Charleston, W. Va. – In his preseason meetings, Wheeling University Head Baseball Coach Ryan Lewicki preached the importance of winning weekends to his team. After splitting day one against Pitt-Johnstown, the Wheeling University Baseball team (3-1, 0-0) would get that first weekend win under their belt, sweeping Monday's doubleheader against Pitt-Johnstown. After grinding out a 5-4 win in game one, the Cardinal's offense would explode late for 11 runs as they earned an 11-6 win to win the weekend.
Game One: Wheeling 5, Pitt-Johnstown 4
Coming off the momentum of a game two win on Sunday, the Cardinals were looking to keep the good times rolling as they came out in game one on Monday. Jaden Wilcox would get the call to make his first start of the season and, after throwing a scoreless top of the first, was rewarded by his offense in the bottom half of the inning. Brett Johnson would single to start things off and was replaced by Nic Ancelet on a fielder's choice. Ancelet would get into scoring position by stealing second, and Steven Merkel drew a walk to put two on and one out. With a 1-1 count on Keaton Ference, a wild pitch allowed Ancelet to come all the way around to score and the Cardinals took a 1-0 lead. However, Pitt-Johnstown responded with two of their own in the top of the second and the Cardinals would have to go back to work in the bottom of the second.
Nicholas Schultz would step in with one out and singled to centerfield to put traffic on the basepaths. Christian Boyles was next and slapped a double up the middle that brought home Schultz and made it a 2-2 game. With the game back to even, Wilcox found his groove, putting up zeros in both the third and fourth inning before the Cardinals retook the lead. Schultz would start the bottom of the fourth with a single and advanced to second on a passed ball. A groundout would move him up to third, and Josh Rush brought him home with a single that gave Wheeling a 3-2 lead. A single by Johnson moved runners to first and third and Ancelet would come through with an RBI double to bring home Schultz and make it a 4-2 Cardinal lead.
Wilcox would face two batters in the top of the fourth before exiting, and both would come around to score to tie things in the top of the fifth. It ended a strong day for Wilcox, who finished throwing 4.0 innings allowing four runs on five hits while walking two and striking out six. Damian Tarin would get the first two outs of the inning, allowing one hit, and Hunter Dyck came into clean things up, throwing 1.1 scoreless innings of his own, allowing two walks and a strikeout. With the score still sitting even at 4-4, the Cardinals would try to get things going in the bottom of the sixth as Christian Boyles started things with a single. A sacrifice bunt would move him to second and an error would allow him to score, giving the Cardinals a 5-4 lead. Matt Sanfilippo would come in for the top of the seventh, after the first two batters in the seventh walked for Pitt-Johnstown, Brock Elliott would come in to close things out, earning his first save of the season.
The offense was led by Christian Boyles, who finished 2-3 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored on the day. Boyles, who helped bring home the walk-off winner in game two Sunday on an error, put together another big showing in the middle of the Cardinal lineup. Jos Rush and Nicholas Ancelet had the other RBI on the day, with Rush going 1-2 and Ancelet going 1-3, while Nicholas Schultz added the second multi-hit game, going 2-3 with a pair of runs scored. The Cardinals looked to come back strong in game two and earn the weekend win on their opening weekend as they headed to game two.
Game Two: Wheeling 11, Pitt-Johnstown 6
The Cardinals had been getting good starting pitching throughout their opening weekend series, and that continued into game two on Monday. The Cardinals turned to Mason Fenwick as the #4 starter and after allowing a walk and a hit by pitch in the first inning, he was perfect the rest of the way. He would retire the Mountain Cats 1-2-3 in the second, third, and fourth innings before reaching his pitch count limit and being lifted from the game. His final line was 4.0 innings allowing no hits while walking one and striking out four of the 14 batters he faced on the day. Fenwick was called on during game one of Sunday's doubleheader, and allowed two unearned runs kutKf the bullpen without getting a batter out. It was a nice bounce-back outing for the junior, who was a big key to helping the Cardinals win the weekend.
While Fenwick was dominating on the mound, the Cardinal offense would give him some key run support early. Michael Norton would step in to lead off the bottom of the second, and hit his second home run of the season to give Wheeling a 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the third, it was Dylan Maltby who would get things started with a triple to put a runner at third and one out. He would be picked up by Nicholas Schultz, who doubled him home and after three innings the Cardinals held a 2-0 advantage. It would remain that way until Fenwick exited in the top of the fifth inning, and the Mountain Cats welcomed the Cardinal bullpen. They scored three runs in the inning and the Cardinals would end up trailing 3-2 after four and a half innings.
The Cardinals were out to respond in the bottom half and started things with a single by Keaton Ferrencd, who advanced to second on a wild pitch. Spencer Craig would draw a walk and a wild pitch would move runners to first and third with nobody out. Dylan Maltby stepped in and brought home the pair with a two-RBI double, and the Cardinals would be back out in front 4-3 heading to the fifth. It remained that same score heading into the sixth, before the Cardinal bats came to life. After the first batter of the inning was retired, Ancelet would step in and be hit by a pitch and stole second to put a runner in scoring position with one out. Ference would single to put runners at first and third and an error would bring Ancelet home to make it 5-3. Jacob Lentz and Maltby would each draw walks to load the bases and the Cardinal offense would break-out.
Schultz would draw a bases loaded walk to get the inning started and Michael Norton followed with a single to make it an 8-3 game. Chris Sauer would single to load the bases again and a wild pitch would bring home another for the Cardinals, making it a 9-3 game. Brett Johnson would drive in the final two Cardinal runs of the game, reaching on a single that brought home two and made it an 11-3 Cardinal advantage. The Mountain Cats tried to battle back throughout the final inning, plating three runs of their own, but Zach Dellerman was able to shut the inning down and the Cardinals picked up the 11-6 victory. It earned them a sweep of the day two doubleheader and a win of the weekend series.
Leading the way for the Cardinals was Michael Norton, who finished 2-4 with a home run and three RBI on the day. He has provided the power source for the Cardinals early in the season and looks to continue to be a big part of the lineup. Dylan Maltby would be the other multi-hit effort for the Cardinals, finishing 2-2 with a double and a pair of RBI. Nicholas Schultz would add a pair of RBI, going 1-2 on the fah, while Brett Johnson rounded out the offense going 1-4 with an RBI at the top of the lineup.
The Wheeling University Baseball team returns to action on Friday, February 28th, when they take on Dominican University to kick-off their trip to Cary, North Carolina.
