GLENVILLE, W.Va. (March 24) – Led by a complete-game, one-hit, shutout effort on the mound by freshman pitcher
Payton Faris (Perrysburg, Ohio/Perrysburg), the Cardinals picked up a split at Glenville State Sunday afternoon in a Mountain East Conference (MEC) doubleheader.
The Cardinals move to 3-5 in league play, 4-16 overall. Meanwhile, the Pioneers go to 6-14 overall, 4-4 in the MEC.
GAME ONE: Wheeling Jesuit 2, Glenville State 0
The Cardinals got a second-consecutive quality start from pitcher
Payton Faris and notched a pair of runs in the seventh inning to take game one of the doubleheader.
With the game scoreless and the bases loaded in the seventh inning, freshman first baseman
Lucas Rawlins (Pickerington, Ohio/Bishop Hartley) delivered a clutch two-out base hit that plated two runs to give the Cardinals the lead.
Farris returned to the mound in the bottom half of the frame and retired the Pioneers in order to secure the victory.
Farris was nearly flawless in the complete game effort. He yielded just one hit with zero walks and struck out six to improve to 2-1 on the season. Glenville State's lone hit came with two outs in the fourth inning.
GAME TWO: Glenville State 6, Wheeling Jesuit 3
The Cardinals opened up a 3-0 lead, but were unable to hold on in the team's 6-3 loss to close out the day.
Freshman
Jacob Murray (Beallsville, W.Va./Linsly) led the second off with a triple and scored on a RBI ground out by classmate
Ryan Lynn (Butler, Pa./Butler) to score the game's first run.
WJU extended its lead in the third inning when Rawlins connected on his second RBI base hit of the day and junior
Zach Blumling (Granville, Ohio/Granville) delivered a sacrifice fly to make the score 3-0.
The Pioneers plated their first run of the day in the third inning and tied the game with two runs in the fourth. Glenville State scored the game winning runs on a fifth inning two-run home run and added an insurance run later in the frame to make the score 6-3.
The Cardinals were limited to a two-out Blumling double in the sixth inning at the dish, as Glenville State held on to force a split of the twinbill.
Junior pitcher
Tanner Evans (Bergholz, Ohio/Edison Local) was saddled with the loss. Evans (1-1) allowed five runs on 10 hits with four strikeouts (zero walks) over four-plus innings of work.
The Cardinals will travel to Ashland University in Ohio on Tuesday, March 26 for a single nine-inning non-conference game.