Wheeling, W. Va. - In just over a month, the Wheeling University Baseball team will be heading to sunny Florida to open the 2022 Baseball season. Before they can make that trip, they have released their 2022 schedule, featuring a 50-game schedule that has a mix of tough non-conference matchups, and the classic Mountain East Conference (MEC) rivalries. The 2021 season was a historic one for the team, and they are looking to build off those successes and continue to grow as a program in 2022.
Head Baseball coach Ryan Lewicki is back for his fourth season as Head Coach of the Wheeling Baseball team and has helped a program that was near the bottom of the MEC turn into a perennial contender year in and year out. During the 2021 season, Wheeling Baseball broke their single season win record, going 27-14 overall and 22-9 in MEC Play. They made the MEC Playoffs but dropped both of their games as they were eliminated from the field. For their efforts, the team had eight All-MEC award winners and Lewicki was named the MEC's Coach of the Year.
As they enter 2022, they begin their journey back to the MEC Playoffs with a trip to Florida that will span three days and see the Cardinals take on Palm Beach Atlantic University, Lynn University, and Nova Southeastern University. They follow that up with another plane ride down to Murfreesboro, North Carolina, where they will play a three-game set with Chowan University. After a three-game series against California University of Pennsylvania on February 25th, 26th, and 27th, Wheeling wraps up the Spring portion of their schedule in Salem, West Virginia, with three games against Mercyhurst, Alderson Broaddus, and Salem University.
Their home opener comes on March 13th as the third game of a home and road series that sees the first two games being played at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and the third game being played at the JB Chambers I-470 Complex. Then, they begin their MEC schedule with back-to-back home series against Concord and Glenville State before hitting the road to end March with doubleheaders scheduled against West Virginia Wesleyan and Davis & Elkins on March 26th and 27th.
After playing only five home games in March, the Cardinals home schedule starts to ramp up in April and May with 15 home games scheduled between those two months. The stretch begins on April 2nd and 3rd when Wheeling hosts The University of Charleston and West Virginia State in back-to-back doubleheaders. They return a week later for a non-conference home game against Clarion on April 12th, and a weekend four-game doubleheader set against Frostburg State on April 15th and April 16th. The Cardinals round out their regular season schedule with back-to-back four game weekend sets against Alderson Broaddus on April 30th and May 1st and West Liberty on May 6th and May 8th to wrap up the regular season.
The 2021 season was a big one for the program, and with many of those key pieces coming back, they look to continue to build on the program's success. Of the eight All-MEC honorees last season, six return to the 2022 roster. On the offensive side of the ball, juniors Riley Cameron and Jacob Murray return to lead the middle part of the Cardinals batting order. Cameron was tied for the team lead in home runs last season with seven home runs while driving in 30 RBI, while Murray has the highest batting average of the returners sitting at .365.
On the mound, Wheeling loses one of their top relievers in Albert Baez, but brings back two of their workhorses in the starting rotation. Senior Logan Pillars led the team last year with 12 appearances, 11 starts, and logged 57 innings of work during the season, going 4-4 with a 6.00 ERA during that time. Junior Jared Naida was the rotation's top pitcher with a 4.13 ERA and a 1.65 WHIP over 48 innings of work.
The Wheeling University Baseball team kicks off their season on Thursday, February 3rd, when they travel to West Palm Beach, Florida to take on Palm Beach Atlantic University.
