Hilltoppers Honor 10 Seniors on Senior Day
WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The West Liberty University baseball team closed out the regular season at home on Monday with a 24-0 loss to Wheeling a brisk but sunny Senior Day at Kovalick Field.
West Liberty head coach Eric Burkle honored 10 seniors – Sam Aulick, Ryan Bernard, Tyler Blomquist, Brian Campbell, Tyler Cooley, Colton Coss, Justin Fike, Brecken Kopf-Mack, Justin Fike and Jason Schutte – during Senior Day ceremonies.
The Hilltoppers (20-18, 18-13) had swept a doubleheader from the MEC North Division champion Cardinals (27-12, 22-9) on Saturday night to lock up the No. 2 seed in the North for this week’s MEC Tournament. With tournament seeds already set and pairings announced, both coaches were free to substitute early and often throughout Monday's contest.
Luis Dominguez and Blake Vandiver had four-hit games for Wheeling and the Cardinals' Hayden Hizer had the only home run of the day, a seventh-inning grand slam to conclude the scoring. Campbell and Ty Helmke each had a double for West Liberty.
The Hilltoppers will be heading to Beckley, W.Va. later this week to compete in the MEC Tournament. West Liberty opens tournament play on Thursday when the Black and Gold takes on Charleston, the No. 2 seed from the South Division, in a 7 p.m. first-round game at Linda K. Epling Stadium.
BASEBALL
Wheeling 24, West Liberty 0
Wheeling 057 240 6 – 24 23 2
West Liberty 000 000 0 – 0 6 4
WU: Rife (2SO, 3W), Scudder (3) (0SO, 1W), Wilcox wp (4) (2SO, 0W), Luciano (5) (1SO, 0W), Wiggins (6) (1SO, 1W), Baez (7) (2SO, 0W) and Morales. Dominguez D, 3S, 4rbi; Vandiver 4S, rbi; Murray D, 2S, 3rbi; Watt 3S, 2rbi; Morales 3S, 2rbi; Hizer HR, 4rbi
WLU: Bernard lp (0SO, 1W), Bolander (3) (0SO, 3W), Sinisgalli (3) (0SO, 1W), Hurst (4) (2SO, 1W), Dobson (7) (1SO, 1W) and Fike, Hawkins (6). Helmke D; Campbell D