players showed a lot of patience batting,” Finwood said.

All four teams Western has faced this year made the NCAA Tournament last season. Finwood said these games will help the Toppers out greatly for when they begin conference play.

“We have played some tough competition, and to be at 5-1 at this point is great,” Finwood said. “Sun Belt play will be tough, but we will be prepared.”

Western plays five of its next six games at home, starting against Austin Peay at 3 p.m. Tuesday at Denes Field.

The first road trip of the baseball Toppers’ season ended with a trophy in coach Chris Finwood’s hands.

Western (5-1) defeated Baylor 6-2 Sunday, capping off three straight wins in this weekend’s QTI Baylor Classic.

Senior Shane Cameron pitched six innings and had a career high eight strikeouts to pick up a Western victory.

“I was excited to pitch today,” Cameron said. “My stuff was working for me.”

Sophomore center fielder Kes Carter and junior catcher Matt Rice hit back-to-back home runs in the fifth inning to pace Western’s offense. Those two combined for five hits and four RBI.

“Our offense did good today against a tough Baylor squad,” Finwood said. “We had just enough offense to win.”

After scoring 28 runs against Kent State in its first series of the year, Western scored just 15 this weekend.

“Our offense stuck in there,” Rice said. “We faced some good pitching and couldn’t find the holes the whole time but we did enough to win.”

They managed to win the games based on their pitching, Finwood said. Eight pitchers combined to give up only six runs during the weekend.

“We pitched great all weekend,” Finwood said. “Our starters and relievers did their job for us.”

Western beat Texas St. 4-3 on Saturday as they drew two bases-loaded walks in the eighth inning to score the winning runs. Sophomore first baseman Casey Dykes had three of the Toppers’ six hits.

They began the tournament by beating Texas A&M, who was ranked No. 29 in the nation. The Aggies committed five errors in the game to benefit the Toppers.

“We hit the ball at them hard to force them into errors,” Finwood said.

The Toppers have now won five straight games after dropping their season opener and are back at Nick Denes field at 3  p.m. Tuesday to take on Austin Peay.

A season after coming within two innings of winning the Oxford Regional and advancing to the Super Regionals of the NCAA baseball tournament, junior catcher Matt Rice said Western will be disappointed if the team doesn’t get back to that point.

“Our goal of getting to the regional and advancing to the Super Regional is there, because our program is at a point where that is possible for us and certainly a goal for us,” Rice said.

The Toppers will have to build on last year’s 42-win season though five players left to play professional ball.

The Toppers will have to replace their power hitters, as the five who left accounted for 59 home runs last season.

“You replace those kids with your other kids being a year older, bigger and stronger and more experienced and improved,” Head Coach Chris Finwood said.

Senior first baseman Jake Wells said Western isn’t trying to replace the power it lost but is working on other ways to get runs across the plate.

“It’s not going to be more of hitting home runs this year,” Wells said. “It’s going to be more of hitting doubles, hitting singles, moving runners and manufacturing runs.”

With the absence of power in the lineup, Finwood said they’ll look to other ways to score runs.

“We will bunt more than we did last year, we will run more than we did last year, and we are capable of doing those two really well,” he said.

While Western played consistently well last season, Finwood said he expects the team to make strides throughout the year.

“I think it will be a group that will continue to improve as the season goes along, because we’ve got some younger guys that either have not played a lot or are playing for the first time,” Finwood said. “Those guys can do it. They just got to go out and perform.”

Rice will be back this year to lead the Western offensive attack a season after he averaged .399 at the plate and set a Western record with 101 hits throughout the season.

Rice expects big things from the lineup, but he said the pitching staff this year is the best he has seen while at Western.

Senior pitcher Matt Ridings will return for his senior year to anchor the pitching staff after leading the team in wins the past three years.

“Ridings is throwing the ball better than I’ve ever seen him throw it,” Finwood said. “He’s really going to be tough to deal with for opposing hitters.”

A lot of pressure was taken off the pitching staff last year as the offense had 25 games in which they scored more than 10 runs.

Senior closer Bart Carter said he’s still confident in the Toppers’ offense, but Carter knows the pitching staff can also get the job done if needed.

Finwood said he hopes for further success from his team this year, but he expects a big challenge in replicating last season’s success.

“It’s tough to get to this level, but it’s even tougher to get to the next level,” Finwood said.

The Toppers begin their season Friday with a three-game home series against Kent State.

With Western’s baseball season still three months away, motivation may be hard to come by for the team. But the Toppers say they have all the motivation they need.

“Our goal this year is to win the regional,” sophomore shortstop Logan Robbins said. “We came close last year, so we are working harder this year to win it this year.”

Fall practice will conclude this weekend with the Fall World Series, an annual best-of-three intrasquad tournament.

“It is a fun way to finish team practices for the fall,” Head Coach Chris Finwood said. “The guys definitely get after it.”

The winning team will eat steaks at a team cookout before Saturday’s Homecoming football game, with the losers receiving hot dogs. The losing team will also have to give the winners the shirts off their backs, Finwood said.

But Robbins said pride is the biggest incentive to play well in the series.

“All of us want to win so we can brag to each other about it the rest of the year,” Robbins said.

The Toppers have been practicing together since October, but this weekend will be the last time they will play as a team until preseason practice begins in January.

Finwood said he’s been impressed with how the team has progressed throughout the fall season.

“We have been improving every day, and when you get the kind of guys who want to improve, it makes it so much easier on us,” Finwood said.

Robbins said the team has been focusing more on personal improvements throughout the fall.

“We have been helping each other out in individual workouts in practice,” Robbins said.

Finwood said the goal of fall practice is to determine where players will be able to make the most impact in the spring.

“It is important to figure out who fits in each position now before the preseason starts,” Finwood said.

Western went 42-20 last season and won three games in the Oxford Regional of the NCAA tournament as a No. 3 seed. The Toppers also finished the year ranked 23rd in the Collegiate Baseball poll. Last season’s team relied on power hitting, but Finwood said there may be a different style of play this year.

“We lost a lot of power, but we are still going to be putting pressure on the defense,” Finwood said. “We may bunt more, especially early in the season.”

The players say they’re looking forward to their first game action since the spring.

“It will be good to have live games this weekend,” junior catcher Matt Rice said. “These type of games are good for the young guys.”

Western continues the Fall World Series at 5 p.m. tonight and at 10 a.m. on Saturday at Nick Denes Field. The event is free and open to the public.