WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The West Liberty University baseball team finished off a split of a weekend series with Shepherd on Sunday by dividing a doubleheader with the defending West Virginia Conference champions for the second straight day at Kovalick Field.
The Hilltoppers (3-14, 2-2) rallied for a 5-4 victory in the first game before the Rams (8-8, 2-2) bounced back with a 6-1 win in the nightcap.
The teams had traded 4-3 decisions on Saturday.
In Sunday’s opener, West Liberty scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth to erase a 4-1 lead and pull out the victory.
The rally was highlighted by Gabe Cyrus’s two-out two-run homer, which tied the score at 4, and capped by a go-ahead RBI double off the bat of pinch-hitter Kraig Kubancik.
Trent Chapman picked up the mound win with 4-plus innings of scoreless relief while Drew Dunn weighed in with a couple of doubles. Carson Koontz smacked out a pair of singles and scored the winning run.
In the second game, Shepherd’s Nathan Minnich broke up a pitcher’s duel with a 3-run homer in the top of the fourth and the Rams coasted from there.
Shepherd’s Kenny Reisinger hurled the complete-game win for the visitors, scattering four singles over his seven-inning stint.
Dunn spoiled Reisinger’s shutout bid with an RBI single in the bottom of the third but the Hilltoppers couldn’t move a runner past second base the rest of the way.
West Liberty returns to action on Wednesday with a 1 p.m. doubleheader at Ohio Valley.
