Wheeling, W. Va. - On Monday, the Mountain East Conference (MEC) released their official Tournament bracket and seeding for the 2023 MEC Baseball Tournament at GoMart Ballpark in Charleston, West Virginia. The Wheeling University Baseball team (28-20, 17-13) are making the tournament field for the second time in program history as they clinched the #2 seed in the MEC North Division. They will open tournament play on Thursday, May 11th, in the first game of the day against the #2 seed from the South in Concord, with first pitch scheduled for 11 AM.
The Cardinals finished off a historic 2023 season that saw them set the new single-season program wins record when they went 28-20. They went 9-4 across their 13 non-conference games before jumping into MEC play with three straight weekend of MEC South play. They kicked off conference play with a bang when they took on Charleston and West Virginia State and they battled hard but fell in all four matchups. They bounced back with a weekend sweep of Davis & Elkins and West Virginia Wesleyan and finished their south competition with a 1-3 mark against Concord and Glenville State. They sat 5-7 entering the MEC North half of their schedule and their goal was simple, "Win Weekends."
They kicked it off against Notre Dame College and started divisional play off strong with a pair of wins in the opener. However, they ended up splitting that first weekend as the Falcons came back to take the final two games and fall to 2-2. The Cardinals earned another weekend split against #1 seeded Frostburg State before coming back to win their first weekend series of divisional play when they took three of four from Fairmont State. They added another 3-1 weekend against Alderson Broaddus and clinched their second MEC Tournament berth in program history. It set them up for a weekend where they needed just two wins against West Liberty to clinch the #2 seed in the MEC North. They took care of business in the first day of the series, winning both games before the weekend finale was washed away by rain.
Joining Wheeling from the MEC North Division in this year's tournament are Frostburg State, who clinched the #1 seed, and West Liberty, who clinched the #3 seed. In the MEC South, Charleston took the #1 seed, while Concord sits as the #2 seed and West Virginia State rounds out the field as the #3 seed. The Tournament will be hosted at GoMart Ballpark in Charleston, West Virginia, home of the Charleston Dirty Birds of Minor League Baseball. It is a double elimination tournament with games scheduled to go 9 innings kicking off on Wednesday, May 10th. The Cardinals will not start their tournament action until Thursday, May 11th, when they are locked in the battle of the #2 seeds.
The Wheeling University Baseball team begins tournament play on Thursday, May 11th, when they face the #2 seed from the South Concord with first pitch at 11 AM. To see the whole tournament field and the MEC Championship Central Page click HERE.
