AVON, Ohio - The Notre Dame College baseball team delivered just the second MEC loss of the year to West Liberty on Saturday afternoon in a 3-1 victory in the first game behind pitcher Tyler Gault before falling 6-3 in game two to go 1-1 on the day. 

Gault, 4-1, won his third game in a row against the Hilltoppers, giving up his first run in 14 innings as West Liberty went up 1-0 after the first inning. Gault controlled batters after that run to earn his team a win while recording three strikeouts. Again, Gault got the assist from the defense as they committed no errors in all three of Gaults latest victories. 

"It's great," head coach Len Barker said of the freshman's season. "He's been pitching like he's been here for four years. He's not afraid of anything. He goes out there throwing strikes and pounds the zone. If he gives up a run or a couple hits it doesn't bother him."

Offensively, mirroring the pitcher's success was Austin Barnhart, who bats ninth for the Falcons. Barnhart went three-for-three in game one and recorded one hit and a walk in game two for a .833 on base percentage in Saturday's games. Barnhart also brought in a run in the game-one win and scored three runs throughout the two games. 

"I would say it was my approach," Barhnart said. I was trying to get my pitch and see what I could do with it. I was just trying see ball, hit ball and make good contact."

Barnhart and Barker both said it was good to get the win in game one today, especially against a team like West Liberty.

"The guys have been playing much better as we saw today, been playing well on defense and that's what it take to beat good teams," Barker said."

"It was a lot of fun," said Barnhart. "Playing with this team is great. Today we felt loose and had fun. We played baseball like kids and that's all you can ask for. [West Liberty] is a great team, but we turned out to be the better one for the first game."

In game two, the Hilltoppers recorded a complete-game win of their own with Justin Retzer improving his record to 3-1 on the season. West Liberty and Notre Dame exchanged leads three times during the game, but it was the road team that came out on top with a 6-3 win. 

NDC will get two more chances to knock off the conference leaders tomorrow, April 8, at 1 and 3:30 p.m. at Sprenger Stadium in Avon, Ohio.