Baseball | 3/31/2019 5:53:00 PM
Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The West Liberty University baseball team split a Mountain East Conference doubleheader with West Virginia State on Sunday in WLU's first games of the season at Kovalick Field.
Coach
Eric Burkle's Hilltoppers (4-18, 3-7) powered their way to a 6-2 win in the opener with the Yellow Jackets (10-13, 7-3) eking out a 2-1 win in the finale.
In that first game, West Liberty exploded for four two-out runs in the bottom of the second inning and senior lefty
Parker Dyson made them stand up with a strong mound performance.
With WLU facing an early 1-0 deficit,
Jared Houser and
Jason Schutte worked back-to-back two-out walks to keep the second inning alive. A
Chad Matthus RBI single knotted the game at 1-1 and
Coby Eckstein followed with a 3-run blast over the left field wall for a 4-1 West Liberty lead.
Dyson held WVSU to just five hits and one earned run over the first 6 2/3 innings, striking out 11 and walking two. The visitors plated an unearned run in the top of the seventh and had the tying run on deck when
Luke Nees came out of the bullpen to strike out the only hitter he faced and earn the save.
West Liberty pounded out 11 hits in the win.
Dalton Davis had a double, single and RBI while
Colton Coss singled twice and drove in a run.
Jarrett Delbrugge had two singles and scored a run.
In the second game, West Virginia State scored an unearned run to snap a 1-1 tie in the top of the fifth and held off the Hilltoppers down the stretch to salvage the split.
The Yellow Jackets struck first with a two-out RBI single in the opening frame but Delbrugge short-hopped the wall with a double in the second inning and sprinted home with the tying run on
Tyler Ramsay's RBI single.
Unfortunately for the hosts, WVSU starter Kenneth Daniels slammed the door the rest of the way, yielding only a
Bailey McGrath double over the final five frames.
The Hilltoppers return to Kovalick Field on Monday for a 1 p.m. doubleheader against the University of Charleston.
