Baseball | 3/25/2018 8:56:00 PM

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

    WHEELING, W.Va. – Senior standout Justin Retzer fired a one-hit shutout here Sunday as the West Liberty University baseball team split a Mountain East Conference doubleheader with West Virginia Wesleyan.
    The games were played at the Wheeling Park High School diamond.
    Coach Eric Burkle's Hilltoppers (5-8, 3-3) rode Retzer's strong right arm to a 9-0 victory in the opener but some WLU fielding woes allowed the Bobcats (5-15, 4-4) to escape with a 9-7 win in the finale.
    Retzer, a senior righthander from Ford City, Pa., was in command from the start as Wesleyan didn't get its initial baserunner until Dominic Castello reached on an infield error with two out in the fifth.
    The Hilltopper hurler ultimately came within three outs of finishing off his no-hitter as the Bobcats' Eric Forbrick led off the top of the seventh with a clean double. Retzer retired the next three batters to wrap up his complete-game gem.
    Retzer's final line showed 9 strikeouts and no walks in a near-flawless performance and his Hilltopper teammates provided plenty of offensive support with an 11-hit barrage.
    Bub Haddox led the way with two doubles, two singles and a pair of RBIs and Nolan Marcus weighed in with a couple of singles. Ethan Estes doubled and drove in a pair of runs while Coby Eckstein and Hunter Westlake each had a single and two RBIs.
    Momentum swung back and forth several times in the second game but Wesleyan took advantage of four West Liberty errors to plate six unearned runs in the come-from-behind victory.
    After pounding out 11 hits in the opener, the Hilltoppers managed just five hits in the finale.
    Marcus had two more singles while Tyler Ramsey doubled home a pair of runs and Justice Jackson also had an RBI double. Haddox added a run-scoring single in a losing cause.
    West Liberty returns to the hilltop on Monday to host Glenville State in a doubleheader. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. at Kovalick Field.
  W.Va. Wesleyan                       000 000 0 - 0    1  6
West Liberty                               100 035 x - 9  11  1
     WVW: Brouwer lp (3SO, 0W), Cliff (6) (0SO, 0W) and Castello. Forbrick D
     WLU: Retzer wp (9SO, 0W) and Davis. V.Haddox 2D, 2S, 2rbi; Marcus 2S; Estes D, 2rbi; Eckstein S, 2rbi; Westlake S, 2rbi
  W.Va. Wesleyan                       103 012 2 - 9  10  4
West Liberty                               032 020 0 - 7    5  4
     WVW: Metz (0SO, 3W), Medina (3) (1SO, 1W), Riggleman (4) (0SO, 1W), Metrick wp (5) (2SO, 0W) and Cintron. Cintron D, 2S, 2rbi; Jano D, S, rbi; Forbrick D, S; Petit S, rbi; Kania 2rbi
     WLU: Grimm (3SO, 2W), Hildreth (4) (1SO, 3W), Shook lp (6) (2SO, 1W), Nees (7) (0SO, 0W) and Harper. Marcus 2S; Ramsay D, 2rbi; Jackson D, rbi; V.Haddox S, rbi