Baseball | 5/7/2015 10:25:00 PM
Box Score BECKLEY, W.Va. – The West Liberty University baseball team dropped a 4-1 decision to Notre Dame (Ohio) here Thursday night in the first round of the Mountain East Conference Tournament at Linda K. Epling Stadium.
Coach Eric Burkle's Hilltoppers (28-20) will try to keep their season alive Friday afternoon when they take on regular-season champion Shepherd (37-10) at 3 p.m. in the second round of the double-elimination event. Thursday's loss was a frustrating one for the Black and Gold as West Liberty pounded out nine hits and had runners on base in seven of the nine innings only to leave 10 of them stranded on the evening.
The Falcons (25-17) jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third when Keifer Quick laced a two-out, two-run single through the infield.
The Hilltoppers closed the gap to 2-1 in the top of the seventh when Anthony Pierro singled home Jon-Michael Brunner but Notre Dame tacked on single tallies in the seventh and eighth frames to keep West Liberty at bay. Seven of the nine Hilltopper starters had a hit. Brunner singled, doubled and scored WLU's only run while Tim Mirandy banged out a pair of singles. Shepherd blanked West Virginia Wesleyan, 7-0, in the first game of the day while Concord outslugged West Virginia State, 13-8, in the other first-round contest.
Wesleyan and State will play Friday at 11 a.m. in an elimination game on Friday with West Liberty and Shepherd to follow. Concord and Notre Dame will close out Friday's action with a 7 p.m. winners' bracket tilt at 7 p.m.
BASEBALL
MEC Tournament
First Round
Notre Dame 4, West Liberty 1
West Liberty 000 000 100 – 1 9 1
Notre Dame 002 000 11x – 4 7 0
WLU: Smyth lp (3SO, 2W) and Carranza. Brunner D, S; Mirandy 2S; Pierro S, rbi
NDC: Gresch wp (5SO, 1W), Ramos (9) (0SO, 0W) and Kirsh, Findlay (9). Miller D, S; Beaver D, rbi; Fields D, rbi; Quick S, 2rbi
