Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 New Orleans, LA. – The Wheeling University Baseball team (2-2, 0-0) kicked off their trip to New Orleans, Louisiana in a big way on Friday as they took on Dillard in doubleheader action. The Cardinals shutout the Blue Devils in both games and scored a combined 17 runs between the two contests as Head Coach Ryan Lewicki picked up the 100th win of his coaching career. They picked up a big 12-0 win in game one and followed that with a 5-0 win to complete the sweep. 

Game One: Wheeling 12, Dillard 0

The first game saw the Cardinals put together their best effort of the season so far, both on the mound and at the plate. Things started with a bang in the top of the first as Spencer Craig stepped up with one out. He would hit his first home run of the season as the Cardinals got out to a 1-0 lead. Braden Killens followed with a double and Riley Day added a single that put runners on the corner with one out. Thomas Keggereis would then step up and lined an RBI single to bring home Killens and give Wheeling a 2-0 lead. Those two runs were more than enough for starting pitcher Kody McCarley, who was back to his 2023 form in his second start of the season.

He would set Dillard down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the first and kept it going for the rest of the game. He ended up throwing 6.1 innings of shutout ball, allowing just one hit while striking out four. His only hit allowed came in the bottom of the third and he finished striking out four batters. The senior would throw four complete games a season ago and adds his first shutout of the 2024 season. The Cardinals offense continued to add on in the top of the second after Kaleb Scull tripled to start things off. Willard would follow and lifted a sacrifice fly to bring home Scull and make it a 3-0 Cardinal lead. In the top of the third, the Cardinals started the inning with an error and a walk, but two outs later, runners remained at first and second. Scott Kondroik would pick up the runner in scoring position and the Cardinals had a 4-0 lead after three innings of play.

In the top of the fourth, the Cardinals continued their offensive success as Christian Boyles stepped in to lead off the inning. Boyles would start things off with his first home run of the season as the Cardinals upped their lead to 5-0. Wheeling out up at least one run in all but one inning, as they were held off the board in the top of the fifth. They were back at it with their biggest inning in the top of the sixth as an error allowed Boyles to reach and Bode Stewart was hit by a pitch to put runners at first and second. The Cardinals would steal their next run as Stewart and Boyles both took off, and a throwing error allowed Boyles to score and make it a 6-0 game. A ground pit would move Bode to third and Craig drew a walk bringing Braden Killens to the plate. Killens would come through with a three-run home run, his second of the year, and the Cardinal's lead to 9-0.

Riley Day was up next and he hit a one-out triple and Keggereis stepped up with one out and a runner at third. Keggereis would ground out and brought home Day as the Cardinals pushed their lead to 10-0. In the top of the seventh inning, the Cardinals would add two more runs as Scull and Boyles walked to start the inning. Stewart would then step in and ground out as Scull came all the way around and made it an 11-0 game. The final run came home on a sacrifice fly by Craig that brought home Boyles and the Cardinals would push their lead to 12-0. In the bottom of the seventh, McCarley would get the first out before giving way to Noah Zenkewich. Zenkewich would get the final two outs of the inning and the Cardinals went on to win 12-0.

Leading the way for the Cardinals was Riley Day, who finished 3-4 with two runs scored on the day. It was his first career three-hit game for Day as he was a spark plug at the top of the lineup. Braden Killens would lead the way with three RBI and went 2-3 with a home run. Six other Cardinals would end up getting hits on the day to round out the day as the Cardinals put together their biggest offensive showing of the season. They looked to keep things going as they moved on to game two.

Game Two: Wheeling 5, Dillard 0

In the second game of the day, the Cardinals continued their strong pitching effort as they sent Kenny Jinks to the mound. Like McCarley in game one, Jinks also limited the Blue Devils allowing just three hits over 5.1 innings of work, while striking out a career-high 12 batters over the 16 outs he recorded. Jinks retired the first four batters of the game and the Cardinals built him an early lead over the first two innings. In the top of the first, Aidan Willard started things off with a single and back-to-back walks by Riley Day and Braden Killens would load the bases. The first run of the day would come home on a sacrifice fly by Spencer Craig that would score Willard and give Wheeling a 1-0 lead. A second sacrifice fly from Thomas Keggereis would bring home the second run to make it a 2-0 Wheeling lead.

In the second inning, the Cardinals were back at it as Kaleb Scull doubled to start the inning. Two batters later, Scott Kondroik would double to move runners to second and third with one out. Aidan Willard would step in and walk to load the bases and Christian Boyles would step in as a pinch hitter. He would come through with a two-RBI double that brought home Kondroik and Scull and pushed the Cardinal lead to 4-0. Jinks would continue his effort and got through five scoreless innings before the Cardinals got back on the board in the top of the sixth. Willard would start the inning with a walk and Day would single to put runners at first and second. A wild pitch would move runners to second and third and after the first out of the inning, another wild pitch would bring Willard home and make it a 5-0 game.

Jinks would get the first out in the bottom of the sixth before giving way to reliever Sebastian Khan. Khan would throw the final 1.2 innings and retired all five batters he faced. He finished with one strikeouts as he finished his first scoreless appearance of the season. The Cardinals went on to win by the final score of 5-0 and earned their first doubleheader sweep of the 2024 season. Christian Boyles, Spencer Craig, and Thomas Keggereis all drove in runs on the day while Kaleb Scull led the way going 2-3.

The Wheeling University Baseball team returns to action on Sunday, February 25th, when they play the finale of the three-game series at 12 PM.