Washington, PA. - The Wheeling University Baseball team (1-6, 0-0) began a three-game series against California University of Pennsylvania (Cal-U) on Wednesday afternoon. The offense pounded out eight hits, but it wasn't enough as they dropped the opener to the Vulcans 14-1. Senior Logan Pillars (1-1) took the loss while Dylan Brosky picked up his second win of the season for the Vulcans.
The Cardinals got a runner on thanks to a two-out single from J.R. Heavilin in the first, but they were unable to push him around bringing the Vulcans to the plate in the bottom of the first. Cal-U's offense would take off, scoring nine runs in the bottom half of the inning and putting Wheeling in a 9-0 hole early. The Vulcans scored nine runs on six hits, with the big blow being a 2 RBI single from Jax Miller that brough home a third run after a Wheeling throwing error. The Cardinals were down but would continue to fight the rest of the way.
The Cardinals combined for three hits over the next five innings as their offense tried to fight back in the game. Pillars would be pulled after the first inning as Wheeling turned to their bullpen the rest of the way. Josh Wessler pitched the second inning, allowing just one run on two hits, and Nick Berhalter followed him up with 2.0 innings of work, allowing a run on two hits while striking out one. Wheeling would get their lone run in the top of the third inning, when Riley Cameron lifted his first home run of the season to left field, but after four innings of play the Cardinals trailed 11-1.
Over the final three innings of the game, Wheeling began to make substitutions and pushed a runner into scoring position in each of those final three innings of play. In the seventh, the Cardinals loaded the bases after back-to-back one out singles by Connor Watt and Jack Skantze followed by a walk from Cameron. However, a pop-out and a fielder's choice ended the threat stranding three runners on base. In the eighth, freshman Spenser Craig walked in his first collegiate plate appearance and advanced to second on a wild pitch and in the ninth, Kobe Hill drew a walk before Donovan Dubuisson's first career hit, a single, moved the runner to second. However, the Cardinals did not capitalize on either situation and the Cardinals fell 14-1.
Riley Cameron was the offensive leader for the Cardinals, going 3-3 with a home run and an RBI in his three at-bats. He was the only Cardinal to record a multi-hit game in the game and had one of two extra-base hits for the Cardinals. Blake Vandiver had the other extra-base knock, going 1-4 with a double rounding out Wheeling's Day at the plate. Over the final two innings of the game, Wheeling got good work from reliever Dan Matos, who threw two scoreless innings allowing one hit while walking two batters. Wheeling will look to put this one in the rearview mirror as they prepare for the rest of the series this weekend.
Game two of the three-game series is set for Saturday, February 26th, with first pitch scheduled for 1 PM at Wild Things Park.
