SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio (April 18) – The Wheeling Jesuit University baseball team was knocked off twice at Notre Dame (Ohio) in a Mountain East Conference (MEC) doubleheader Thursday afternoon.
The Cardinals drop to 8-26 overall, 6-14 in the MEC. Meanwhile, the Falcons improve to 11-11 in league play, 17-22 overall this season.
GAME ONE: Notre Dame 7, Wheeling Jesuit 5
The Cardinals held the lead twice, but were ultimately defeated 7-5 in the opener.
Freshman catcher
Colin Caven (McMurray, Pa./Peters Township) drove in the game's first run in the second inning, before an error by the Notre Dame catcher allowed freshman
Jacob Murray to come across home plate to make the game 2-0.
Notre Dame took advantage of three Cardinals errors in the bottom half of the second to take a 3-2 lead.
WJU answered back in the third when junior right fielder
Zach Blumling (Granville, Ohio/Granville) delivered a two-run home run to give the Cards the lead right back at 4-3.
Notre Dame answered once again with two runs in the third and added two more on a fifth inning home run to take a 7-4 advantage.
The Cardinals cut into the lead in the sixth when Murray led the inning off with a triple and scored on a Caven ground out, but WJU was unable to inch any closer and dropped the opener.
Freshman pitcher
Payton Faris (Perrysburg, Ohio/Perrysburg) was tagged with the loss. Faris (3-4) went four innings and allowed seven runs (four earned) on nine hits with three strikeouts.
GAME TWO: Notre Dame 7, Wheeling Jesuit 1
Despite ending the game with 10 hits, the Cardinals left nine on base in their game two loss.
WJU trailed 2-0 in the fourth inning when sophomore
Hayden Hizer (Paden City, W.Va./Paden City) hit a two-out double and scored on a single by freshman
Lucas Rawlins (Pickerington, Ohio/Bishop Hartley) to slice the deficit in half.
Notre Dame continued its trend in answering back in the bottom half of the inning with three runs to take a 5-1 lead. The Falcons tacked on two more in the fifth to put the game away.
The Cardinals put runners in scoring position in each of the final three innings, but were unable to push anyone across.
Junior pitcher
Josh Bell (Apollo, Pa./Kiski Area) was saddled with the loss after he yielded seven runs on 10 hits with a pair of strikeouts over four innings on the bump.
Senior second baseman
Adam Dennison (Wadsworth, Ohio/Wadsworth) led the squad with three hits, while Rawlins and junior
Tristan Grimes (Westlake, Ohio/Westlake) each finished with two.
The Cardinals were retired in order just once in the game.
Wheeling Jesuit and Notre Dame will conclude the four-game series tomorrow, Friday, April 19 at 1 p.m.
