Washington, PA. – The Wheeling University Baseball team (0-2, 0-0) played the finale of their weather shortened Two-Game series with CAL-U on Tuesday afternoon at Wild Things Park. The Cardinals battled throughout the day, but it wasn't enough as they fell 18-2. The Cardinals had six hits as a team in the game as they now look forward to their road non-conference series with Dillard.
Leading the way for the Cardinals was
Scott Kondroik, who finished with the team's only multi-hit effort of the day, finishing 2-3 with an RBI. Kondroik, who did not play in the opener, finished with his first extra base hit of the season as he led the Cardinal',$ offensive effort. The other RBI came courtesy of
Aidan Willard at the top of the lineup, who finishedd 1-4 on the afternoon.
Dylan Maltby,
Spencer Craig, and
Josh Rush would account for the team's final three hits on the day, each adding one hit. The offense created opportunities throughout the day, having at least one runner reach in four of the five innings and had at least one runner in scoring position in three of those four innings. They look to keep that offensive success going as they move through the non-conference schedule.
The Vulcans offense would get going early, scoring nine runs between the first two innings to take the lead. The Cardinal's offense got going in the top of the third as Maltby got things started with a double on the first pitch to start the inning. A deep fly out to left by Nic Ancelet would move the runner third and brought
Aidan Willard to the plate with one out. Willard would then hit a soft ground ball to short that he was able to beat out as Maltby scored to give the Cardinals their first run of the game. However, a line out and a fly out would end the inning as the Cardinals cut into the Vulcan lead, making it a 9-1 affair. The Vulcans would be held off the board in the top of the third as
Dominic Parker-McDonald took over and put together the best pitching performance of the day.
Parker-McDonald held the potent Vulcan offense to just two hits over his 3.0 innings of work as he allowed the Cardinals to fight back into the game. The two hits were all that Parker-McDonald allowed on the day as he and a strong start to the 2024 campaign. The offense would reward him with another run in the top of the fourth, as
Spencer Craig lined a leadoff triple down the left field line. After a flyout, Kondroik stepped to the plate and picked up his runner in scoring position. He picked up his first extra base hit of the season with an RBI double to right center that brought home Craig and made it a 9-2 affair. However, the Vulcans would end the game with nine unanswered runs and went on to win the game by the final score of 18-2.
The Wheeling University Baseball team returns to action on Friday, February 23rd, when they travel to Dillard University for the first two games of a three-game weekend series with first pitch at 2 PM.
