Baseball | 4/2/2011 7:03:01 PM

BOX SCORE

WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The West Liberty University baseball team jumped out to an early lead against Pitt-Johnstown on Saturday but couldn't hang on, dropping an 8-5 decision on a brutally cold and wet afternoon at Kovalick Field.

The Hilltoppers scored all five of their runs in the bottom of the fourth when they bashed out five hits while batting around to take a 5-1 lead.

Josh Nagel had an RBI single, Dillon Mangino added an RBI double and Trent Chapman capped the rally with a run-scoring triple as West Liberty sent nine men to the plate during the inning.

The lead proved short-lived, however, as the Hilltopper defense had a difficult time handling the challenging weather conditions.

Pitt-Johnstown took advantage of two WLU errors to score five runs of its own in the top of the fifth and take a 6-5 lead. Another West Liberty error – the hosts' seventh of the game – opened the door to a pair of UPJ insurance tallies in the top of the seventh.

Chapman and Zane Madden led the Hilltopper attack with two hits each while Mike Reef went the distance on the mound, striking out 7 and allowing only 3 earned runs to take the hard-luck loss.

The second game of Saturday's scheduled doubleheader was postponed by a mixture of snow, sleet and rain. It was rescheduled as part of what will now be a 12 p.m. Sunday twinbill at Kovalick Field.

BASEBALL

Pitt-Johnstown 8, West Liberty 5

Pitt Johnstown                    010 050 2 -  8  7  0

West Liberty                       000 500 0 -  5  8  7

    UPJ: Fees wp (8SO, 0W), Naggy (7) (0SO, 2W) and Vignero. Martin HR, 2S, 4rbi; Rubal HR, S, 2rbi

    WL: Reef lp (7SO, 1W) and D.Daugherty. Chapman T, S, rbi; Madden 2S, rbi; Mangino D, rbi; Nagel S, rbi