Wheeling, W. Va. - As Wheeling Baseball prepares to put March behind them, and once again weather will be playing a factor in their weekend road trip plans. The Cardinals scheduled doubleheader against West Virginia Wesleyan has been pushed up to Friday (3-25) with game one scheduled for 11 AM followed by game two at around 1 PM. It will be the third Mountain East Conference (MEC) doubleheader of the season as Wheeling looks for their first conference doubleheader sweep of the season.
In their first full weekend of conference play, the Cardinals split their doubleheaders against both Concord and Glenville State. In both instances, the Cardinals would take the first game of the day before falling in the nightcap to end the day back where they started. Against Concord, the Cardinals offense piled on 16 runs behind a strong performance from Dominic Parker-McDonald before falling in extras in game two 7-5. Against Glenville State, it was a close 10-8 win for the Cardinals in game one before the Pioneers took off and handed Wheeling a 26-9 loss in game two.
On offense, there were several Cardinals that had big days against Glenville State, but none bigger than the work put in by first baseman Lucas Rawlins. The junior finished the day 3-7 (.429) with four RBI and was a catalyst in the Cardinals game one 10-8 win. Rawlins went 2-4 with a season-best four RBI in that game, giving him 14 RBI for the season and ranking fourth on the team. Combined between the four weekend games, Wheeling was able to score 40 runs between the four games and are averaging 7.5 runs per game through their first 19 games of the season.
On the mound, the Cardinals have been trying to find the pieces that work best in their starting rotation, and recently Dominic Parker-McDonald has been that guy. Over his last two starts, Parker-McDonald has pitched to a 2.07 ERA and has picked up wins in both of those outings. He has become a reliable number one for head coach Ryan Lewicki's team. Senior Logan Pillars also turned in a solid start against Glenville State, even though his stat line may not show it. He threw 5.1 innings of work, giving up just three runs, before a three-run home run ended his day. Both pitchers will be relied on by their teams to turn in strong starts and give them a chance to win every night.
The Wheeling University Baseball team kicks off their Friday doubleheader with game one scheduled for 11 AM followed by game two at around 1 PM.
