ATHENS, W.Va. (March 22) – The Wheeling University baseball team swept its doubleheader at Concord Monday in Mountain East Conference (MEC) play. The Cardinals rallied for an 8-5 win in the opener, before closing the day with a 13-6 victory in game two.

THE MATCHUPS

• GAME 1 FINAL: Wheeling 8, Concord 5 (Final/9)
• GAME 2 FINAL: Wheeling 13, Concord 6
• Location: Anderson Field | Athens, West Virginia
• Records: Wheeling 7-4, 3-1 MEC | Concord 0-5, 0-2 MEC

HOW IT HAPPENED in Game 1

• Wheeling got on the board first with a solo home run by junior Chris Iazzetta (Clinton, N.J./IMG Academy) in the top of the second inning.
• Concord raced out to a 5-1 lead in the fourth inning.
• Iazetta came through with an RBI-double to plate one run, before coming around to score on a triple by sophomore Jacob Murray (Beallsville, Ohio/Linsly).
• An error on the throw also allowed Murray to come home and make the score 5-4 after six complete.
• Wheeling was down to its final out when senior Luis Dominguez (Bronx, N.Y./Cardinal Spellman) delivered a game-tying solo home run to left field.
• After a scoreless eighth, the Cardinals broke the tie with a trio of runs, including two on a base-hit by junior Francisco Morales (Dorado, Puerto Rico/Colegio Laico de Levittown), that made the score 8-5.

GAME NOTES

• Junior pitcher Albert Baez (Fort Worth, Texas/Timber Creek) pitched three scoreless innings of relief and struck out three to earn the win.
• Iazzetta went 3-for-4 with a home run, double, three RBIs and two runs scored.
• The two teams combined for 21 hits and five errors.

HOW IT HAPPENED in Game 2

• The Cardinals scored runs in six of the seven innings played to complete the sweep.
• Wheeling led 2-0 when junior Connor Watt (Roanoke, Va./Glenvar) homered to left field to make it a 3-0 game.
• Concord rallied back with five runs in the third inning to take the lead.
• After junior Jack Skantze (Clearwater, Fla./Countryside) made it a one-run game on a RBI-single, sophomore Riley Cameron (Vass, N.C./Union Pines) launched his third home run of the season over the left-center field fence to give Wheeling a 6-5 lead.
• Wheeling pushed its advantage to 7-5 in the fifth when Skantze delivered a two-RBI double to push the lead to 9-5.
• Concord got one run back, but two runs in each of the final two frames by the Cardinals helped it finalize the series sweep.

GAME NOTES

• Sophomore Connor Pinsker (Highland, Ill./Highland) earned the win in relief.
• Pinsker limited the Mountain Lions to two runs on six hits with four strikeouts over 5.0 innings of work.
• Six Cardinals ended the game with multiple hits.
• Skantze ended the game with four RBIs and a run scored.
• Cameron had a home run, triple, two RBIs and two runs scored.
• Watt, Murray and junior Anthony May (Baldwinsville, N.Y./Charles W. Baker) each had identical two-hit, one-RBI lines. Murray came around to score three times.

UP NEXT

• Wheeling will return home for its first games at the JB Chambers I-470 Complex since May 4, 2019.
• The Cardinals will host West Virginia Wesleyan on Saturday, March 27 at 1 p.m. in a MEC doubleheader.
• A live stream of the games has been planned and will be available online and on the Mountain East App (Roku, AppleTV, Android, and Amazon Fire, etc.).