PHILIPPI, W.Va. – The West Liberty University baseball team continued its recent offensive surge on Friday, hammering its way to a doubleheader sweep of Alderson Broaddus in Mountain East Conference action at Jack Funk Field.

    Coach Eric Burkle's Hilltoppers (13-22, 8-10) outslugged the host Battlers (9-24, 3-15) by a 10-7 count in the opener before running away to a 13-1 victory in the finale. The Black and Gold have now put double-figure runs on the board in four straight games and six of their last nine.

    In the opener, Ty Helmke homered twice and drove in seven runs to lift the Black and Gold in a back-and-forth affair. Helmke's two-out, three-run blast in the top of the seventh snapped a 7-7 tie and made a winner of Ryan Clark, who had come on in relief to get the final two outs in the fifth and pitched a scoreless sixth inning. Trevor Thomas worked the seventh to earn the save.

    Ryan Talbert and Jake Sherman each smacked out a pair of singles to back Helmke at the plate while Kayne McGee chipped in with a solo home run in the top of the fifth.

    West Liberty scored in every inning but the seventh in dominating Game Two. James Salvatori came up a triple shy of the cycle with a home run, double and single to drive in three runs. Sherman added a home run and a double while Noah Mildren doubled, singled and drove in a pair. Helmke had another strong game with two singles and an RBI, Zach Hawkins homered and drove in four runs while McGee had a double and an RBI.

    Ian Brady held AB to one run over the first six innings to get the win on the mound, striking out six and walking four. Kyle Moore retired the side in order in the bottom of the seventh to close things out.

    The teams return to Jack Funk Field on Saturday for another 1 p.m. doubleheader.

BASEBALL

West Liberty 10, Alderson Broaddus 7

West Liberty                040 210 3 - 10  12  1

Alderson Broaddus    040 030 0 -   7    9  2

     WLU: Pennybacker (1SO, 3W), Clark wp (5) (0SO, 1W), Thomas (7) (0SO, 1W) and Goodyear. Helmke 2HR, 7rbi; Talbert 2S, rbi; Sherman 2S; McGee HR, rbi

     AB: Price (7SO, 2W), Knight lp (6) (1SO, 1W) and Marinucci. Marinucci 2S; Ballenger 2S; Rodriguez HR, 3rbi; Cook S, 2rbi; Alcorn S, rbi; Rosado S, rbi

West Liberty 13, Alderson Broaddus 1

West Liberty                116 212 0 - 13  12  0

Alderson Broaddus    100 000 0 -   1    6  0

     WLU: Brady wp (6SO, 4W), Moore (7) (1SO, 0W) and Z.Hawkins. Salvatori HR, D, S, 3rbi; Sherman HR, D, rbi; Mildren D, S, 2rbi; Helmke 2S, rbi; Z.Hawkins HR, 4rbi; McGee D, rbi

     AB: Laudermilt lp (2SO, 1W), Gilkey (2) (0SO, 1W), Cole (3) (1SO, 2W), Correa (6) (1SO, 2W) and Marinucci. Ballenger 2S; Rush S, rbi