Washington, PA. - After rain moved through the Wheeling area on Friday, the Wheeling University Baseball team (9-5, 0-2) moved to Wild Things Park as they kicked off Mountain East Conference (MEC) play. They welcomed in the defending MEC Champions the University of Charleston to open the weekend and competed throughout the day. Unfortunately, the Cardinals would fall in both halves late as Wheeling fell 10-5 in game one and followed that up with a 5-1 defeat in the second game of the day.
Game One: Charleston 10, Wheeling 5
In the first game of the day, the Cardinals would take an early advantage and hold the lead until the final inning. Nicholas Martinez would get the start for the Cardinals and, after being charged with a run in the top of the first, settled in throwing up four straight zeroes. With Charleston leading 1-0, Aidan Willard got things started with a single and Christian Boyles followed with a single to put runners on first and second with nobody out. A passed ball would move the runners to second and third and Braden Killens would walk to load the bases, still with nobody out. Bode Stewart would step in and drew a bases loaded walk to tie the game at 1-1.
Spencer Craig would follow with a sacrifice fly that brought home Boyles and advanced Craig to second. Scott Kondroik would have similar results, lifting a sacrifice fly to left field to bring home Killens and push Wheeling's lead to 3-1. However, the trail runner was thrown out at second on the play and the inning would end with Wheeling leading 3-1. Martinez would continue to roll, allowing two hits over the next three innings before the Cardinals were back on the board in the bottom of the fourth. After a Stewart walk to start the inning, Craig stepped in and lifted a two-run home run over the left field wall. It would push the Cardinal lead to 5-1 as they looked for their first win over the Golden Eagles since 2018.
Martinez would work his way through 5.0 innings, and allowed three runs on four hits wile walking three and striking out two. After the Golden Eagles added the two runs in the top of the sixth, Hunter Dyck came on and got the Cardinals through the sixth with a scoreless inning as the Cardinals led 5-3. However, Charleston came to life in the top of the seventh, scoring seven runs with one out as they made it a 10-5 game heading into the bottom of the seventh. Kaleb Skull and Riley Day would hit back-to-back singles with one out, but that was the final push of the day as the Cardinals fell 10-5.
The offense in game one was led by Spencer Craig, who finished 1-2 with a home run and three RBI on the day. Craig now has two home runs over his last three games and has driven in five RBI during that span. The final two RBI of the day came courtesy of Bode Stewart and Scott Kondroik, as they each drove in a run on the day. Aidan Willard and Christian Boyles each added a hit at the top of the lineup to round out the day. Wheeling looked to get back in the win column as they entered game two of the day.
Game Two: Charleston 5, Wheeling 1
In the second game of the day, both teams would once again get on the board in the first inning. Wes Landis would get the start and allowed a run in the first inning before throwing up zeroes over his next four innings. Landis would turn in his best start of the season so far, going 5.0 innings allowing one unearned run on two hits while walking two and striking out seven. Over his last 10.0 innings of work, Landis has given up one earned run and struck out eight batters as he hit his stride heading into conference play. With Charleston ahead 1-0, the Cardinals would get third lone run of the day in the bottom of the first.
After the first two batters of the inning were retired, Braden Killens would step in and was hit by a pitch to put a runner on first and two outs. Riley Day would step in as the designated hitter and split the gap in left field to bring home Killens from first and tied the game at 1-1. A wild pitch would move the runner to third, but the inning would end with a strikeout. The two pitching staffs battled throughout the next four innings, but it was the Golden Eagles who would break through in the top of the sixth. They scored four runs and took their second lead of the day, this time 5-1 as the Cardinals had two at-bats to get back into the game. They ended up being retired 1-2-3 in both innings and the game would come to its final score at 5-1.
As an offense, the Cardinals picked up two hits in the second game, with Riley Day leading the way with a 1-3 effort with an RBI. His RBI would be the only extra-base hit of the day as he came through with a double to round things out. The other Cardinal hit came courtesy of Nic Ancelet, who finished 1-2 with a single to round out the offensive effort.
The Wheeling University Baseball team returns to action on Sunday, March 17th, when they host West Virginia State at Wild Things Park. You can watch the game live by clicking HERE or follow along with Live Stats by clicking HERE.
