WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (Feb. 13) - The Wheeling Jesuit University baseball team opened the season with a pair of losses at Winston-Salem State Wednesday afternoon at BB&T Ballpark. The Cardinals were edged out 4-3 in the opener, before falling 7-1 in game two.

WJU drops to 0-2 to start the season, while the Rams improve to 5-0 in the first week.

GAME ONE: Winston-Salem State 4, Wheeling Jesuit 3
The Cardinals grabbed the lead early behind doubles by freshman outfielder Nick Serafino (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon McMillan) and junior Zach Blumling (Granville, Ohio/Granville) to go ahead 1-0 in the top half of the first inning.

Winston-Salem State responded with a pair of doubles of its own to go along with a lead-off walk to grab a 2-1 lead after one inning played.

Wheeling Jesuit reclaimed the lead in the third inning. Blumling connected on his second double of the game and eventually scored on a triple by sophomore Hayden Hizer (Paden City, W.Va./Paden City). Hizer himself scored later in the frame on a wild pitch to give WJU a 3-2 advantage.

The Rams manufactured a run in the fourth to tie the game and notched the eventual winning-run in the fifth with the help of a passed ball to take a 4-3 lead. 

The Cardinals put runners in scoring position in both the sixth and seventh innings, including a bases loaded situation in the seventh, but were unable to come up with the game-tying hit. Winston-Salem State retired Wheeling Jesuit in order in the final two innings to hold on for the one-run victory.

Blumling led the team with two doubles and a RBI, while Hizer added his RBI-triple in the loss. Freshman catcher Colin Caven recorded two doubles and sophomore Dom Davis (McKees Rocks, Pa./OLSH) finished with two base hits.

Freshman pitcher Zach Rohaley (Washington, Pa./Canon McMillan) got the opening day start for the Cardinals and limited the Rams to two runs on four hits with three strikeouts over three innings on the mound to take a no-decision.

GAME TWO: Winston-Salem State 7, Wheeling Jesuit 1
WJU was held without a hit in the seven-inning nightcap loss to Winston-Salem State. 

The Cardinals trailed 2-0 in the fourth inning, when both sophomore Brad Trescott (Rootstown, Ohio/Rootstown) and freshman Bijan Kamalipour (Frisco, Texas/Jesuit College Prep) got into scoring position on consecutive errors. Senior Adam Dennison (Wadsworth, Ohio/Wadsworth) pushed across WJU's lone run of the game with a sacrifice fly to slice the Rams' lead in half.

Wheeling Jesuit was only able to muster up a one-out walk in the seventh inning offensively, while Winston-Salem State posted multi-run frames in both the fifth and sixth innings to secure the win.

A quartet of pitchers took the mound in the game, including freshman Doug Clark (Glen Dale, W.Va./Bishop Donahue), who made the start. Clark (0-1) went two innings and yielded one run on two hits with a strikeout.

The Cardinals return to the diamond on Saturday, February 16 when they travel to Wild Things Park in Washington, Pennsylvania to take on California University of Pennsylvania for a doubleheader at 1 p.m.