Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The West Liberty University baseball team dropped both ends of a Mountain East Conference doubleheader to the University of Charleston here Monday afternoon at the Welch Athletic Complex.

    The Golden Eagles (16-4, 4-0) outlasted Coach Eric Burkle's Hilltoppers (5-13, 1-3) in an 11-inning marathon to pull out a 4-2 win in the opening game before cruising to a 10-0 victory in the finale.

    West Liberty was one strike away from victory in that lengthy first game but couldn't seal the deal.

    Clinging to a 2-1 lead, the Hilltoppers walked the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh. Reliever Trevor Thomas fanned the next batter on a 3-2 pitch and got the second when the next hitter popped out on the infield off another 3-2 pitch.

    The first two pitches to the next batter, Hector Carreon-Herrera, were strikes but Carreon-Herrera managed to draw a walk on yet another 3-2 pitch forcing in the tying run and sending the game into extra innings.

    The Hilltoppers loaded the bases with one out in the eighth but back-to-back strikeouts kept the score knotted at 2-2. West Liberty loaded the bases again in the top of the 10th only to see an infield grounder short-circuit that threat.

    Clay Hale eventually won it for Charleston with a two-run home run in the bottom of the 11th.

    Thomas doubled home WLU's first run in the top of the third and Kayne McGee followed with an RBI single, one of his two hits in the game, to give the visitors an early 2-0 lead.

    The second game was all Golden Eagles as the hosts racked up 11 runs in their final three at-bats to put it away. Three Charleston hurlers combined on a one-hit shutout with Ty Helmke's 2-out single in the top of the third accounting for West Liberty's only hit.

    The Hilltoppers return home this weekend for a pair of MEC twinbills. West Liberty hosts Davis & Elkins on Saturday with West Virginia Wesleyan invading Kovalick Field on Sunday. Both doubleheaders start at 1 p.m.

BASEBALL

Charleston 4, West Liberty 2

(One out when winning runs scored)

West Liberty             002 000 000 00 - 2  5  3

Charleston                000 100 100 02 - 4  4  0

     WLU: Dobson (4SO, 8W), Winter (5) (0SO, 0W), Harmon (7) (0SO, 2W), Thomas lp (3SO, 2W) and Hawkins, Jackson (7). McGee 2S, rbi; Thomas D, rbi

     UC: Beckner (3SO, 3W), Dean (3) (2SO, 1W), Shepherd (5) (4SO, 1W), Dzierwa (8) (2SO, 1W), Gormley wp (10) (3SO, 2W) and Dellarman. Martinez S, rbi; Hale HR, 2rbi; Carreon-Herrera rbi

Charleston 14, West Liberty 0

West Liberty             000 000 0 -   0    1  2

Charleston                030 344 x - 14  11  0

     WLU: Conley lp (2SO, 9W), Pelaez (4) (1SO, 3W), Cerjan (5) (1SO, 1W) and Goodyear. Helmke S

     UC: Rush wp (1SO, 1W), Glazebrook (4) (3SO, 1W), MacNeil (6) (1SO, 0W) and Ulrich. Zuccaro HR, S, 3rbi; Dellerman S, 2rbi; Klaserner S, 2rbi; Hale HR, S, 4rbi; Martinez S, rbi; Ulrich S, rbi