Buckhannon, W. Va. – On Friday afternoon, the Wheeling University Baseball team (8-13, 4-2) opened their second week of Mountain East Conference (MEC) play when they took on West Virginia Wesleyan. The Cardinals pounded out 33 runs in the effort as their offense continued to pile on the runs, scoring 15+ runs in each of the games as they improved to 4-2 in conference play.
Game One: Wheeling 15, West Virginia Wesleyan 5
In the first game, the Cardinals took advantage of five Bobcat errors, and that started right from the beginning of the game. After senior
Jack Skantze doubled to start the game and then stole third,
Blake Vandiver reached on the first error of the game, scoring Skantze and giving Wheeling a 1-0 lead. Three batters later,
Chris Iazzetta would draw a two-out walk with Vandiver on third, but a wild pitch allowed Vandiver to score and gave Wheeling a 2-0 advantage. They would strand those two runners but the offense was just getting started. Those two runs would be a good start for starting pitcher
Dominic Parker-McDonald, who turned in hah third straight 6.0 inning start. He allowed five runs, four earned, on eight hits while walking two and striking out one.
After being held off the board in the second, Wheeling broke the game open with nine runs combined between the third and fourth innings. The third began with a single by
Riley Cameron and a walk from JR Heavilin before a balk moved them to second and third. Iazzetta then stepped in and lifted a sac fly to right to make it a 3-1 game. Two batters later,
Anthony May stepped in with the bases loaded and two outs and ripped a bases-clearing double to put the Cardinals ahead 6-1. As the game moved into the fourth, Wheeling was off to a similarly fast start loading the bases with no outs. This time it was
Jacob Murray who lined a two-RBI double and Iazzetta followed with a two-RBI single to turn it into a 10-1 affair. A sacrifice fly by Skantze added another run at the end of the inning and it was 11-1 Wheeling after four.
The Bobcats scored five runs over the next three innings while Wheeling added an RBI groundout, but Wheeling's advantage was too large as they still maintained a 12-5 lead heading into the seventh. Skantze and Vandiver once again got on base to start the inning, and each stole a base to move runners to second and third. Cameron then came up and drove an RBI single to center to make it a 13-5 game. Two batters later, Murray reached on a fielder's choice to bring home the 14th run of the game. With two outs, the Cardinals would get their final run of the game on an error allowing Cameron to score and
Connor Watt to reach to make it 15-5. The Bobcats got a runner on in the bottom of the inning but couldn't push him around and the game would end with Wheeling winning 15-5.
Several Cardinals had multi-hit performances in the game, but
Anthony May led the way going 2-4 with a double and three RBI.
Jacob Murray was the other Cardinal to finish with three RBI, going 1-5 at the plate. The Cardinals saw four players end the day with multi-hit performances and three different Cardinals drove in at least two RBI in the win.
Game Two: Wheeling 18, West Virginia Wesleyan 8
In-game two, it was the Bobcats who got out to the early lead, putting two runs up in the first inning off starter
Paul Tripi. They would hold that 2-0 lead through the first inning before the Cardinals found their way on the board in the second.
J.R. Heavilin came to the plate to start the inning and lifted a solo home run to center to make it a 2-1 game. Wheeling would take the lead in the very next inning after a
Riley Cameron two-out double. Heavilin would trade him places with an RBI double and tied the game at 2-2. Two batters later,
Chris Iazzetta followed with a two-RBI triple that gave Wheeling its first lead of the day at 4-2. However, the Bobcats were back at it in the bottom of the third, adding six runs to take an 8-4 lead.
That spelled the end of the night for Tripi, but the bullpen came in and kept Wheeling in the game.
Connor Pinsker relieved Tripi and was impressive over his 3.1 innings of work, allowing just two hits and striking out two during that time. Jack Rife followed him and added a scoreless inning to close out the game while allowing a hit and striking out a batter. The bullpen's work would be rewarded as Wheeling came back to the plate in the top of the fourth swinging. After an
Anthony May walk stated the inning, Skantze would triple him home to make it an 8-5 game. Skantze came in on a
Blake Vandiver single and just like that it was an 8-6 game with Wheeling's offense surging. The Cardinals would load the bases on a walk and a hit by pitch before an error allowed Murray to reach and made it an 8-7 game.
Iazzetta added a sacrifice fly, and an RBI single by
Garth Charlton got the Cardinals back in the lead for good at 9-8. Vandiver made it a 10-8 game with an RBI groundout in the fifth before Wheeling added eight runs over the final two innings. The top of the sixth started with a flyout before Murray reached on another error. He would come home on an RBI triple courtesy of Iazzetta and it made it an 11-8 game. Charlton would bring him home on a groundout and Wheeling led 12-8 in the top of the sixth.
Connor Watt would then single and steal second before May was hit by a pitch bringing up Skantze. Skantze would lift his first home run of the year to left and made it a 15-8 Wheeling lead. In the final inning, Wheeling added three more runs on a double by Murray and a
Garth Charlton two-run home run that brought the game to its final score of 18-8.
Three different Cardinals ended the day with four RBI, led by Skantze at the top of the lineup who went 3-5 with three runs scored, a home run, and four RBI.
Chris Iazzetta and
Garth Charlton were the other two Cardinals to drive in four runs in the game, with Iazzetta going 2-4 with four RBI and Charlton going 2-3 with four RBI. The Cardinals pounded out 16 hits in the game and secured their first doubleheader sweep of the season.
The Wheeling University Baseball team will be back in action on Monday, March 28th, when they hit the road to face Davis & Elkins at 1 & 3 pm.
