West Liberty University Men's Baseball

Burkle has firmly established the Hilltoppers into a perennial contender in the Mountain East Conference.     Burkles 2016 squad came up just a few outs shy of playing for a Mountain East Conference Tournament championship, settling for a third-place finish in the MEC Tournament after dropping a 5-3 decision to West Virginia State in the tournament semifinals to finish the season with a 29-25 record.     The 29 wins are the most by a Hilltopper baseball team since the 1998 squad went 29-19. Last year also marked the first time West Liberty has put together three consecutive winning seasons since the 1996-98 campaigns. The 104 wins over the past four seasons are the most by a West Liberty squad since the Black and Gold won108 games from 1987-90.     The 46-year-old Burkle is a graduate of Wheeling Park High School who played collegiately at Fairmont State before having his athletic career cut short by injury.     A top assistant under West Liberty Hall of Famer Bo McConnaughy for five seasons, Burkle was handed the Hilltopper reins when McConnaughy retired following the 2012 season after 30 seasons as head baseball coach at WLU.     A former athletic director and girls basketball coach at Wheeling Catholic Elementary, Burkle caught McConnaughys eye while serving as an assistant coach on back-to-back state championship baseball teams at Wheeling Central Catholic High School in 2007 and 2008.     McConnaughy brought Burkle to the West Liberty campus as assistant baseball coach in the fall of 2008 and Burkle spent the next five seasons polishing his coaching skills in the Hilltopper dugout.     He expanded his coaching horizons in 2010 when he was named head womens golf coach at West Liberty and celebrated by leading the Lady Hilltoppers to a 2010-11 West Virginia Conference championship. Burkle has served as head coach for both sports since 2012.     Eric lives in Bethlehem with his wife, Amy, and their three children, Haley, Sydney and Liam.   Eric Burkle Head Baseball Coach & Women's Golf Coach As he heads into his fifth season as head baseball coach at West Liberty University, Eric Burkle has firmly established the Hilltoppers into a perennial contender in the Mountain East Conference.     Burkles 2016 squad came up just a few outs shy of playing for a Mountain East Conference Tournament championship, settling for a third-place finish in the MEC Tournament after dropping a 5-3 decision to West Virginia State in the tournament semifinals to finish the season with a 29-25 record.     The 29 wins are the most by a Hilltopper baseball team since the 1998 squad went 29-19. Last year also marked the first time West Liberty has put together three consecutive winning seasons since the 1996-98 campaigns. The 104 wins over the past four seasons are the most by a West Liberty squad since the Black and Gold won108 games from 1987-90.     The 46-year-old Burkle is a graduate of Wheeling Park High School who played collegiately at Fairmont State before having his athletic career cut short by injury.     A top assistant under West Liberty Hall of Famer Bo McConnaughy for five seasons, Burkle was handed the Hilltopper reins when McConnaughy retired following the 2012 season after 30 seasons as head baseball coach at WLU.     A former athletic director and girls basketball coach at Wheeling Catholic Elementary, Burkle caught McConnaughys eye while serving as an assistant coach on back-to-back state championship baseball teams at Wheeling Central Catholic High School in 2007 and 2008.     McConnaughy brought Burkle to the West Liberty campus as assistant baseball coach in the fall of 2008 and Burkle spent the next five seasons polishing his coaching skills in the Hilltopper dugout.     He expanded his coaching horizons in 2010 when he was named head womens golf coach at West Liberty and celebrated by leading the Lady Hilltoppers to a 2010-11 West Virginia Conference championship. Burkle has served as head coach for both sports since 2012.     Eric lives in Bethlehem with his wife, Amy, and their three children, Haley, Sydney and Liam.  

Koby Bubash enters his second year as a graduate assistant coach with the West Liberty University baseball program, bringing a decorated playing background and strong leadership credentials to the Hilltoppers. Bubash, a Monongahela, Pennsylvania native, played five seasons at Slippery Rock University from 2020 to 2024, where he made 149 career starts at shortstop and second base. He posted a .343 career batting average and a .435 on-base percentage, collecting 157 hits and scoring 101 runs. He ranks 14th in SRU history in career doubles. In 2024, Bubash led Slippery Rock in total hits, RBIs and OPS, while compiling a 17-game hitting streak and reaching base in 19 straight games. That same year, he was named to the First Team All-PSAC West and served as team captain. A strong performer in the classroom, Bubash was a five-time PSAC Scholar-Athlete and a two-time College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District selection. He earned a bachelor’s degree in education, with a dual focus in early childhood and special education, from Slippery Rock. He is currently pursuing a Master of Arts in Education with a concentration in sports leadership and coaching at West Liberty. Bubash is the son of Rick and Kelly Bubash. His father, Rick, played baseball at West Liberty from 1990 to 1991 and was a member of the Hilltoppers’ 1990 World Series team.