Wheeling, W. Va. – After dealing with inclement weather that rearranged their weekend plans, the Wheeling University Baseball team (9-8, 0-4) are back on the road this weekend. They continue their Mountain East Conference (MEC) schedule against the MEC South, taking on West Virginia Wesleyan on Sunday, March 24th, and Davis & Elkins on Monday, Marcy 25th, with first pitch for both games at 1 PM. The Cardinals are in search of their first conference win of the season, as they continue their battle for an MEC playoff spot.

After a hot start to the season, the Cardinals have been looking to find their groove as the MEC schedule began. Last time out, the Cardinals went back to non-conference play on Thursday against Ohio Dominican, where they fell in a game that saw 22 combined runs. They would allow the first seven runs of the game, before a pair of home runs cut the Panther lead to 7-3 after four innings. Ohio Dominican would respond with two in the top of the sixth to make it  9-3 , but the Cardinals would storm back. They added a run in the bottom of the sixth and four more in the seventh as they made it a 9-8 game with two innings to play. Unfortunately they would lose 14-8, but this showed that they have a lot of fight and resilience that can go a long way as the season progresses.

It was a big day for the Cardinal's offense, who was led by a pair of multi-RBI efforts from Carlos D'Amato and Kaleb Scull. D'Amato entered the game at second base in the fifth inning and came up in one of the biggest at-bats of the night. He stepped on with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the seventh and delivered with a two-RBI double that brought the Cardinals back to make it a 9-8 game. It was D'Amato's first career extra base hit as he set a new career-high with two RBI in the game. The other multi-RBI effort came courtesy of Kaleb Scull, who had one hit in the game, but it was one of the biggest of the night. The junior stepped up in the bottom of the fifth and lifted a two-run home run to left center field that cut the deficit to 7-3. It was Scull's first home run of the season and brought his average up to .268 through 17 games played this season.

After a weekend that saw them score just 10 runs between four games to start their MEC schedule, the offense made a strong return in the mid-week game. That offense will be key to the Cardinal's success, and they enter the weekend as one of the top producing teams in the conference. They lead the MEC in batting average (.292), home runs (24), and RBI (147) as the top offense in the conference. Leading the way for the Cardinals is Scott Kondroik, who enters play on Sunday hitting .364 with four home runs and 17 RBI. He finished 1-4 in the game against Ohio Dominican, and over his last three games is hitting .300 (3-10) with an RBI and a run scored. Braden Killens sits close behind with a .355 average, while leading the team with five home runs and 22 RBI. Killens has been a consistent producer for the Cardinals out of the number three hole and, like Kondroik, has been on fire over his last three games, hitting .363 (4-11) with a double two runs scored and an RBI.

As the MEC schedule rolls on for the Cardinals, they continue their run through the MEC South Division. Wheeling started things off strong, taking on the top two teams in the division, and now they look to battle their way back up the standings. With two more weekends of MEC South play, the Cardinals will be looking for a pair of weekend wins before they get into MEC North play. It was a mixed bag of results for the rest of the North Division, with three of the five teams dropping their first weekend set. The only exceptions were Frostburg State, who went 3-1, and Notre Dame College, who split their opening weekend set. With a weekend win this weekend, the Cardinals can battle right back into playoff position and set themselves up to make a run at the North Division title and a spot in the MEC Tournament in Charleston.

The Matchups

West Virginia Wesleyan: This will be the 35th meeting between West Virginia Wesleyan with Wesleyan leading this matchup 18-16 and Wheeling won the last game 9-4, so this should be a good game as they are always close. Wheeling will be going on the road for this one after finally returning home for a game, so hopefully they can steal a few games on the road and return ready to go as they will have more home games.

West Virginia Wesleyan also has some great players and it all starts with the outfielder Martin Radosevic who has a batting average of .340, 4 home runs, and 22 RBIs, so he will be a player that the Cardinals will have to watch out for as well as outfielder Geovani Sostre who has a batting average of .333 and 11 RBIs.

Davis & Elkins: Monday will mark the 22nd and 23rd meeting all-time between the Cardinals and Senators, with Wheeling leading the all-time series at 14-7. Wheeling has ended up fairing better on the road in the all-time series, with a record of 8-2 compared to a 6-4 record at home against Davis & Elkins. The Cardinals are currently riding a six-game winning streak against the Senators and are averaging 6.62 runs per game in the all-time series.

Last season, the two teams met at the J.B. Chambers I-470 Complex, with the Cardinals sweeping the doubleheader with wins of 11-3 and 2-1. In game one, the Cardinals were led by Braden Killens, who finished 2-2 with five RBI, while Kenny Jinks threw 6.0 innings of two run ball. In game two, Killens once again took the driver's seat on offense, finishing 2-3 with two RBI, while Dominic Parker-McDonald pitched five innings of shutout ball.

The Details

First pitch for Sunday's weekend opening doubleheader is scheduled for 1 PM inside Hank Ellis Field with first pitch at 1 PM. You can watch the game live by clicking HERE or follow along with Live Stats by clicking HERE.