Wheeling, W. Va. - The Wheeling Baseball team got a spark from its offense over the weekend as they took three of four from Notre Dame College. They look to keep that momentum going heading into the second to last week of the season as they take on #6 Seton Hill in non-conference play Wednesday at 3 PM. It will be the second to last non-conference game for the Cardinals as they try to raise their stock in the Atlantic Regional standings as they begin their battle back to the MEC playoff picture.
The Cardinals offense had a big weekend in South Euclid, Ohio, scoring a combined 37 runs between the four-game set with the Falcons. Wheeling took three of four in the series and moved to just two games back of the Flacons for the third playoff spot out of the MEC North Division. They started the weekend out with a bang, scoring 15 runs in the opener before falling in game two 9-2 to go to 1-1 in the series. Day two, saw Wheeling come back out and pick-up an 11-9 win before finishing the series off with a 9-5 win in the finale. The offense was the star of the show, but the pitching was able to keep their team in the lead and earn them three huge wins.
Leading the offense was catcher Riley Cameron, who finished the weekend going 6-14 (.428) with a double, a triple, and six RBI over the four-game set. His biggest outing was in game one of Sunday's doubleheader when Cameron went 3-5 with a double, a triple, and four RBI in his team's 11-9 win. For Cameron, the four RBI were a season-high as he drove in nearly a third of his team's runs in the game. With the effort, Cameron raised his season average to .315 and he has hit .364 over his last seven games played. He has been part of a Wheeling catching corps that has hit the ball extremely well this season.
On the pitching side, the Cardinals got another strong outing from left-hander Hayden Scudder, who threw a complete game victory in game one of the series. It was Scudder's first complete game of the season as he gave up five runs, two earned, on nine hits while walking one and striking out two to earn his fourth win of the season. Garth Charlton rounded out the week's top performers as he ended the four-game series going 2-4 with two doubles and five RBI as he helped lead his team to a 9-5 win that secured them the series win over Notre Dame College.
With the season entering its final two weeks, the Cardinals once again find themselves right in the thick of the Mountain East Conference (MEC) playoff race. However, before they turn their attention to that, they will focus on their standing in the NCAA Division II Atlantic Region as they take on another Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) opponent in Seton Hill. It was a game that was supposed to be played back on April 19th, but weather postponed the game a week. The Cardinals are looking to turn their fortunes around as they are 1-7 against PSAC opponents this season and look to build themselves back up against the #6 team in the region.
The Matchup
The Cardinals and Griffins will be meeting for the 23rd time in team history on Wednesday, with Wheeling going 4-18 in the previous 22 games. However, this will be the first time these two teams have met since March 24th, 2013, and Wheeling is looking for their first win against Seton Hill since the 2012 season. The Cardinals do have two road wins against Seton Hill and are averaging 2.82 runs per game in the series.
Their last meeting was on March 24th, 2013, when the two were in the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC) and Seton Hill took a 5-1 win. Former Cardinal Cory Wickham drove in the only run of the game on an RBI groundout and former Cardinal Patrick Biega led the way going 2-3 scoring the lone run of the game.
The Details
First pitch for Wednesday afternoon's game is scheduled for 3 PM in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. You can follow along with Live Stats by clicking HERE.
