WASHINGTON, Pa. – The West Liberty University baseball team picked up its first win of the season here Sunday, pulling out a 5-3 victory against Pitt-Johnstown in the second game of a doubleheader at Wild Things Park.
    It was a good finish to a busy weekend for Coach Eric Burkle's Hilltoppers (1-11), who had dropped an 8-7 nine-inning heartbreaker in Sunday's first game after being swept by the Mountain Cats (9-4) on Saturday by scores of 7-2 and 9-3.
    Sam Aulick carried a 5-hit shutout into the seventh inning and weathered a late UPJ uprising to finish off the complete game win. Aulick held Pitt-Johnstown to just six hits while striking out six and walking six.
    The Hilltoppers managed just five hits of their own but took advantage of some shaky Mountain Cat fielding to provide Aulick with a comfortable working cushion.
    Dalton Davis's RBI groundout in the top of the first put West Liberty ahead to stay and Tyler Ramsay doubled the lead with an RBI double in the top of the fourth.
    A throwing error and Coby Eckstein's RBI single produced two more Hilltopper runs in the fifth inning and an infield error allowed the final WLU run to cross the plate in the sixth.
    Eckstein accounted for two of West Liberty's five hits with a double and a single while Chad Matthus and Bailey McGrath each scored a pair of runs.
    In the first game, West Liberty stormed back from an early 7-2 deficit to force the game into extra innings only to see UPJ get the leadoff man on base in the bottom of the ninth and work three straight walks to force in the winning run.
    Matthus smacked out two singles and drove in a run for West Liberty while Colton Coss and Jared Houser each delivered 2-run singles. McGrath doubled for WLU's lone extra-base hit.
    On Saturday, McGrath delivered a clutch 2-out, 2-run single in the bottom of the first to stake the Hilltoppers to an early 2-0 lead in the first game but WLU couldn't hold off the Mountain Cats.
    Parker Dyson carried a 1-hit shutout into the fifth but surrendered an RBI triple in that frame, cutting the lead in half, before UPJ broke through with three runs in the top of the sixth to take the lead for good.
    Pitt-Johnstown added three more tallies in the seventh to close out the scoring as the Hilltopper bats were held to just one single over the final six innings.
    McGrath had two of West Liberty's four hits.
    in the second game, the Mountain Cats broke up a 1-1 tie with three runs in the top of the third and put the game out of reach with four more in the fifth.
    Jason Schutte led WLU at the plate with a double, single and RBI while Coss tripled and drove in a run, Davis had an RBI single and Eckstein added a double.
    West Liberty is scheduled to open its Mountain East Conference schedule at home this weekend with back-to-back doubleheaders against UVa-Wise and Concord on Saturday and Sunday.