Outside the temperature is below freezing, sometimes approaching the teens or single digits with a wind chill in negative numbers. Looking out the window of his office, Eric Burkle sees a campus covered in snow. But today, any day – even winter days with extreme cold, blustery winds and snow – is a baseball day for Burkle.
Once the 2024 season commences, Burkle will be in his 12th season as the head coach of the West Liberty University baseball team. For most, baseball is a spring season thing, with greening grass, flower and tree buds, warming temperatures. Not for Burkle; for him, baseball is a calendar thing, running the full 365.
“We’re 12 months a year now,” Burkle said. “The game. . . if you go to The Highlands (sports complex) this time of year, there’s little kids. We just played in a winter league for my little one (his young son). Wheeling University is in the Highlands complex. We’re in our indoor facility. We’re 12 months a year now.
“Baseball is that sport, for one, you can’t stop hitting. Pitchers will take a little bit of a break for some arm care stuff. But if a kid wants to play at this level now, he’s 12 months a year constant. It’s constantly swinging a bat.”
How then, in West Liberty, W.Va., is baseball (and softball) a year-round sport? How can players work out or practice knowing that not only water but skin, ears, fingers, etc., will freeze? It’s an inside thing. His Hilltoppers can go inside the Belmont Savings Bank Indoor Facility on the south end of campus, immediately turning a warm-weather, outdoor sport into a dead-of-winter opportunity to work.
The first annual Leadoff Dinner is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 10, with doors opening at 6 p.m. and the event beginning at 6:30 p.m. The location? Of course, inside the BSB indoor facility. It’s a chance to show off the facility. The event includes a catered meal, a meet-the-team video and a Night at the Races fundraiser. ESPN lead college baseball analyst Mike Rooney will serve as the keynote speaker. Tickets are $75 per person, and you can direct questions to Burkle at 304 639-5989.
Burkle sums up what guests will experience entering the facility in one word: Wow!
“We’re going to showcase our practice facility. When you walk in that practice facility it’s a wow factor. You walk in you don’t see football lines; you just see baseline lines on that turf. You’re like, ‘this is just for baseball!’ It’s excellent, it’s a wow factor where we can go live,” Burkle said.
Because practices in Blatnik Hall were starting to in Burkle’s words, “clog up some student life time,” he and former women’s softball head coach Herb Minch were given a budget from then-university President Stephen Greiner to pursue an alternative. They formed a committee, worked with President Greiner and attracted Belmont Savings Bank as a lead donor. Other entities joined the force, and they completed the task, taking about three years.
“There’s D1 schools that don’t have what we have here on campus. Our facilities are excellent. I can’t quit saying it, that thing is such a godsend for us. I can hit ground balls and I don’t have to worry about being on the basketball floor. I can hit ground balls, we can go live, our outfielders get work. It’s deep enough in the center that we can throw fly balls, catchers pop-ups. We can get done everything we need to get done.”
Wanted: Tough Kids
Burkle’s roster has many players from schools in the Ohio Valley, but with time, persistence, improved facilities and administration assistance he in recent years chipped away at the barrier that is the Pennsylvania border. Now the head coach finds he is getting more substantive discussions, considerations and commitments from Western Pennsylvania-based players. It helps improve the roster for the baseball team and continues to expand the student base from a coveted nearby area.
“Yes, we do have some local kids. We’re expanding into the Pittsburgh market a good bit. It’s always been a tough market for us with Seton Hill, Slippery Rock, Cal (Pa). But now we’re sneaking in there and we’re trying to convince some of those kids that, hey, West Lib’s a pretty good place to go play baseball,” Burkle said.
“Working with our new administration here, we’re trying to find ways to make those kids in this region come back to West Lib. So that’s a big thing, working with Dr. (Tim) Borchers (newly appointed school president who began July 1, 2023) has been a lot of fun. He knows that regionally Pennsylvania and Ohio obviously are going to have more athletes. So, he’s trying to keep us in those markets, trying to make it affordable for those kids to come here.
“The kid we’re looking for could be anywhere from the marginal student up to the 4.4 high school GPA. But we’re looking for that tough kid. That tough kid that will still shovel the sidewalk, run a hammer. The kid that when he comes in, he’s willing to do what he needs to do to work.”
Burkle developed an old-school, work-hard philosophy from playing for Gary Zelinski at Wheeling Park High School and coaching with Jim Wodusky at Wheeling Central Catholic High School. He left high school coaching to join legendary coach Bo McConnaughy’s West Liberty staff as an assistant in 2008, serving five years in that role before taking over as head coach. He’s been able to meld old school with new age to remain true to his experience while relating well to the current player.
“What I’ve done, I’ve kind of gone in the middle. I’ve learned to adapt to the new-age kid, and I can still be me. I can still be tough, and I can still be hard on them, and I can still be sarcastic at times. I’m a little bit of both (old and new school). I think we’ve done a good job here,” Burkle said.
“We don’t lose kids to the portal here. We’ve had two kids go in the portal, one because he was from Florida and went back home. The other one was going to go D1 and decided to come back, so we’ve lost one kid to the portal. So, our retention rate here, they like what we’re doing here. Over the years I think we’ve put a good mixture of old school, new school and blended it.”
Leave It on the Field
The mixture seems to be working.
Burkle has compiled a 221-281 (.440) record, ranking him second in school history in career wins. His resume also includes: eight 20+ win seasons; six consecutive 20+ win seasons from 2013-18; and eight conference tournament appearances, one WVIAC (2013) and seven MEC (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2023). The build has Burkle excited for the upcoming season; he sees great potential for the 2024 Hilltoppers.
“For one, I think we’re going to be pretty good,” Burkle admitted. “I return every starter but one. I’ve got experience at every position. We’ve got experience on the mound. We’ve got what I think is the best closer in the MEC in Trevor Thomas. There hasn’t been many seasons where I felt like, man this could be the one. My take on our team is, ‘Hey, listen boys, this is it. This is the one.’
“(The players are) going to see a pre-season poll where we’re not first. They’re going to think that Charleston is the best team in the MEC. My pitching coach told them, ‘Writers don’t get to pick who wins the MEC. That’s on you.’
“So, we put it on them. We turned it around on them and said, ‘Hey, listen, Charleston doesn’t decide who wins the MEC. You decide. You have a say in that. You have a vote.’ So, we put it on them. And I think right now, being six weeks away, we play February 24, so they’re chomping at the bit.”
Actually, the Hilltoppers open with doubleheaders at Malone College in Mason, Ohio, on back-to-back days February 23 & 24. Until then, most people will be thinking about the difficulties winter and its weather present on a daily basis.
For Burkle, his thoughts and his efforts will focus on baseball, a lot of baseball.
