BECKLEY, W.Va. – Regionally-ranked West Virginia State snapped a 2-2 tie with a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the seventh inning and tacked on a couple of insurance runs in the eighth here Thursday to hand West Liberty a 6-2 loss in the first round of the Mountain East Conference baseball tournament.

Coach Eric Burkle and his Hilltoppers (27-23) will return to Linda K. Epling Stadium at 11 a.m. Friday to take on Concord (23-26) in an elimination game. The Mountain Lions came out on the short end of a 14-10 slugfest against top-seeded Shepherd in Thursday's tournament lid-lifter.

It was a frustrating afternoon for the Black and Gold who put runners on base in eight of the nine innings but couldn't come up with the clutch hit. West Liberty finished the day just 2-for-17 with runners on base, scoring its only two runs on a fielder's choice and a bases-loaded walk.

The Hilltoppers drew first blood in the top of the second as Connor Coup led off with a single, moved to second on a wild pitch and advanced to third on an Ethan Estes single. Nolan Marcus brought Coup home on a fielder's choice but a strikeout and another infield grounder ended the threat.

State tied the game in the bottom of the second without benefit of a hit, taking advantage of a walk, hit-by-pitch and an error to come up with the equalizer.

The Yellow Jackets took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth when Trent Porter launched a two-out home run over the left field fence but West Liberty got something going as rain began to fall in the top of the seventh.

With one out Marcus worked the count full before drawing a walk and Justice Jackson singled to put runners on first and second. State starter Dustin Kincaid appeared to be running out of gas as he hit Jarred Carranza with the next pitch to load the bases and walked D.J. Busby on five pitches to force in the tying run.

Unfortunately for WLU, the game was stopped at that point for a 30-minute rain delay. When play resumed, a rejuvenated Kincaid got out of the jam with no further damage with an infield popup and a groundout.

The Yellow Jackets used a pair of outfield errors, a walk and a pair of singles to take the lead for good with two runs in the bottom of the seventh. Three more walks and a pair of hits – all with two out – produced the game's final two runs in the bottom of the eighth.

Jackson had two hits for West Liberty while Busby singled and drove in a run. Jordon Meyer had the Hilltoppers' only extra-base hit, a first-inning double.

BASEBALL

MEC Tournament

(at Beckley, W.Va.)

W.Va. State 6, West Liberty 2

West Liberty 010 000 100 - 2  7  3

W.Va. State 010 010 22x - 6  8  0

WLU: Stagani lp (4SO, 2W), Bond (8) (0SO, 2W), Fuscardo (8) (0SO, 1W) and Carranza. Jackson 2S; Busby S, rbi; Meyer D

WVS: Kincaid wp (4SO, 4W), Johnson (9) (1SO, 0W) and Frantz. Jones 3S, rbi; Porter HR, S, 2rbi; Patterson S, rbi; Kiser D; Graham D