EAST BANK, West Virginia — The WVU Tech baseball team began a four-game series against Asbury University with a doubleheader sweep Friday afternoon in East Bank, West Virginia. The first two contests of the KIAC Games of the Week were decided with scores of 11-4 and 7-3, helping boost the Golden Bears to a record of 22-12, 12-6 (KIAC) while the Eagles are now 19-14, 12-6 (KIAC).

Juniors Austin Southcott (4-3) and Jayson Sykora (4-1) earned the victories on the mound for the Gold and Blue in game one and two respectively. Southcott finished with six strike outs while Sykora was able to retire three batters via strikes.

Game One | WVU Tech 11, Asbury 4 | Box Score

WVU Tech picked up early runs to give them a 3-1 lead before they had a game-changing six-run inning in the bottom of the fourth. Senior Dylan Harvey started things off by reaching base on balls for the RBI that brought in junior Brady Groesbeck.

Junior Tanner Levine was the next to plate runs for Tech, driving a double to help score senior Doug Prather and freshman Roy Suzuki while boosting the lead to 6-1. The next three runs were credited to Levine, Harvey and senior Josh Hudson, finishing the fourth inning with a 9-1 advantage.

Asbury began to answer back in their next at bat, posting three runs off of three hits and two Golden Bear errors before Tech's defense stopped the Eagles for the 11-4 win. The Gold and Blue held Asbury to just one hit in each of the final two innings.

Harvey and Suzuki both finished a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate, scoring two runs each. Harvey recorded two RBI while Suzuki drove in one run. The remaining RBI were earned by Levine (3) and Hudson (2).

Southcott, who is currently ranked No. 3 in the KIAC with an ERA of 2.82, scattered ten hits and two earned runs while walking just one batter. Sophomore Nick Brumfield finished the game on the hill, striking out one Eagle while giving up just one hit.

Game Two | WVU Tech 7, Asbury 3 | Box Score

The Golden Bears started quick in the night cap as well, giving themselves a 3-1 lead after three innings.

Asbury was able to shorten Tech's advantage to 3-2 by plating a run off a ground ball to Suzuki who got the out at first in the top of four. The Eagles were done scoring until a double to right center in the top of the seventh brought in their third and final score.

Tech posted three runs in the fifth before Hudson knocked his first home run this season in the sixth for Tech's seventh score in the victory. The three in the fifth were credited to freshman Anferny Ellis, Groesbeck and Prather.

Levine knocked a triple while Hudson had two hits including a home run, both finishing with two RBI and one run scored. Groesbeck batted 1.000 with three hits and one run scored while Harvey finished game two with a double, two runs scored, a stolen base and a RBI.

Sykora gave up four hits and two earned runs while walking three batters in his 5.0 innings on the mound. Fellow classmate Chris Davidson was in the game for six outs, striking out one Eagle while giving up three hits and one earned run.

The series finale will take place Monday in East Bank, West Virginia when WVU Tech hosts Asbury for a doubleheader scheduled to begin at noon in the last two contests of the KIAC Games of the Week.