Wheeling, W. Va. – It was a cold day at J.B. Chambers I-470 Complex as the Wheeling University Baseball team hosted Davis & Elkins in doubleheader action. The Cardinals would get strong pitching from their starters and the offense piled on the runs as Wheeling won game one 15-2 followed by a 7-3 win in game two. The Cardinals ended their weekend 4-0 and improved to 6-2 in the Mountain East Conference (MEC).
Game One: Wheeling 15, Davis & Elkins 2
The Cardinals offense was clicking on all cylinders in game one of the game, scoring in five of the seven innings. It began in the first inning when
Jack Skantze laid a beautiful bunt down the third base line to lead off the inning. He stole second and
Blake Vandiver singled to put two on for
Riley Cameron. He quickly deposited a single to left scoring Skantze and giving Wheeling a 1-0 lead.
J.R. Heavilin stepped up next and hit another RBI single to bring home the second run and give Wheeling a 2-0 lead. However, the Senators added a run of their own in the bottom of the second and it was a 2-1 game after two.
That score wouldn't stand for long as Wheeling's offense was right back at it in the third putting a three spot on the board to open things up.
Riley Cameron walked to start the inning and a balk moved him to second with one out. That brought
Jacob Murray to the plate and he would lift his fourth home run of the season to left center field to double the Cardinals score.
Chris Iazzetta would then get hit by a pitch and two batters later the Cardinals had runners at the corners and two outs thanks to an error.
Anthony May would take advantage with a single to score a run and take the Cardinal lead to 5-1.
While the Cardinals were hitting the ball, starting pitcher
Logan Pillars was dealing on the mound, keeping the Senators at bay. Pillars lasted six innings on the mound scattering two hits while walking five and striking out six, allowing one run. He needed just under 90 pitches to get through the outing in what was his best start of the season to date. The Cardinals were held off the board in the fourth for the final time in the game but would score at least two runs in each of the final three innings of the game.
In that fifth,
Jacob Murray started things with a double, and three batters later
Connor Watt walked to put two on for
Anthony May. May would come through for the second time in the game, once again with an RBI single, to make it a 6-1 game. Once he got on the base paths, May took off for second and scored the stolen base while
Connor Watt swiped home on the back-end to make it a 7-1 Cardinal lead. In the sixth, Wheeling took advantage of a Senator error after a hit by pitch and a single to add their eighth run of the day. A sacrifice fly by Iazzetta would bring home another and
Lucas Rawlins got in on the fun with an RBI single of his own to make it 10-1. With the Cardinals being the road team, they batted in the top of the seventh and added a five spot to make it a 15-1 game. Davis & Elkins pushed one across in the bottom of the seventh, but Wheeling had built a big enough lead to hold on 15-2.
It was two middle-of-the-order bats who had big days for the Cardinals as
Jacob Murray and
J.R. Heavilin each went 3-5 with three RBI in the game.
Lucas Rawlins and
Anthony May each picked up two hits in the game and drove in two runs a piece while
Riley Cameron,
Chris Iazzetta, and
Connor Watt each drove in a run of their own. The offense looked to keep rolling as they moved into game two.
Game Two: Wheeling 7, Davis & Elkins 3
After an offensive outburst in game one, game two began with
Hayden Scudder mowing down the opposition. Scudder set down the first 12 men he faced before giving up his first hit of the night in the bottom of the fifth. It was Scudder's first start of the season for the Cardinals and he took advantage picking up his first win of the season. In total, Scudder lasted 5.0 innings allowing just two hits while striking out six batters. It was the most strikeouts in a game for any Cardinals pitcher this season as he hit his spots. While Scudder was dealing on the mound, the Cardinals offense built him a lead beginning in the top of the second.
J.R. Heavilin got his team on the board after doubling to start the second. He would use his legs to steal third and came home to score when the throw from the catcher sailed into left, making it a 1-0 Wheeling lead. They would then add on when
Anthony May doubled to start the third and
Jack Skantze walked to put two on with nobody our. A fielder's choice caused the first out and a strikeout kept runners at first and second with two outs. Once again it would be
J.R. Heavilin that picked up his team, lifting a three- run home run to left center to make it a 4-0 Wheeling advantage. Heavilin already had three RBI in game one and upped his total to six on the day with the shot.
It would remain a 4-0 game heading into the top of the sixth when Iazzetta singled and moved to second to leadoff the inning.
Connor Watt the urn stepped in and smoked a ball to right for an RBI triple that made it a 5-0 advantage.
Anthony May then drove him in with a sacrifice fly that brought it to a 6-0 game. The Senators added two runs in the top of the sixth to make it 6-2, but Wheeling was back on the board in the 7th thanks to an RBI single from
Chris Iazzetta. Davis & Elkins added one more run in the seventh that brought the game to it's final score of 7-3 and gave the Cardinals their fourth straight win to wrap up the weekend.
J.R. Heavilin once again led the way for Wheeling going 3-3 with a home run, two runs, scored, a double, a walk and three RBI.
Chris Iazzetta had the other multi-hit game for the Cardinals, going 2-4 with an RBI.
Connor Watt and
Anthony May rounded out the day with an RBI each in the win. The Cardinals now look ahead to this weekend's slate as they look to keep the momentum going.
The Wheeling University Baseball team is back in action on Saturday, April 2nd, when they take on The University of Charleston at 1 PM.
