In the second of out stretch drive breakdown posts we’ll look at Western Kentucky University. The Hilltoppers looked certain to gain at at-large NCAA tournament bid from the Sun Belt Conference a few weeks ago, but WKU has dropped three of  its last four series to land squarely on the bubble. Both Rivals.com and Baseball America currently have WKU out of the NCAA tournament as the sixth-place Sun Belt team simply doesn’t deserve a bid.

At this point WKU needs series wins against Sun Belt second-place Louisiana Lafayette and fourth place Middle Tennessee over the final two weeks to have a shot at the NCAA tournament. Despite being in sixth place, WKU is only three games back of Sun Belt leader Florida Atlantic in the loss column and is No. 46 in the RPI so anything is possible. The guess here is the Hilltoppers need to finish in the top three of the Sun Belt to make the NCAA tournament.

(You can see the Rivals.com field of 64 projection here and the Baseball America stock report here.)