Wheeling, W. Va. – On a chilly Thursday afternoon, the Wheeling University Baseball team (9-8,0-4) played their official 2024 home opener as they welcomed Ohio Dominican into the J.B. Chambers I-470 Complex. After Kai Schoolcraft started the day with a special first pitch honoring World Down Syndrome day, the bats came to life on both sides with a combined 22 runs being scored. The Cardinals made a comeback effort, but it ended up falling short in the final inning as Wheeling fell to the Panthers 14-8.

The day started off with five Ohio Dominican runs over the first two innings as they battled to a 5-0 lead. The Cardinals spread the wealth on the mound throughout the day, with eight different Cardinals pitching. Dominic Parker-McDonald would get the start, and threw 2.0 innings before giving way to Jagger Iovenelli, who would throw the next two innings. As the Cardinals came to bat in the bottom of the fourth, it was a 6-0 Panther lead and the Cardinals were looking for a spark. They would get just that from Thomas Kegerreis with one out in the bottom of the fourth. Kegerreis lifted a solo home run, his first of the season, and the Cardinals were on the board, making it a 7-1 game. It would start A string of four straight innings where the Cardinals scored atleast a run as the comeback began.

In the bottom of the fifth, the power stroke would come back for the Cardinals after Jacob Lentz singled to start the inning. Two batters later, Kaleb Scull stepped in and launched a two-run blast to left-cenrer to make it a 7-3 Panther lead. However, the Panthers would continue to generate offense of their own, and added two runs in the top of the sixth as they turned it into a 9-3 game. Now down by six, the Cardinals were looking to continue their comeback effort in the bottom of the sixth. Nic Ancelet would start things off with a walk and stole second to get into scoring position. A passed ball would move him to their and Spencer Craig would step in and lift a sacrifice fly to left to make it a 9-4 game. The Cardinals held Ohio Dominican off the board over the next two innings with Sebastian Khan and Derrick Goutremout as the team continued to battle back.

With one out in the bottom of the seventh, Braden Killens would draw a walk and Scott Kondroik added a single to put runners at first and second. Josh Rush would step in and singled home Killens from second to make it a 9-5 game. Bode Stewart would step on next and duplicated Rush's effort, singling home Kondroik from second as it turned into a three-run game. Nic Ancelet would then walk to load the bases brining up Carlos D'Amato with the bases loaded and one out. D'Amato would come through with a double down the left field line to bring home two more and make it a 9-8 game. The Cardinals had two runners in scoring position and one out, but the final two batters of the inning struck out to end the inning there. However, that was as close as the Cardinals got as Ohio Dominican added five runs in the top of the ninth to bring the game to its final score of 14-8.

The Cardinals spread the wealth throughout the night, with the eight RBI being spread out between six different players. With the biggest hit of the day, Carlos D'Amato led the way finishing 1-2 with a double and a pair of RBI. The other multi-RBI effort came from Kaleb Scull, who hit one of the teams two home runs and finished 1-4 with the two RBI. Thomas Kegerreis hit the final home run of the day, finishing 1-2, while Spencer Craig, Bode Stewart, and Josh Rush would finish with the final three RBI of the day to round out the offensive effort.

The Wheeling University Baseball team returns to action on Saturday, March 23rd, when they hit the road to face West Virginia Wesleyan with first pitch at 1 PM.