Wheeling, W. Va. - With three weeks left in the regular season, the Mountain East Conference (MEC) North Division is still anyone's game with five teams sitting just one game out of a playoff spot. The Wheeling University Baseball team (19-16, 9-11) is one of those three teams and they kick-off a big week of action when they play IUP in a nine-inning game on Wednesday afternoon with first pitch scheduled for 3 PM. The Cardinals are currently in a three-way tie for second in the division and are looking to gain momentum as they try to get back to the tournament for the first time since the 2021 season.
The Cardinals are coming off a week where they battled the top team in the North Division in Frostburg State and came away with a split of the weekend. On the second day of action, the Cardinals fell 13-3 in game one after they were unable to overcome a fast start by the Bobcats. However, as things moved to game two, Wheeling's offense kicked it back into hyper drive, taking an early 2-0 lead through three- and-a-half innings of play. They scored at least one run in four of the seven innings of play and let their bullpen do the rest as they closed out the team's ninth conference win of the season. With the 2-2 weekend, the cardinals held on to the number three spot in the division and are currently in a three-way tie for the second-place spot.
Leading the offensive attack was infielder Braden Killens, who is coming off a monster week at the plate that saw him finish 10-19 with two home runs, two doubles and 11 RBI over his last five games. His biggest performance of the week came on day one against the Bobcats when he combined to drive in nine of his 11 RBI between the two games, while hitting both home runs. In the team's 14-11 win in game two of the first game of the series, Killens drove in eight RBI, including a grand slam that he hit as part of a six-run top of the fifth for the team. Killens leads the team with 37 RBI this season and sits just 10 RBI away from the single-season record, which was set last season by Chris Iazzetta when he finished with 47. Killens has been a fixture in the middle of the Cardinal's lineup and looks to continue his success in the coming weeks.
While the starting staff has done their job to keep the team in games this season, the bullpen has been dominant especially in the late innings of games. Leading the way has been right-handed pitcher Hunter Dyck, who leads the team with four saves this season while posting a 1.61 ERA over 22.1 innings of work. He has not allowed more than one earned run in any outing this season and has not allowed a run in 10 of his 14 appearances during the season. The Cardinal's ERA leader this season has been right-handed pitcher Jake Rife, who has posted a 1.47 ERA over 18.1 innings of work. Rife has not allowed a run in each of his last three outings and has a scoreless inning streak of 4.1 heading into the week.
As we enter the final three weeks of play, the MEC North is full of competition, with five of the six teams contending for the three playoff spots. The leader of the North continues to be Frostburg State, sitting with a record of 12-8, with Notre Dame College, Wheeling, West Liberty, and Fairmont State all sitting with identical 9-11 conference records. Over their final three weekends, the Cardinals will play two of those teams in Fairmont State this weekend and West Liberty over the final week of the regular season. Wheeling looks to keep their destiny in their own hands and by winning weekends they keep that possibility alive as they head into May.
The Matchup
The Cardinals and the Crimson Hawks are meeting for the fourth time in program history, with the all-time series being tied at two wins a piece. However, this will be the first time that the two teams have met in Wheeling, West Virginia, with the other four games coming in Indiana, Pennsylvania. The Cardinals are averaging just above nine runs per game so far in the series and have scored less than six runs just once in the four games.
Last season, Wheeling traveled to IUP for a three-game series and would end up dropping two of the three games in the series. They won the opening game 3-2 before coming back to lose the final two games by the scores of 13-10 and 9-6. Former Cardinal Jack Skantze led the way, going 6-10 in the series with two RBI, including a 4-4 day in game two, while former Cardinal J.R. Heavilin added a 5-11 series while driving in three runs.
The Details
First Pitch for Wednesday's game is scheduled for 3 PM at the J.B. Chambers I-470 Complex. You can watch the game live by clicking HERE or follow along with Live Stats by clicking HERE.
