By Trent Nicholson, Contributing Writer

The West Liberty baseball team will play on their home field for the first time in the 2017 campaign, preparing to take on conference foes Concord and Virginia Wise this weekend. The Hilltoppers currently sit at (9-5) on the season.

The Toppers’ bats are lighting it up early on in the season. Senior Michael Adams leads the team in batting average (.400) as he has 16 hits in 40 at bats. He has seven runs batted in and one homerun so far. Nolan Marcus and Tyler Ramsay also have a .400 batting average. Ramsay leads the team in runs batted in with 11 so far this season.

The Toppers’ pitching staff is also off to a good start. Senior Yale Hughes leads the team with a 3.00 earned run average, and a 1-0 record. He has pitched nine innings and has given up only eight hits facing 34 batters. Hughes has given up three runs, and has struck out eight batters. Parker Dyson and Greg Stagani are tied with leading the team in strikeouts with 14 each.

The Concord University Mountain Lions currently sit at (9-11) on the season. Their most recent games were against Urbana on Monday afternoon as they split the series.  Junior Chad Frazier leads the team in batting average (.441) as he has 26 hits in 59 at bats. He has 12 runs batted in along with two homeruns. Sophomore Evan Webb leads the team in runs batted in with 18.

Sophomore pitcher Troy Beckner leads the team with a 2.56 earned run average along with a 3-0 record. Through 31.2 innings pitched, he has given up nine runs and 27 hits through 111 batters faced. Beckner also has 19 strikeouts on the year. Senior Austin Southcott leads the team in strikeouts with 21.

The University of Virginia Wise currently sits at (10-12) on the season. Their most recent games were against Notre Dame College on Monday afternoon as they swept their series. Junior Stuart Paz leads the team in batting average (.397) as he has 25 hits in 63 at bats. He has 12 runs batted in along with one homerun. Sophomore David Thomas leads the team in runs batted in with 19.

Sophomore Dylan Luttrell leads the team with a 1.80 earned run average along with a 1-0 record. Through ten innings pitched, he has given up two runs and five hits through 34 batters. He also has eight strikeouts on the year. Senior Nathan Hatmaker leads the team in strikeouts with 24.

Due to inclement weather in the forecast, the Hilltoppers will now play Concord on Friday at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m., and Virginia Wise on Saturday also at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. The games were originally supposed to be Saturday and Sunday.

Let’s go Toppers!

Photo credit: Hilltoppersports.com