The West Liberty Baseball team (8-11) had a week of mixed results, winning two games and losing four. Having made a positive start in their return to competitive action, this week’s results leave the Hiltoppers with an equal 6-6 record in conference play.

They started the week off on an extremely positive note winning back to back games against West Virginia Wesleyan College (2-6) at home on Monday before losing twice to both West Virginia State University (12-6) and University of Charleston (17-3) later on in the week.
Beginning the week with a doubleheader sweep over the Bobcats gave the Toppers plenty of confidence with a number of hitters putting in top-class performances. Across the two games they had 22 hits and 25 runs, with reigning MEC Player of The Week, Ty Helmke, driving in five runs. Helmke was selected for the conference award after posting a .400 batting average with an .800 slugging percentage and a .571 on-base average as WLU went 3-1 in games against Davis and Elkins College and Concord University last week.

West Liberty were hoping to continue from where they left off and bring this hot-hitting form into the rest of the week although this wasn’t the case as they unfortunately could not get back into the swing of things, posting just seven runs in four games against the Yellow Jackets and the Golden Eagles. The teams hitters struggled to put together any sort of rhythm throughout these games while it was all too easy for their opponents, who showed why they are considered two of the best teams in the conference.

Head Coach Eric Burkle will be hoping that his team can rediscover some of the form that they showed earlier in the season in order to push on and reach the MEC baseball tournament. As things stand the Hilltoppers are in a position to progress to the postseason as they sit third in the MEC North Division, with the top three in each division moving on to the Conference Tournament, however there is still a lot of Baseball still to be played.

Next up for the Toppers is a home doubleheader against Notre Dame College (Ohio) with two games being played on the hilltop on both Saturday and Sunday. They will surely be looking to get back to winning ways against the Falcons and continue their challenge for a spot in the postseason. For more information and updates on the games visit Hilltoppersports.com