Baseball | 2/24/2018 9:19:00 PM

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

    HOLLY SPRINGS, N.C. – The West Liberty University baseball team dropped a non-conference doubleheader to Slippery Rock (Pa.) Saturday afternoon at Ting Park.
    The Rock (2-1) played long ball with Coach Eric Burkle's Hilltoppers (2-2) in pounding out a 14-4 win in the opener before taking a 3-1 win in a pitchers' duel to complete the sweep.
    West Liberty drew first blood in the opener with an RBI single from Ethan Estes in the top of the first but Slippery Rock went ahead to stay with 5 runs in the bottom of the second and never looked back.
    The Hilltoppers tried to get back in the game with a 2-run homer from Coby Eckstein in the top of the sixth but The Rock belted two home runs and put 7 more runs on the board in the bottom of the frame to wrap things up.
    Hunter Westlake singled twice and drove in a run while Colton Coss also had a pair of hits for West Liberty.
    In the second game, Mitchell Viakley was saddled with the hard-luck loss despite holding The Rock to just six singles while striking out 5 over 5 2/3 innings.
    Unfortunately for the Black and Gold, Slippery Rock bunched three of those singles together during the second inning to score all three of its runs.
    Eckstein singled home a run for West Liberty in the top of the fourth but The Rock turned an inning-ending double play to escape with no further damage. The Hilltoppers left the bases loaded in the top of the sixth and had the tying runs on base with one out in the seventh but couldn't come up with the equalizer.
    West Liberty will close out its North Carolina trip on Sunday with a scheduled 9-inning game at Ting Park against Seton Hill (Pa.), beginning at 1 p.m.
  West Liberty                               100 002 1 –    4    8  0
Slippery Rock                              050 027 x –  14  14  1
     WLU: Grimm lp (4SO, 2W), Sinisgalli (5) (0SO, 2W), Orillion (6) (0SO, 0W) and Davis. Westlake 2S, rbi; Coss 2S; Eckstein HR, 2rbi; Estes S, rbi
     SRU: Tapp wp (12SO, 0W), Stanz (7) (0SO, 1W) and Walters. Fuscardo HR, 3S, 4rbi; Jezioro D, 2S, 3rbi; Wise HR, S, 3rbi; Merigliano D, S, rbi; Walters HR, 2rbi
  West Liberty                               000 100 0 –  1  4  0
Slippery Rock                              030 000 x –  3  6  1
     WLU: Viakley lp (5SO, 4W), V.Haddox (6) (1SO, 0W) and Harper. Eckstein S, rbi
     SRU: Gordon wp (3SO, 0W), Daugherty (6) (3SO, 3W) and Porterfield. Campagna 2S; Mow S, 2rbi; Jezioro S, rbi