Washington, PA. – The Wheeling University Baseball team made the short drive up I-70 on Tuesday afternoon to take on California University of Pennsylvania in a midweek matchup at Wild Things Park. Both offenses came to play, with the teams combining to score 28 runs in the nine inning affair. In the end, the Cardinals would come out on the short end of the stick, falling 15-13 with the winning run scoring in the bottom of the 8th.
Right from the get-go Wheeling's offense would take off as Keaton Ference got things started with a two out double. Nicolas Ancelet would follow with a single that moved runners to the corners, and Spencer Craig brought home the games first run with an RBI single. It would be the first of back-to-back RBI singles as Nicholas Schultz followed Craig With a single of his own to give the Cardinals a 2-0 lead heading to the bottom of the first. However, CAL-U's offense would come out just as strong putting three runs up in the home half of the inning. After Hunter Dyck was able to limit the damage Wheeling got those runs back and more in their half of the second inning. Josh Rush reached on an error to start things, followed by back-to-back walks to load the bases.
Ference followed with a bases loaded walk to tie the game at 3-3. Ancelet would then step in with the bases loaded and one out and brought all three men home. He sent a triple to the left center field Gap that put Wheeling back out in front 6-3. Ancelet would be picked up One batter later, as Craig brought him home on an RBI groundout that made it 7-3 in favor of the Cardinals. It would be a back and forth game throughout as the Vulcans got two of those runs back in the bottom of the second to make the score 7-5. The third inning would be the first scoreless frame for both teams as Logan Stalbird worked around traffic to keep it a 7-5 Wheeling lead after three innings.
CAL-U would take their first lead of the afternoon in the bottom of the fourth scoring five runs and making it a 10-7 game. That score would remain until the top of the 6th when Craig reached on a one-out double. Schultz came through once again for the Cardinals picking up his first RBI of the day with a single that got the Cardinals back to within 10-8. The Vulcans answered with two runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning to put the Cardinals down 12-8 heading to the 7th. Wheeling was down but not out as Michael Norton walked to start the inning followed by a Dylan Maltby single and a Ference walk. Two batters later, Craig and Schultz would draw back to back bases loaded walks, bringing Chris Sauer to the plate with the bases loaded and the score sitting at 12-10. Sauer came through with a two RBI single to right that tied the game at 12-12.
Jalen Raysor would be called on to pinch hit and came through with an RBI single that gave Wheeling a 13-12 lead late in the game. CAL-U got that run back in the bottom half of the inning, tying the game at 13-13 and setting up a late inning thriller. Wheeling would get a runner on in the top of the eighth, but weren't able to push him home. The Vulcans would seal the deal with a three-run bottom of the 8th before the Cardinals went 1-2-3 in the top of the ninth to bring the game to its final score of 15-13. The teams combined for 28 runs on 26 hits while 44 different players, including 19 pitchers, competed on the day.
Three different Cardinals finished with three RBI on the day led by Spencer Craig. Craig would finish 2-4 with a double, two walks, to run scored, and three RBI on the day to lead the offensive effort. Nicolas Ancelet and Nicholas Schultz would be the other two Cardinals to reach the three RBI threshold on the day, with Ancelet going 2-6 and Schultz going 2-5. Chris Sauer would add two RBI going 3-5, while Jalen Raysor and Keaton Ference drove in the other two Cardinal runs on the day.
The Wheeling University Baseball team returns to action on Saturday, March 22nd, when they host West Virginia Wesleyan with first pitch at 1 PM.
