BRIDGEPORT, W.Va. (April 7) – The Wheeling Jesuit University baseball team clubbed out a season-best 12 hits in their 8-5 game two win to earn a split at Fairmont State Sunday afternoon. The Cardinals were defeated 15-2 in the opener at the Bridgeport Recreation Complex.
The Cardinals improve to 8-23 overall, 6-10 in the Mountain East Conference (MEC), and match the win total from a year ago under first-year Head Coach
Ryan Lewicki. Meanwhile, the Falcons move to 7-9 in league play, 16-15 overall this season.
GAME TWO: Wheeling Jesuit 8, Fairmont State 5
The Cardinal bats came alive in game two with a season-best 12 hits in the team's 8-5 win.
The Cardinals took a 3-0 lead in the second inning after a scoreless first. WJU got RBI base hits from sophomore
Brad Trescott (Rootstown, Ohio/Rootstown) and senior
Adam Dennison (Wadsworth, Ohio/Wadsworth), while a double-steal brought home freshman
Ryan Lynn (Butler, Pa./Butler).
Wheeling Jesuit posted another three-run inning in the third. Consecutive RBI hits by sophomore
Hayden Hizer (Paden City, W.Va./Paden City) and freshman
Lucas Rawlins (Pickerington, Ohio/Pickerington North) made the score 5-0 and chased the Falcons' starting pitcher. Lynn kept the momentum going with another RBI-single to increase the lead to 6-0.
Fairmont State cut into the Cardinal lead with a two-out two-run single in the fourth, but WJU got the runs right back in the fifth. Hizer and Rawlins smacked back-to-back doubles, before Hizer scored on a passed ball. Lynn followed suit with his second RBI-single of the game to build the Cardinals lead back to 8-2.
The Falcons scored two in the sixth and one in the seventh to draw back within three runs, but junior pitcher
Nick Luciano (Apollo, Pa./Kiski Area) recorded the final out with the tying run at the plate to earn his second save of the season and secure the win.
Freshman pitcher
Zach Rohaley (Washington, Pa./Canon-McMillan) got the win on the bump. He improved to 3-3 on the season after yielding five runs on nine hits with six strikeouts over 6.2 innings of work.
Lynn was the top hitter for the squad after going 3-for-4 with two RBIs, and a run scored. Rawlins also posted three hits with one RBI, while both Hizer and freshman
Jacob Murray (Beallsville, Ohio/Linsly) each finished with two hits.
GAME ONE: Fairmont State 15, Wheeling Jesuit 2
The Cardinals fell behind by double-digits through four innings and were unable to rally in a game one loss.
Wheeling Jesuit got on the board in the sixth inning when Hizer hit second home run of the season to make the score 11-2. Fairmont State rebuilt its lead and tacked on a few more runs in the final two frames to put the game away.
Dennison led the team with two of its four hits, while Hizer delivered the team's only RBIs in the loss.
The Cardinals are back on the diamond on Tuesday, April 9 when they travel to Greensburg, Pennsylvania to take on Seton Hill for a non-conference game at 3 p.m.
