WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The West Liberty University baseball team dropped a heartbreaking 3-1 decision to Fairmont State in a 12-inning marathon Saturday afternoon at Kovalick Field.
    The second game of the scheduled doubleheader was stopped by darkness after 4 1/2 innings with WLU holding a commanding 10-3 lead. The game will be completed on Sunday prior to the start of Sunday's twinbill between the two squads.
    Saturday's game began as a pitcher's duel between veteran aces Parker Dyson of West Liberty (8-31, 7-18) and Michael Stout of the Falcons (23-18, 14-11).
    Both pitchers had to work their way out of several jams as the teams combined to leave a staggering total of 24 runners on base but neither ace surrendered an earned run during his time on the mound.
    Dyson held Fairmont to just 3 hits over 6 innings of work while striking out four and working around seven bases-on-balls. Stout scattered 5 hits over 8 innings with 7 strikeouts and no walks.
    The Hilltoppers broke through with an unearned run in the bottom of the second and the Falcons answered with an unearned tally of their own in the top of the third. The teams traded zeros the rest of the way until the top of the 12th.
    That's when FSU pinch-hitter Brooks Carr launched a 2-run home run over the left-center field wall. The Hilltoppers, who had stranded runners on second and third in the bottom of the 11th, got two runners on base in the 12th but couldn't come up with the game-tying hit.
    Chad Matthus reached base three times with two singles and a walk to lead the WLU attack. Tyler Ramsay drove in the Hilltoppers' only run in the bottom of the second and Kaden Blomquist came through with a double in the 12th.
    The teams will return to Kovalick Field Sunday at 1 p.m. for the completion of the suspended game. The regularly-scheduled doubleheader will follow.