Wheeling, W. Va. - After announcing the Wheeling University Baseball players who earned First Team All-MEC honors, the Cardinals had four other players earn Honorable Mention All-MEC awards. Outfielders Scott Kondroik and Aidan Willard, and pitchers Nicholas Martinez and Kody McCarley all earned Honorable Mention All-MEC honors this season. It brings the Cardinals to six total All-MEC honorees this season, two shy of the eight award winners they had in 2023.
For Kondroik, it is the first All-MEC award of his career, coming off a breakout season at the plate for the Cardinals. Kondroik would hit .325 with eight home runs and 34 RBI across 154 at-bats for the Cardinals, while going 6-7 in stolen base attempts. He finished third on the team in batting average, while sitting second in both home runs and RBI, and tied for third on the team in doubles (8). All four numbers are career highs for Kondroik in a Cardinal uniform, and he also holds a 1.000 fielding percentage in 96 chances out in left field. Kondroik has been a strong producer for the Cardinals throughout the year and looks to continue that success into the MEC Tournament.
Aidan Willard is also winning the first All-MEC honor of his career, stepping up into a full-time starting role this season. Willard would also hit over .300, hitting a career best .321, while going 8-10 in stolen bases this season. After playing mostly a reserve role last season, Willard stepped up for the Cardinals as the sparkplug at the top of their lineup. HE finished the year with 12 multi-hit games and picked up multiple hits in two of the four games against West Liberty to end the season. He was third on the team in hits (51), second on the team in triples (3), and held the team's highest on-base percentage, reaching at a .473 clip on the season.
For Nicholas Martinez, he took home the first All-MEC honor of his career in his first season in a Cardinal uniform and was a model of consistency in the Cardinal rotation. He held the lowest ERA among all starting pitchers for the Cardinals, sitting at 3.88, while tying for the team lead with 11 starts out of his 13 appearances. He is the only Cardinal's starting pitcher to not pick up a loss this season, going a perfect 4-0, while turning in four quality starts during the year. He was especially strong down the stretch, pitching to a 3.60 ERA over his final five starts. He has struck out 42 batters over 48.2 innings of work this season while walking 16 as he looks to help anchor the Cardinal's rotation.
Rounding out the Honorable Mentions was starting pitcher Kody McCarley, who earned the second All-MEC honors of his career. McCarley would hold the lowest ERA among eligible starters for the Cardinals, posting a 4.47 clip in 12 games, 10 starts. His ERA was good for eighth among eligible pitchers in the MEC, and he also sat top 10 in innings pitched (56.1), batters struck out (50), and earned runs allowed (28). McCarley led the team with two complete games on the season, with one of those being a complete game shutout against Dillard back on February 23rd. He sat third on the team with 11 starts and held opponents to a .304 batting average on the mound.
With the Honorable Mention honorees, Wheeling Athletics has now had 34 student athletes earn All-Conference honors this season. With the final All-Conference honors of the year being announced, that puts the department with one more award winner than they had a season ago. Kenny Jinks and Braden Killens were the other two Wheeling Baseball honorees, with both players taking home First Team All-MEC honors.
The Wheeling University Baseball team opens MEC Tournament play on Wednesday, May 8th, when they take on The University of Charleston at 3:30 PM.
