WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The West Liberty University baseball team jumped into a tie for second place in the Mountain East Conference North Division here Monday with a doubleheader sweep of Notre Dame at Kovalick Field.

    Coach Eric Burkle's Hilltoppers (17-24, 12-12) powered their way to a 9-0 shutout win in the first game and held off a 7th-inning rally by the Falcons (10-27, 10-14) to escape with a 5-4 nod in the finale.

    In the opener, Drake Dobson hurled a 3-hit shutout and his WLU teammates raked out 13 hits in the runaway win. Dobson struck out five and walked only two in his impressive route-going performance.

    Jake Sherman led the Black and Gold at the plate, driving in two runs with a homer and two singles. Will Balgo singled twice and drove in two runs with a pair of sacrifice flies. Trevor Thomas and Ty Helmke also had two-hit games while Zach Hawkins and Noah Mildren chipped in with RBI singles.

    Strong starting pitching and timely hitting helped the Hilltoppers break out the brooms in the second game.

    Ethan Conley held Notre Dame to two runs on just two hits over the first six innings to earn the win. The Falcons got to reliever Trevor Thomas for a pair of runs in the top of the seventh and had the winning run on second with two out only to see Thomas retire pinch-hitter Sean Fernald on a routine fly ball to centerfield for the final out.

    West Liberty was trailing, 2-1, in the bottom of the fifth when Sherman ripped a two-out RBI single to even the count at 2-2 heading into the sixth.

    Bonar brought home the go-ahead run in the sixth with a ringing double into the right field corner and James Salvatori tacked on a pair of much-needed insurance tallies with a two-out, two-run bomb over the left field fence.

    Sherman had another three-hit game with two doubles, a single and two RBIs. Salvatori had a single to go along with his circuit blast while Balgo's sixth-inning double was his second two-bagger of the game.

    The Hilltoppers will close out their non-conference slate on Wednesday with a 3 p.m. scheduled nine-inning game at Slippery Rock before heading to Fairmont State on Saturday and Sunday for a pair of crucial North Division twinbills.

BASEBALL

West Liberty 9, Notre Dame 0

Notre Dame                   000 000 0 - 0    3  1

West Liberty                   004 005 x - 9  13  0

     NDC: Farrell lp (2SO, 1W), Demchuk (4) (4SO, 2W) and Shadle. Parker D

     WLU: Dobson wp (5SO, 2W) and Z.Hawkins. Sherman HR, 2S, 2rbi; Balgo 2S, 2rbi; Thomas 2S, rbi; Helmke 2S; Z.Hawkins S, rbi; Mildren S, rbi

West Liberty 5, Notre Dame 4

Notre Dame                     010 100 2 - 4  5  1

West Liberty                     100 012 0 - 5  8  1

     NDC: Odey (2SO, 0W), Fish lp (3) (1SO, 2W) and Miller. Miller 2S; Mendoza D, 2rbi; Legaspe D, rbi

     WLU: Conley wp (1SO, 3W), Thomas (0SO, 0W) and Goodyear. Sherman 2D, S, 2rbi; Salvatori HR, S, 2rbi; Balgo 2D, rbi