Baseball | 5/4/2019 9:19:00 PM

Box Score     WHEELING, W.Va. – The West Liberty University baseball team dropped a 6-3 decision to Wheeling Jesuit on Saturday in the first game of a scheduled doubleheader at a soggy Chambers I-470 Complex. Game Two was postponed due to rain with WJU holding a 2-1 lead in the third inning.
    In the first game, Coach Eric Burkle's Hilltoppers (9-35) mounted a late surge but couldn't climb all the way back from an early 3-0 deficit as the host Cardinals (10-33) held on for the win.
    Wheeling Jesuit took advantage of two West Liberty errors to break up a scoreless tie with three runs in the bottom of the second. Another error gave WJU an unearned tally in the bottom of the fourth, pushing the lead to 4-0, but that's when the West Liberty bats rumbled to life.
    A Jarrett Delbrugge single in the top of the fifth moved Jason Schutte into scoring position and Schutte sprinted around to score on an infield error, putting the visitors on the board.
    Jesuit got that run back in the bottom of the frame but the Hilltoppers put up a crooked number in the top of the sixth when Chad Matthus smoked a two-out, two-run single through the right side, cutting the deficit to 5-3.
    The Cardinals added one more run in the bottom of the sixth and West Liberty went down in order in the seventh to bring down the curtain.
    Coby Eckstein had a double and a single for the Black and Gold while Delbrugge added a pair of base knocks to lead a seven-hit attack.
    The teams will close out their season on Sunday with a Senior Day doubleheader at Kovalick Field. The teams will complete Saturday's suspended game beginning at 1 p.m. prior to the regularly-scheduled twinbill.