WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The West Liberty University baseball team opened the final weekend of the regular season by splitting a West Virginia Conference doubleheader with Wheeling Jesuit Saturday afternoon at Kovalick Field.

Coach Eric Burkle's Hilltoppers (21-24, 18-15) posted a 2-1 win in the opener only to see the Cardinals (15-24, 12-16) rally for an 11-6 decision in the finale.

Mark Smyth led the way for West Liberty in the opener as the talented freshman hurler handcuffed Wheeling Jesuit in a complete-game gem.

Smyth had four strikeouts and didn't walk a batter in the route-going performance. He came within an out of hurling a three-hit shutout before yielding a solo home run to Tim Giebel with two out in the top of the seventh.

The Hilltoppers were held to just three singles but the opportunistic hosts made the most of them, scratching out unearned runs in each of the first two innings to give Smyth all the cushion he needed.

West Liberty appeared to be cruising to a doubleheader sweep when it took a 6-4 lead into the sixth inning of the second game but WJU exploded for seven runs in its last two at-bats to salvage the split.

The Cardinal comeback took a bit of the edge off a big game by West Liberty's Mike Johnson, who belted a pair of home runs to chase home half of the Hilltoppers' six runs. Scott Castilow added a two-run single.

The teams return to Kovalick Field on Sunday for the final game of the regular season, a scheduled nine-inning contest set for a 1 p.m. start.

BASEBALL

West Liberty 2, Wheeling Jesuit 1

Wheeling Jesuit 000 000 1 – 1  4  3

West Liberty 110 000 x – 2  3  2

WJU: Lang lp (1SO, 1W) and Giebel. Giebel HR, rbi

WLU: Smyth wp (4SO, 0W) and Nagel. 

Wheeling Jesuit 11, West Liberty 6

Wheeling Jesuit 000 042 5 – 11  14  2

West Liberty 020 130 0 –   6    9  2

WJU: Acierno (2SO, 5W), Sancomb (6) (0SO, 0W), Fritts wp (6) (3SO, 0W) and Giebel. Ammar HR, 2D, S, 6rbi; Giebel 3S, rbi; Kowalczyk D, S; Briski 2S, rbi; Medley 2S; Davia D, 2rbi

WLU: Reef (1SO, 3W), Daugherty (5) (1SO, 0W), Graham lp (7) (1SO, 2W) and Nagel. Johnson 2HR, 3rbi; Castilow S, 2rbi; Denman D, Brunner rbi