Baseball | 4/7/2019 5:51:00 PM

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2     AVON, Ohio – The West Liberty University baseball team dropped two more close contests to Notre Dame (Ohio) here Sunday in their second Mountain East Conference doubleheader of the weekend at Sprenger Stadium.
    After coming up short in a pair of one-run decisions on Saturday, Coach Eric Burkle's Hilltoppers (4-25, 3-13) saw the host Falcons (14-17, 8-8) complete the weekend sweep by scores of 2-0 and 11-9.
    Fueled by a two-run triple off the bat of Dalton Davis, West Liberty jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in the finale but couldn't hang on as momentum swung back and forth throughout.
    Notre Dame plated five runs in the bottom of the second to take a 5-4 lead but WLU answered with a two-spot in the top of the third for a 6-5 advantage. The Falcons then scored four runs – three unearned – in the bottom of the fourth to take the lead for good.
    Bailey McGrath scored two runs and finished a home run shy of the cycle with a single, double and triple for the Black and Gold. Davis had a single to go along with his triple while Chad Matthus singled twice and drove in a run. Tyler Ramsay slammed a solo home run and Jarrett Delbrugge added an RBI base knock.
    In the first game, West Liberty was held to three harmless singles by Notre Dame hurler Chris Murphy and the hosts snapped a scoreless tie with two unearned runs in the sixth to get the win.
    The Hilltoppers' Tyler Blomquist carried a 4-hit shutout into the sixth but was relieved after surrendering a leadoff single. Two walks, a costly error and a sacrifice fly followed to give the Falcons a 2-0 lead and the win.
    Blomquist took the hard-luck loss, despite allowing only 5 singles and no earned runs in 5-plus innings of work.
    West Liberty's biggest threat came in the top of the third when Jared Houser and Chad Matthus stroked back-to-back one-out singles. Murphy retired the next two batters in order and blanked WLU on one hit the rest of the way.
    The Hilltoppers will try to get back on track this weekend when they host Urbana in back-to-back MEC doubleheaders at Kovalick Field. The Saturday/Sunday twinbills are set for 1 p.m. starts.