Charleston, W. Va. – It was a wild night in Charleston, West Virginia as the Wheeling University Baseball team (5-7, 0-2) kicked off Mountain East Conference (MEC) play. A total of 17 innings were played between the two games as the Cardinals were swept in doubleheader action. Wheeling would fall in game one in what was a 10-inning affair 9-8, and fell in a pitcher's duel in game two 3-0.
Game One: Charleston 9, Wheeling 8 (10 Inn.)
The first game of the night was a back and forth battle between the two teams, with pitching dominating early. The Cardinals would send Sebastian Khan to the mound for game one and he started things off strong with a 1-2-3 bottom of the first. Khan would end up retiring the first six batters he faced, before giving up a leadoff single to start the third. His day would come to an end when he followed that with a walk, as Mason Fenwick took over. Fenwick would get Khan out of the jam, bringing his line to 2.0 innings allowing one hit while walking one and striking out four. While Khan was dealing on the mound, Charleston starter Mason Behn was just as effective, allowing just one hit over 4.0 innings of work while walking one batter. The Cardinals got a runner on in both the first and the second inning, but it wasn't until the fifth that the offense broke through.
The inning would begin with a Josh Rush walk and Dylan Maltby would reach on a Fielder's Choice and an error would advance Rush to third with nobody out. Nic Ancelet would bring home the first run of the game, with an RBI groundout and the Cardinals would keep a runner in scoring position with one out. Keaton Ferrence would step in and moved the runner to scoring position with a groundout, and an error would allow Maltby to score and gave the Cardinals a 2-0 lead. However, the bottom of the fifth would see Charleston tack on four runs of their own and the Cardinals would play behind for the first time, trailing 4-2. In the top of the sixth, the Cardinal offense would get going again as the Cardinals loaded the bases with a Chris Sauer single followed by a Brett Johnson walk and a Nicholas Schultz single.
It brought up Spencer Craig with the bases loaded and nobody out and brought home Jalen Raysor, who ran for Sauer, on an RBI groundout. Rush was intentionally walked to load the bases and Maltby came through with a two-run double to make it a 5-4 Wheeling advantage. Nic Ancelet would end the inning with a sacrifice fly and the Cardinals headed into the bottom of the sixth with a 6-4 lead. In the bottom of the sixth, Charleston would answer back on two of those four runs and tied things at 6-6. That would be the score heading into the bottom of the sixth and Tomoki Jitsukawa came on looking to protect the tie. He got a lineout and a fly out to start the inning, but a two-out single and a hit by pitch would bring in Hunter Dyck.
Dyck would clear up the traffic in the bottom of the seventh and added a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the eighth to keep it a 6-6 tie into extra innings. Both teams would go 1-2-3 in the ninth, and the Cardinals would break through in the top of the 10th. Ference started the inning with a double and back-to-back one-out walks by Cade Lacy and Brett Johnson loaded the bases. A wild pitch would bring home Ference and Schultz added an RBI groundout that had the Cardinals holding an 8-6 lead heading to the bottom of the 10th. However, the Golden Eagles came back in that bottom of the 10th and scored three runs to earn the walk-off win with a two-RBI double by Wilfredo Mendez and the Golden Eagles picked up a 9-8 win.
Leading the way for the Cardinals was Dylan Maltby, who finished 1-4 with a double, a run scored, and two RBI in the effort. It was his third multi-RBI game in the last five contests as he continues to be a leader for the Cardinal offense. Nic Ancelet would be the other Cardinal to finish with multiple RBI, going 1-3 with a pair of RBI in the effort. Nicholas Schultz and Spencer Craig would add the final two RBI of the day with Schultz adding a 1-4 effort with a run scored. After a long game one, the Cardinals would look to earn the split as they headed into the second game of the day.
Game Two: Charleston 3, Wheeling 0
After a wild first game, the Cardinals would be looking for distance from their starter and they would get it from Kody McCarley. After the Cardinals stranded a runner in scoring position in the first inning, Charleston would take the lead getting a run off McCarley in the bottom of the first. After giving up that early run, McCarley would settle in and delivered back-to-back 1-2-3 innings in the second and third inning to keep it a 1-0 game. He would end up giving the Cardinals 4.1 innings, allowing two runs on three hits while walking two and striking out three. He would exit in the bottom of the fifth inning and gave way to Matt Sanfilippo. He would work out of the jam, but allowed an unearned run in the bottom of the sixth that made it a 3-0 game.
The Cardinals would put a lot of traffic on the base paths throughout the night and it began with a two-out double by Keaton Ferrence. However, Ference would be stranded on second, and the Cardinals kept putting the pressure on throughout the inning. The Cardinals had at least one base runner on in each of the first six innings, getting a runner in scoring position in four of those six innings. In the top of the seventh, the Cardinals would find themselves behind 3-0 and the Golden Eagles brought on Alec Mendoza. The Cardinals would put the ball in play three times in the inning, but they would go 1-2-3, bringing the game to its final score of 3-0.
Wheeling's offense picked up four hits on the day by four different players in the game. Keaton Ference and Dylan Maltby led the way with each going 1-2 in the effort. Josh Rush and Nic Ancelet would pick up the other two hits in the game, with each finishing 1-3. Matt Sanfilippo would finish 1.1 innings, allowing one unearned run while walking three and striking out two, and Jacob Dukate finished the final 0.1 innings of work to round out the game.
The Wheeling University Baseball team is back in action on Saturday, March 15th, when they take on West Virginia State at 1 PM. You can watch the game live by clicking HERE or follow along with Live Stats by clicking HERE.
