Wheeling, W. Va. – The Wheeling University Baseball team continued their run towards the Mountain East Conference (MEC) playoffs on Monday as they wrapped up their four-game set with Alderson Broaddus. The Cardinals offense combined for 28 runs as they inched closer to the #3 seed as they swept the Battlers. Game one saw the Cardinals win 17-5 and they followed it up with an 11-5 win in game two.

Game One: Wheeling 17, Alderson Broaddus 5

Despite the final score, this was a back and forth game throughout the first five innings of play as the two teams battled for the advantage. After both teams were held off the board in the first, it was the Battlers that would strike for two in the top of the second to take the early lead. However, it didn't take long for the Cardinals to respond as they put up a pair of runs in the bottom of the second after Jacob Murray started things with a one out double. Lucas Rawlins followed him with a single that brought home Murray and made it a 2-1 Battlers advantage. Two batters later, Anthony May would tie the game with an RBI single and after two the score remained 2-2.

The tie was short-lived as the Battlers responded with three runs in the top of the third as Wheeling was down once again 5-2 heading to the bottom of the third. The Cardinals would have back-to-back singles to start the third and both runners would steal to put two in scoring position. Chris Iazzetta picked up one of those runners with a sacrifice fly that made it a 5-3 game. Then, as the Battlers were checking to see if Riley Cameron tagged at second, the pitcher threw the ball into centerfield allowing Cameron to score and making it a 5-4 game. The Cardinals added another run in the bottom of the fourth when Connor Watt scored on a wild pitch and tied the game at 5-5. The Cardinals would retake the lead in the bottom of the fifth as Jacob Murray lined a two-RBI single to center that gave Wheeling the 7-5 advantage that they would hold the rest of the way.

In the fourth inning, the Cardinals brought Paul Tripi in relief and it turned out to be a move that would pay dividends. With a new game on their hands, the Cardinals needed someone to come in and throw up zeros and that is exactly what Tripi did. He threw 3.0 scoreless innings of work, allowing two hits while walking three and striking out two. He retired the side 1-2-3 in the fifth and his only jam came in the top of the sixth with two outs. He walked three straight batters to load the bases with two outs and needed to find the zone. He did just that, getting the next batter to fly out to center to end the inning and keep it a 7-5 game.

The Cardinals would then put up their highest single-inning run total of the season as they scored 10 runs to blow the game open. The big blow was a three-run home run from Iazzetta, his second of the series, as the Cardinals built a 17-5 lead. The Cardinals brought 15 men to the plate in the inning and totaled eight hits and took advantage of three Battler errors in the inning. That was more than enough offense for the Cardinals as Josh Wessler came in to finish the game and threw a 1-2-3 top of the seventh to secure the Cardinals victory.

All nine Cardinals starters picked up at least one hit and nine of the ten Cardinals that appeared in the game got a hit. Jacob Murray led Wheeling's 17-hit attack going 3-4 with two RBI in the game while Chris Iazzetta led with four RBI while going 1-4 at the plate.  Three Cardinals had multi-hit efforts in the game and three Cardinals had multiple RBI. Anthony May rounded out the day at the plate going 2-3 with two RBI on the day. Wheeling came back in game two as they looked to keep the offense going and earn the sweep.

Game Two: Wheeling 11, Alderson Broaddus 5

After battling back and forth for most of game one, the Cardinals took full control of the game scoring six runs in the bottom of the first. Jack Skantze fir things started with a bang on the first pitch he saw as he hit a leadoff home run that gave the Cardinals a 1-0 lead early. Blake Vandiver walked, Riley Cameron singled, and J.R. Heavilin walked to load the bases with nobody out. Garth Charlton came up and brought two more home with a double that made it a 3-0. The next two runs came home on a Battler error as Jacob Murray reached first and the Cardinals extended their lead to 5-0. After another walk, Pete Toula stepper in and lifted a sacrifice fly to center that brought home Skantze and made it a 6-0 game.

That was enough for the Pirates pitching staff as four pitchers combined to secure the win. Brian Shaw got the start and went three innings allowing one run on six hits and struck out one. Dan Matos was up next and got two outs giving up two runs on one hit while walking two and striking out one. He was relieved by Austin Gussman who earned the win for the Cardinals after going 2.1 innings to move the game into the seventh. He had his strikeout pitch working as he struck out six of the seven batters that he retired. Kyle Dalton threw the final inning of work and retired the side 1-2-3 to secure the win. The early offense was enough to sustain the Cardinals, but they continued to add insurance runs. 

Chris Iazzetta drove in his second run of the day in the bottom of the third on a sacrifice fly that made it 7-0 Cardinals. In the top of the fourth, the Battlers tried to fight back into it with a two-spot to make it 7-3, but the Cardinals put the game out of reach in the bottom of the fourth. After back-to-back walks to start the inning, an error loaded the bases with nobody out. Garth Charlton would single home a run to make it 8-3 and Chris Iazzetta followed it up with a double to make it 9-3. Jacob Murray lifted a sacrifice fly to right and an error brought home the final run to make it 11-3 after four innings. The Battlers would add two more runs in the top of the sixth, but it wasn't enough as the Cardinals held on to win 11-5.

Garth Charlton led the way offensively going 2-2 with three RBI on the day and Iazzetta added two more RBI to bring his total to six on the day. Riley Cameron finished out the multi-hit days going 2-3 at the dish.

The Wheeling University Baseball team returns to action on Tuesday when they host IUP at 6 PM.