Sophomore right-hander Rodney Shultz tossed six strong innings to help Pitt-Johnstown to a 6-2 win over West Liberty (WV) in Saturday's opener of non-conference doubleheader in Cadiz Ohio.  The Mountain Cats then used an 11-run sixth inning to erase a two-run deficit to complete the sweep with a 17-3 victory.  Josh Ulery had four of the 18 Pitt-Johnstown hits.  The Mountain Cats are now 5-3.
 
Dylan Broderick's RBI single in the top of the first of the opener chased home Alex Glumac to give Pitt-Johnstown a quick lead.
 
The Mountain Cats added four more in the second, including RBI singles from Erik Rhodes and Josh Reynolds to extend it to 5-0.
 
West Liberty got one of those runs back in the bottom of the fifth on Jacob Sherman's sacrifice fly, but Rhodes answered with a sac fly of his own in the Pitt-Johnstown half of the seventh to get the lead back out to five.
 
Zach Hawkins connected for solo home run off of Pitt-Johnstown reliever Brando Souders in the bottom of the seventh, but that was as close as West Liberty would get.
 
Shultz improved to 2-0 and limited the Hilltoppers to just one run on five hits over the first six innings.  Shultz struck out three and walked two.
 
Reynolds went 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI, and Rhodes was 2-for-3 with a double and a pair of RBI to lead Pitt-Johnstown.  Broderick had two hits and drove in two, while Justin Turcovski doubled and Alex Glumac scored two runs.
 
In game two, Pitt-Johnstown exploded for 16 runs over the final two innings to close out the sweep with the 17-3 win.
 
The Hilltoppers opened the scoring with a single runs in each of the second and third innings, before Jake Ansell's single through the right side scored Asher Corl in the top of the fourth cut the Mountain Cats' deficit to one.
 
After Noah Mildren's solo homer in the bottom of the frame got that run back for West Liberty, Pitt-Johnstown struck for 11 runs in the sixth.  Singles by Devon Boyles and Ulery, sandwiched around Corl's walk, loaded the bases with nobody out.  Ansell followed with a two-run double to tie it, and Garrett Prosper doubled home two to give the Mountain Cats a 5-3 lead.  Pitt-Johnstown went on to tack on seven more runs in the frame to build the lead to 12-3.
 
Five more runs in the ninth, including Corl's 3-run homer, extended it to 17-3.
 
Ulery went 4-for-5 with a double and an RBI, and Boyles was 3-for-5 with two doubles and three RBI.  Ansell had singled, doubled, and drove in four, and Mario Disso had two hits and drove in one.
 
Jared Hoener picked-up the win in relief of starter Luke Schrock.  Hoener held the Hilltoppers a run on one hit in two innings.  Schrock gave up two runs on five hits, struck out four and didn't allow a walk over the first three innings.
 
West Liberty is now 3-7.
 
Pitt-Johnstown will wrap-up the four-game non-conference series against West Liberty (WV) on Saturday and Sunday, before visiting Charleston (WV) for three games next weekend.  The Mountain Cats are scheduled to make their 2023 home debut with a four-game series against East Stroudsburg on March 17-18 at Point Stadium.