West Liberty 'Strong-Arms' Notre Dame in Sweep
WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The West Liberty University baseball team got a pair of impressive complete-game performances on Saturday in sweeping a Mountain East Conference North Division twinbill from Notre Dame (Ohio) at Kovalick Field.
Coach Eric Burkle's Hilltoppers (10-11, 8-6) handled the Falcons (9-13, 6-8) by scores of 6-1 and 5-0 to snap a four-game slide.
In the opener, Justin Pennybacker blanked the Falcons over the final six innings to earn the complete-game win and the Hilltoppers took advantage of some shaky Notre Dame fielding to plate five unearned runs.
Chad Matthus had three singles and drove in a run for the Black and Gold while Brian Campbell added an RBI base knock. Pennybacker struck out three and didn't walk a batter.
Ian Brady was even more dominant on the hill in the finale as the hard-throwing righthander scattered five harmless singles. He struck out two and walked one while not allowing a Falcon baserunner past second base.
West Liberty did all of its damage at the plate in the bottom of the third.
After WLU loaded the bases with one out, Jake Probst, Jarret Delbrugge and Isaac Rine broke up the scoreless tie with three straight RBI singles. A throwing error allowed two more runs to score and those five tallies provided more than enough breathing room for Brady.
Probst and Ty Helmke each singled twice while Matthus doubled for the only extra-base hit of the game.
The teams return to the Kovalick Field diamond for another afternoon doubleheader on Sunday. First pitch is set for 1 p.m.
BASEBALL
West Liberty 6, Notre Dame 1
Notre Dame 100 000 0 – 1 6 3
West Liberty 320 100 x – 6 7 1
NDC: Mora lp (4SO, 2W), Petrolla (5) (4SO, 1W) and Richards. Ross D, S; Petrolla S, rbi; Richards D
WLU: Pennybacker wp (3SO, 0W) and Rine. Matthus 3S, rbi; Campbell S, rbi
West Liberty 5, Notre Dame 0
Notre Dame 000 000 0 – 0 5 2
West Liberty 005 000 x – 5 9 1
NDC: Parker lp (1SO, 2W), Farrell (5) (1SO, 0W) and Richards. Mora 2S
WLU: Brady wp (2SO, 1W) and Rine. Probst 2S, rbi; Helmke 2S; Delbrugge S, rbi; Rine S, rbi; Matthus D