WISE - - West Liberty lined 24 hits and scored 20 runs in a doubleheader sweep of UVa-Wise at Stallard Field Sunday afternoon.  With the 8-1 and 12-8 victories, the Hilltoppers earned a split in the four-game series; the Cavaliers won both games on Saturday.

Vincent Haddox broke a scoreless tie in the top of the sixth inning of the opener when his two-out, two-RBI single plated Anthony Pierro and D.J. Busby giving West Liberty (18-11, 14-8) a 2-0 lead.

The Hilltoppers added six more runs in their final trip to the plate putting the game out of reach.  Pierro, Jordon Meyer, Tim Hughes, Yale Hughes, and Haddox all had an RBI in the big frame.

UVa-Wise (8-23, 7-15) picked up its only run of the contest when Jordan Olinger singled in Ryan Dickt in the home half of the seventh inning.

Sean Pare earned the victory on the mound as he scattered three hits in 6.1 innings of work.  The win improved Pare to 4-1 on the season.

Garrett Wente was the hard luck loser for the Cavaliers.  The freshman allowed a single earned run in six innings of work while allowing five hits.

Game two saw West Liberty score five runs in the top of the second inning to take a 5-0 lead.  Jarred Carranza had a two-RBI hit in the inning while Busby knocked in a run and stole home on the back end of a double steal in the big inning.

The Cavaliers got back in the game when Matthew Wright belted a three-run home run down the left field line.

The two sides traded single runs in the third, UVa-Wise's run came on a run-scoring hit by Dickt.

Taylor Snare would seemingly put the game out of reach for West Liberty when his two-RBI hit capped a four-run frame in the fourth making the score 10-4.

Dickt would single in a run in the fifth cutting the lead to 10-5. 

That's how the score would remain until the seventh inning when Derin Heatherington plated Haddox and Tim Hughes with a two-RBI hit making the score 12-5 and putting West Liberty just three outs away from the sweep.

UVa-Wise would not go down without a fight in its final turn at bat.  A pinch hit RBI single by Will Cline cut the lead to 12-6 before Olinger had a two-RBI hit to score Tye Marshall and Cline.

The Cavs would eventually load the bases getting the tying run to the plate but Tory Fuscardo would get a game-ending pop up to earn his first save of the year, preserving the 12-8 win.

Olinger had three hits while Wright, Marshall, Dickt, and Steven each lined two in the loss.

32 players appeared and 281 pitches were thrown in the game-two scorekeeper's delight.

Next up for UVa-Wise is a trip to Charleston for a mid-week MEC doubleheader Wednesday.