Charleston, W. Va – Charleston swept their way through their first MEC North Division series on Monday, knocking off West Liberty in both ends of a double-header. Clay Hale hit a walk off homer in the bottom of the 11^th to take game one.
 
Game One
 
Poor weather on Sunday forced the Hilltoppers of West Liberty and Charleston to push their double-header back to Monday afternoon.
 
The Golden Eagles got off to a slow start on offense in the first game. In the first three innings, they left six runners on base, failing to score on multiple opportunities.
 
The Hilltoppers got on the board with two runs in the third. Starting pitcher Drew Beckner retired the first two batters of the inning via the strikeout before walking back-to-back hitters with two outs. Trevor Thomas doubled home a run in the next at bat and ended the outing for the sophomore left hander.
 
Tad Dean replaced Beckner in the inning and allowed a hit which scored a run. Trevor Thomas was gunned down at home on the play on a strong throw by Will Glazebrook in right field.
 
Those would be the last runs scored by the West Liberty side for the rest of the 11 inning contest.
 
Charleston finally squeezed a run home in the fourth. Carter Rust initiated a double steal and scored the first run for UC when the throw from the Hilltopper catcher flew into left field.
 
Charleston continued to struggle with the bats, leaving the bases loaded in the fifth and going down in order in the sixth.
 
A dramatic seventh inning ensued for the Golden Eagles. Trailing 2-1, Andre Martinez worked a leadoff walk and was quickly followed by a Drew Klaserner walk the next at bat. West Liberty replaced their pitcher with Trevor Thomas, who walked pinch hitting Brayden McCallister to load the bases.
 
Casey Finck approached the dish for his first at bat of the season in a huge spot. Thomas got Finck swinging for the first out and AJ Karosas popped out to first for the second out.
 
Just when it looked like Charleston was going to squander their final opportunity of the day, pinch hitter Hector Carreon-Herrara worked back from an 0-2 count to walk with the bases loaded and score the tying run.
 
After the drama of the seventh inning, neither side scored for the next three innings.
 
West Liberty loaded the bases in the eighth, but Austin Dzierwa came on in relief working back to back strikeouts to stifle the threat.
 
Finally, in the 11^th inning, Clay Hale worked his magic. Martinez worked a one out walk and Hale entered to pinch hit for Gabe Bates. After falling behind in the count, the 25 year old Tennessee native connected with an offspeed pitch and planted it over the right field wall.
 
Charleston walked off winners for the fourth time this season.
 
The bullpen was stellar in the 11-inning contest, providing 8.1 innings of scoreless work. Robby Shepherd went three innings without allowing a hit and Dzierwa didn't allow a hit and worked out of the big jam in the 8^th collecting back-to-back strikeouts.
 
Andrew Gormley got his third win of the season, going 2.0 innings with three strikeouts.
 
Game Two
 
The second game saw the offense explode for 14 runs on 11 hits with 13 walks. UC pitchers held West Liberty to just one hit and no runs through seven innings.
 
Giano Zuccaro scored the first runs on a three run tank to right in the second inning. Charleston scored three more in the fourth inning. Martinez had a sacrifice fly, Klaserner had a run scoring single and Hale plated the final run of the inning with a single to right.
 
In the fifth, Dellerman singled home a pair and Klaserner brought in another on an RBI groundout. Evan Ulrich worked a walk to score the 10^th run of the game for Charleston.
 
West hit the second home run of the game, a solo blast to right.
 
Hale capped the scoring for Charleston in the sixth. He cranked his second home run of the afternoon to right field, a three-run shot the scored Klaserner and Martinez.
 
Caleb Rush went three innings, allowed a hit and struck out one.
 
Will Glazebrook was the pitcher of record, tallying his first win of his college career. He threw two innings in relief with three strikeouts.
 
Owen MacNeil pitched two flawless innings with a strikeout.
 
Hale led the offense with four RBI on two hits including his three-run homer to right. He also walked twice.
 
West was 1-3, scoring three runs and knocking in one and walking twice and stealing two bases.
 
Martinez went 2-3 with two runs, a double and an RBI.
 
Klaserner went 1-2 with a team high three walks, a run scored and two RBI.
 
Zuccaro was 2-2 with a home run, two walks, three runs and three RBI.
 
Charleston will go on the road for the first time since their opening series against Wingate next weekend. They take on Frostburg State and Fairmont on Saturday and Sunday, March 18-19.
 
#WingsUp