CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The West Liberty University baseball team battled all the way back from a 7-0 deficit here Wednesday to shock top-seeded and No. 24-ranked Charleston, 11-8, in the opening game of the Mountain East Conference Tournament at GoMart Ballpark.

    Coach Eric Burkle's Hilltoppers (21-28), the No. 3 seed in the North Division, advance to Friday's 2 p.m. game against the loser of Thursday's 11 a.m. game between No. 2 seeds Wheeling (28-20) and Concord (27-19).

    Charleston (39-10) jumped on WLU early with seven runs in the first three innings and carried that 7-0 lead into the fifth before the Black and Gold bats rumbled to life.

    West Liberty scored four runs in the top of the fifth and added two more in the sixth to pull within a single tally at 7-6. The Golden Eagles got one run back in the bottom of the sixth and nursed that 8-6 lead into the eighth.

    Charleston got two quick outs but James Salvatori kept the inning alive with a seeing-eye single through the right side of the infield and Ty Helmke tucked a 2-0 breaking pitch just inside the right field foul pole for a game-tying home run.

    Drake Dobson came on in relief to keep UC off the board in the bottom of the eighth and the WLU bats picked up right where they had left off in the top of the ninth.

    With two on and one out, Brad Goodyear bounced a book-rule double over the fence in left-centerfield. That gave the Hilltoppers their first lead of the day, 9-8, and left runners on second and third.

    After a strikeout, Zach Hawkins blooped a single into no-man's land behind shortstop and both runners came sprinting home for an 11-8 WLU lead. Dobson walked the leadoff batter in the bottom of the ninth but a slick double play and another infield grounder closed out the comeback win.

    West Liberty raked out a dozen hits against four Charleston pitchers with six Hilltoppers driving in at least one run. Salvatori led the way with a home run, double and single for two RBIs while Helmke had a single to go along with his two-run blast. Will Balgo singled and doubled, Trevor Thomas chipped in with a two-run single and Jake Sherman also singled and drove in a run.

    Charleston finished with 11 hits and also benefitted from 12 walks but the WLU bullpen pitched its way out of numerous jams, holding the nationally-ranked Golden Eagles to just one run over the final six innings. Dobson, the sixth West Liberty pitcher of the day, got the win with two innings of shutout relief.

BASEBALL

Mountain East Conference Tournament

(at Charleston, W.Va.)

GAME ONE

West Liberty 11, No. 24 Charleston 8

West Liberty           000 042 023 - 11  12  1

Charleston               151 001 000 -   8  11  1

     WLU: Pennybacker (0SO, 2W), Winter (2) (0SO, 2W), Graebe (3) (3SO, 1W), Clark (4) (1SO, 2W), Conley (5) (2SO, 3W), Dobson wp (8) (2SO, 2W) and Z.Hawkins. Salvatori HR, D, S, 2rbi; Helmke HR, S, 2rbi; Balgo D, S; Goodyear D, rbi; Thomas S, 2rbi; Z.Hawkins S, 2rbi; Sherman S, rbi

     UC: Beckner (9SO, 2W), Shepherd (5) (1SO, 1W), Dean lp (6) (4SO, 0W), Gormley (9) (1SO, 0W) and Dellerman. Carreon-Herrera D, 2S; Hale D, S; Martinez 2S, 3rbi; Klasener D, 2rbi; West HR, rbi