SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. – The West Liberty University baseball team dropped both ends of a Mountain East Conference doubleheader at regionally-ranked Shepherd on Thursday.
    Coach Eric Burkle's Hilltoppers (8-27, 7-15) couldn't cool off the Rams (27-10, 17-3) and their red-hot bats as Shepherd - now 17-0 at home on the season - prevailed by scores of 17-2 and 12-5.
    Ranked No. 3 in the latest NCAA Division II Atlantic Region poll, the Rams jumped on WLU with seven runs in the first two innings of the opener and never took their foot off the gas.
    West Liberty scratched out single tallies in the third and fifth frames but Shepherd pounded out a dozen hits with seven of them going for extra-bases and four of them clearing the wall in the runaway win.
    Dalton Davis had an RBI single and drove in the Hilltoppers' other run on a fielder's choice. Colton Coss had a single and a double, Chad Matthus singled twice and Jared Houser doubled in a losing cause.
    In the second game, the Rams scored at least one run in each of the first five innings to open up a 12-0 lead. West Liberty responded by batting around in the top of the sixth to score five runs but couldn't climb all the way back.
    Bailey McGrath's two-run single highlighted the sixth-inning uprising for the Black and Gold. Coby Eckstein and Jason Schutte also had RBI base knocks.
    After returning home for Easter Weekend, the Hilltoppers will be back in Shepherdstown on Monday for another 1 p.m. doubleheader.