Wheeling, W. Va. – It was a beautiful day for baseball on Monday afternoon as the Wheeling University Baseball team honored their seniors before their final home doubleheader against West Liberty. They ended the year on a high note as they picked up a sweep over West Liberty, but they did not make the playoffs as Notre Dame defeated Alderson Broaddus in the first game of their doubleheader. Game one was a pitcher's duel that saw Wheeling come out on top 1-0 and Game two saw the Cardinals break out late for an 8-4 win.
Game One: Wheeling 1, West Liberty 0
After the Cardinals honored their 12 seniors in a pregame ceremony,
Dominic Parker-McDonald took the mound and he controlled it throughout the game. He set down the first eight batters he faced and allowed just one hit in the first three innings of play. He faced three batters in four of the seven innings and finished off his first complete game shutout of the season. He entered the top of the seventh with a slim one-run lead and responded by retiring the side in order to guarantee the 1-0 Cardinals victory. Overall, he allowed just three hits in the game while walking one and striking out six.
The Cardinals lone came in the bottom of the second when
Jack Skantze started things off with a double. After back-to-back strikeouts,
Jacob Murray came to the plate with Heavilin remaining at second with two outs. Murray would pick up his guy lining an RBI triple down the right field line, scoring Heavil and making it a 1-0 Wheeling lead. That is all they would get in the game, but it was more than enough for Parker-McDonald on the mound. The Cardinals offense picked up five hits in the game but couldn't push across that extra insurance run to give them security.
The Hilltoppers did threaten in the top of the sixth when they got two on with one out after a walk and a hit by pitch. However, Parker-McDonald was able to get a huge pick off at second as he nabbed the runner to make it a runner at first with two outs. Parker-McDonald got out of the jam and was given the ball by head Coach
Ryan Lewicki in the seventh. He responded with a quick 1-2-3 inning to secure the win and give Wheeling a 2-1 lead in the series. The win also moved them within a game of Notre Dame as they were forced to win game two and wait to see what happens in Phillipi, West Virginia.
J.R. Heavilin led the offense with a 2-2 day at the plate with a double and kept his average safely over the .400 mark. The only RBI or the day came courtesy of
Jacob Murray, who finished 1-2 with an RBI.
Jack Skantze and
Blake Vandiver each picked up hits to round out the offense for the Cardinals as they looked for the game two sweep.
Game Two: Wheeling 8, West Liberty 4
After a pitcher's duel in game one, it was clear pretty quickly in game two that that would not be the case again. It was the Hilltoppers that started things off strong as they put up a three-spot in the top of the third to take a 3-0 lead. Justin Studd for the start for the Hilltoppers in game two and, much like Parker-McDonald did for Wheeling in game one, he shut down the Cardinals over the first three innings of the game. The Cardinals picked up just one hit over those first three innings as a
Riley Cameron single was the lone hit for the Cardinals. However, it would only be a matter of time before the Cardinals would battle back.
Brian Shaw gitvtye start and threw 2.0 innings while allowing just the three unearned runs, and
Paul Tripi followed him up with two scoreless innings of their own.
As the pitching staff was working on the mound, the Cardinals offense began to work, getting on the board in the bottom of the fourth.
Blake Vandiver singled to start the inning and used his legs to get to third on a wild pitch and a stolen base. He would then come home on a sacrifice fly by
J.R. Heavilin that made it a 3-1 Hilltopper lead. In the bottom of the fifth, Wheeling was back at it again as
Chris Iazzetta walked to put the leadoff man on. He moved to second on a single by Murray, and two batters later he was home on a sacrifice fly that made it a 3-2 game. However, the big inning for the Cardinals came in the bottom of the sixth when Wheeling took the lead for good with a six-run sixth inning.
Blake Vandiver walked to start the inning, but would remain there with two outs in the inning two batters later.
Garth Charlton was hit by a pitch and that seemed to spark the Cardinals bench. A wild pitch moved runners to second and third with two away and
Chris Iazzetta would give his team the lead with a two RBI double that made it 4-3 Wheeling. The hits just kept coming as
Jacob Murray walked and
Lucas Rawlins reached on an error that brought home Iazzetta and made it 5-3 Cardinals.
Connor Watt got in on the action with a RBI double before
Jack Skantze lined a loud double off the left center field wall to bring home two more and give Wheeling an 8-3 lead. The Hilltoppers added another run in the seventh but it wasn't enough as
Kyle Dalton shut the door to secure the sweep.
Leading the way in game two for the Cardinals were
Chris Iazzetta and
Connor Watt, who each finished 1-2 with two RBI.
Jack Skantze added two RBI of his own, going 1-4 and
J.R. Heavilin added the final RBI of the game. Wheeling did not have a player with a multi hit game, but were able to string hits together for a solid team win. Despite the victory, Wheeling was eliminated from playoff contention when Notre Dame won their first game against Alderson Broaddus to push them to 19 wins. It was a big year for Wheeling Baseball and we wish the best of luck to all of our seniors and thank them for all they have done for this program.
The Wheeling University Baseball team now heads into the off-season looking to build off this season and get back to the MEC playoffs next year.
