Greensburg, PA. - After being rained out last Tuesday, the Wheeling University Baseball team (16-25, 12-12) traveled to Greensburg, Pennsylvania for non-conference action Wednesday when they took on Seton Hill. The Cardinals got a few early runs to take the lead, but it wasn't enough as they fell to the Griffins 11-3. The loss dropped Wheeling to 1-8 against Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) opponents this season as they played their second to last non-conference game against the PSAC this season.
After both teams were held off the board in the first, the Cardinals would get things going when
Chris Iazzetta started the inning with a double.
Lucas Rawlins followed him with a single to put runners at the corners and
Jacob Murray would follow with an RBI single that brought home Iazzetta and made it a 1-0 Wheeling advantage with two on and still nobody out. Two batter later,
Kobe Hill drew a walk to load the bases for
Pete Toula. Toula hit a deep line drive to centerfield, and it went down as a sacrifice fly bringing home Rawlins and giving the Cardinals a 2-0 lead.
It was a bullpen day for the Cardinals as they used nine different pitchers to get them through the eight innings.
Austin Gussman got the start, throwing a clean first, before the Griffin's got to
Jake Rife for the first run of the game in the second inning. The Griffins would add on with a run in the third and two more in the fourth as they took the lead 4-2 after four innings.
TJ Nikhazy entered for the fifth inning and faced just three batters, allowing a hit sandwiched between a groundout and a popout before a caught stealing to end the inning.
However, the runs would only stop momentarily as the Griffin's put up two in the sixth and six in the seventh to extend their lead to 11-2. The Cardinals would come to life once again in the top of the eighth, as Donovan Dubbuison and
Riley Cameron drew back-to-back walks to start the inning. The next two batters would be retired setting up a two out, two on, situation for Spenser Craig. The freshman would come through with a clutch two-out single that brought home Cameron and made it an 11-3 game.
Kobe Hill would follow with a walk before a strikeout ended the inning.
In the bottom of the eighth, the Cardinals called on
Kyle Dalton, who came in with a streak of three scoreless outings over his past four appearances. He faced four batters in his half of the eighth, striking out one and allowing one hit in the inning before getting his team back to the plate.
Nathaniel Flores and
Chandler Rhodes each singled to start the inning, but the next three hitters were retired to end the inning as Wheeling fell 11-3.
Jacob Murray and
Pete Toula led the Wheeling offense, putting up identical 1-2 days with an RBI each in the loss. The other RBI on the day came courtesy of Spenser Craig, who finished 1-4 with an RBI single as the designated hitter. Nine different Cardinals came up with hits on the day, but no one came away with a multi-hit game. The two, three, and four, hitters all came up with hits on the day as they turn their attention back to Mountain East Conference (MEC) play.
The Wheeling University Baseball team is back in action on Saturday, Apri 30th, when they host Alderson Broaddus in doubleheader action with first pitch at 1 PM.
