Baseball | 5/1/2018 7:56:00 PM

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
    INDIANA, Pa. – Bub Haddox got his 200th career hit and the West Liberty University baseball team split a pair of slugfests with Indiana (Pa.) here Tuesday at warm and sunny Dougherty Field.
    Coach Eric Burkle's Hilltoppers (18-24) battled back from a 9-run deficit to take an 18-15 nod in the first game but the host Crimson Hawks (15-25) rebounded for a 13-4 win in the finale.
    Things looked dark for the Black and Gold midway through the lid-lifter as IUP tallied multiple runs in each of the first four innings to take a seemingly-insurmountable 11-2 lead into the fifth inning.
    After West Liberty scored five runs in the top of the fifth to pull within striking distance, the Hilltoppers used a double play and a strikeout to get out of the bottom of the fifth and went right back to work.
    The Black and Gold sent 14 batters to the plate in the top of the sixth and eight of them scored. That put WLU on top, 15-11, but the Crimson Hawks weren't ready to fold.
    Indiana pounded out five hits in the bottom of the frame – two of them circuit blasts – to push four runs across the plate and tie the game at 15-15 heading to the seventh.
    A walk and two IUP errors loaded the bases for Bub Haddox, who ripped a 2-run single to right that finally put the Hilltoppers ahead to stay. West Liberty added another unearned run later in the inning and Luke Nees retired the Crimson Hawks in order in the bottom of the seventh to seal the win.
    Haddox's clutch hit was his second of the game and the 200th of his career. The 2-time All-MEC second baseman from Newell, W.Va. is just 11 hits away from D.J. Busby's school record of 211 career hits.
    The Hilltoppers pounded out 14 hits as a team in the opener and were also helped out by eight walks and five IUP errors. Nick Bakaitis had three singles and drove in a pair of runs while Tyler Cooley picked up two RBIs with a double and single. Haddox and Justice Jackson each chased home three runs with two base knocks, Tyler Ramsay added a pair of singles, Ethan Estes had an RBI double and Chad Matthus added a single and three RBIs.
    The Crimson Hawks carried an 11-2 lead into the fifth inning of the second game, as well, and West Liberty had run out of comeback magic.
    Eric Banal homered and singled for the Hilltoppers and Tyler Blomquist also connected on a solo shot. Jarrett Delbrugge weighed in with a 2-run single and Brian Campbell tripled in a losing cause.
    The Hilltoppers host Ohio County rival Wheeling Jesuit Friday afternoon on Senior Day at Kovalick Field. Coach Burkle will honor his seniors in a brief ceremony prior to the start of the 1 p.m. doubleheader.
  West Liberty                               010 158 3 - 18  14  0
Indiana (Pa.)                               324 204 0 - 15  19  5
     WLU: Sinisgalli (0SO, 1W), Viakley (3) (2SO, 2W), Nees wp (1SO, 1W) and Cooley. Bakaitis 3S, 2rbi; Cooley D, S, 2rbi; V.Haddox 2S, 3rbi; Jackson 2S, 3rbi; Ramsay 2S; Estes D, rbi; Eckstein D; Matthus S, 3rbi
     IUP: Hart (3SO, 3W), Heffner (5) (0SO, 1W), Holman (5) (1SO, 2W), Seymour (6) (0SO, 1W), Roan lp (6) (0SO, 1W), McClure (7) (1SO, 0W) and Farina, Mueller (5). Sepic 2D, S, 4rbi; Bonadio 3S, rbi; Eisel 2HR, 3rbi; De Santi D, S, 2rbi; Rigous Polites D, S, 2rbi; D, S; Farina 2S, rbi; Carson HR, rbi
  West Liberty                               200 020 0 -   4    8  0
Indiana (Pa.)                               600 510 x - 13  11  0
     WLU: Stocklask lp (0SO, 4W), Bernard (1) (2SO, 2W), Follina (4) (1SO, 2W), Gruber (6) (1SO, 0W) and Fike. Banal HR, S, rbi; Blomquist HR, rbi; Ja.Delbrugge S, 2rbi; Campbell T
     IUP: Hudock wp (5SO, 2W), Adams (5) (4SO, 2W), Pellis (7) (2SO, 1W) and Mueller, Farina (5). Rigous HR, S, 2rbi; De Santi D, S, 3rbi; Bonadio D, S, rbi; Eisel 2S, 2rbi; Wheeler D, rbi; Sepic T; Dickey T