Dunbar, W. Va. – After some shuffling of the schedule, the Wheeling University Baseball team (3-3, 0-0)  headed to Dunbar, West Virginia on Friday and Saturday to take on Bluefield State. There was a share of ups and downs throughout the weekend, but the Cardinals would drop two out of three games to the Bulldogs to even their record at 3-3. The Cardinals fell in a close contest in game one 3-2 before bouncing back with a 17-12 win in game two. The series ended on Saturday with a nine-inning game that saw Bluefield State win 25-6.

Game One: Bluefield State 3, Wheeling 2

Game one of the three-game set was a pitchers duel between the two teams as Wheeling's Kody McCarley and Bluefield State's Zach Powell took the mound. McCarley got off to a strong start, allowing one hit over each of the first two innings. His strikeout pitch was working as he retired five of his six batters via strikeout and allowed in extra base hit. The Bulldogs would get on the board in the bottom of the third thanks to a two-run two-out double, but McCarley responded with a 1-2-3 bottom of the fourth to make it a 2-0 game after four. However, the Cardinals answered with their first run of the game in the top of the fifth.

Kobe Hill walked to start the inning and Scott Kondroik followed with a one-out walk. Braden Killens would then be hit by a pitch and the bases were loaded with one out for Spencer Craig. Craig would draw a bases loaded walk and brought home Hill to make it a 2-1 game. However, a pair of strikeouts would end the inning with the Cardinals trailing 2-1. Bluefield State got that run back in the bottom of the fifth and it was once again a 3-1 game. That would be the final run allowed by McCarley as he finished with a complete game effort. He would throw 6.0 innings allowing three runs, two earned, on five hits while walking one and striking out 11. It was the most strikeouts in a single game for the Cardinals this season and the team would try and battle back heading to the top of the seventh.

The Cardinals were in business to start the inning as Braden Killens reached on an error and moved to second when Craig singled. After a foul out, Nick Ancelet would reach on a fielder's choice and Wheeling would have runners on first and third with two outs. The Cardinals would take advantage of another Bulldog error as Anthony May reached and Killens came around to score to make it 3-2. May would get to second as the go-ahead run, but a flyout would end the game as Wheeling fell to 2-2 on the season. Anthony May led the way, going 1-4 with an RBI while Spencer Craig added a 1-3 effort with another RBI. Kobe Hill would get the final Wheeling hit, going 1-2 with a strikeout. The Cardinals came back in game two for the first of two nine-inning affairs.

Game Two: Wheeling 17, Bluefield State 12

For as much as game one was a pitcher's duel, game two would feature both offenses taking center stage. The two teams combined for 29 runs in the game, but the first inning saw neither team get on the board. Wheeling's Kenny Jinks took the mound for his first start of the season and retired Bluefield State after facing six batters. The Cardinals offense would get going in the second inning as Anthony May walked and stole second to start things off. Nick Ancelet would be hit by a pitch and two batters later Sonny Peluchette walked to load the bases. Kobe Hill would bring the first run of the game in as a bases loaded walk and Scott Kondroik would add two more runs on a two RBI single. The Cardinals had their first lead of the day at 3-0 and Jinks responded with a 1-2-3 bottom of the second.

The Cardinal's offense was right back at it in the third as Craig singled to lead off the inning. Two batters later, Ancelet would step in and bring him home with an RBI double that made it a 4-0 game. Another Cardinal run scored when Carlos D'Amato reached on a dropped fly ball that brought home Ancelet. Sam Kondroik would then reach after striking out and reaching on a dropped third strike and two batters later, Kobe Hill came through again with a two RBI single that put Wheeling up 7-0 after three innings of play. The Bulldogs were not about to lay down, as they added five runs in the bottom of the third and it was a game again with Wheeling leading 7-5.

That would be the end of the night for Jinks, who lasted 2.2 innings of work while allowing five runs on five hits while walking two and striking out five. Josh Wessler would finish out the bottom of the third and Hunter Dyck added a scoreless fourth as the game remained 7-5. Jared Naida would come in for the bottom of the fifth, and was charged with another run that made it a 7-6 game. However, the top of the sixth would see Wheeling blow the game wide open with a nine-run inning. The Cardinals would load the bases to start the inning before Scott Kondroik brought in the first two runs with a two RBI single. A wild pitch would bring home Hill for the third run of the inning and Braden Killens brought home Scott Kondroik to make it an 11-6 game. Craig would bring home another run with an RBI double that made it 12-6 before Anthony May walked to put two runners on again.

A wild pitch moved runners to second and third and Craig would come home on an error that made it 14-6. The final two runs of the inning came home on another Bulldogs error as May and D'Amato scored and Wheeling was staked to a 16-6 lead after five and a half innings. The final Cardinals run of the game would come in the top of the eighth as Jacob Murray hit a solo home run to make it a 17-6 game. The Bulldogs would add six runs in the bottom of the ninth, but Wheeling had built up enough of a lead to hold on and win 17-12. Scott Kondroik led the Cardinals, driving in five of the team's 17 runs and Carlos D'Amato finished behind him with three RBI. Kobe Hill was the final Cardinal to drive in multiple runs, finishing with two RBI as the team's headed into Saturday's rubber match.

Game Three: Bluefield State 25, Wheeling 6

Game Three of the series saw Bluefield State continue their offensive success as they went on to win 25-6. The Bulldogs scored their first two runs in the bottom of the first before the Cardinals got on the board in the top of the second. Three walks would load the bases with one out and Garth Charlton stepped in. He would lift a sacrifice fly to left field scoring Braden Killens and making it a 2-1 game. Bluefield State would add a run in the bottom of the second, but Wheeling was right back at it in the top of the third. Kobe Hill singled to start the inning before a Scott Kondroik walk and a Jacob Murray single once again loaded the bases. Braden Killens would make it a one-run game with a sacrifice fly and a wild pitch brought home another run to tie the game at 3-3. After the second out of the inning, Christian Boyles would clear the bases with his first home run of the year and Wheeling was staked to a 5-3 lead.

However, Bluefield State went to work the next inning, putting up 14 runs and flipping the game on its head as Bluefield State led 17-5. The Bluefield State offense just kept coming and they added eight more runs over the next five innings and it was 25-5 heading into the top of the ninth. The Cardinals would put one more run on the board as Nick Ancelet would triple to start the inning and two batters later Juan Almonte would groundout to first bringing in Ancelet and bringing the game to its final score of 25-6. Jacob Murray was the only Cardinal with multiple hits in the game, going 2-4 while Christian Boyles hit his first home run of the year while going 1-3.

The Wheeling University Baseball team returns to action on Friday, March 3rd, when they take on Carolina University at 2 PM.