BECKLEY – It was a rough start to the Mountain East Conference baseball tournament for the West Virginia Wesleyan Bobcats.

Kicking off the tournament against top seed Shepherd, West Virginia Wesleyan (sixth seed) dropped a 7-0 decision this afternoon at Beckley's Epling Field.

Shepherd seemingly has Wesleyan's number this year as they improved to 5-0 against the Bobcats this season.

Shepherd scored a run in the bottom of the first inning and that was all the scoring they would need.

They tacked on a run in the third, fifth and sixth innings to take a 4-0 lead.

Shepherd put the game away with a three-run seventh inning.

Wesleyan mustered eight hits in the contest with Nick Jones and Travis Renner each getting two.

Chris Denno (2-5) suffered the loss.

He went six innings and allowed six runs on 11 hits.

The loss dropped Wesleyan to 19-19 overall.

They will return to action in the double elimination tournament Friday at 11 a.m.

They will play the loser of the West Virginia State-Concord contest in an elimination game.