Wheeling, W. Va. – The final Mountain East Conference (MEC) crossover weekend of the year began on Saturday as the Wheeling University Baseball team (8-14, 2-8) traveled to Athens, West Virginia. The Cardinals would battle Concord at Anderson Field, and fell in doubleheader action to move to 2-8 in conference play. The Cardinals dropped a 9-2 effort in game one, where they got two on the board late, before falling in game two 9-5 to round out the day.
Game One: Concord 9, Wheeling 2
Game one would see Wes Landis take the mound for the Cardinals and Concord would get their offense going early. The Mountain Lions would strike for four runs in the top bottom half of the first and added another in the bottom of the second as they took an early 5-0 lead. The Cardinals would get their bats going in the top of the third as Cade Lacy singled to start the inning. Two batters later, Spencer Craig would send a double down the left field line and the Cardinals would have runners on second and third with one out. Keaton Ferrence would step in and brought home Lacy from third with a groundout that got the Cardinals on the board, making it a 5-1 game. However, Concord would add two more in the bottom half of the third and the Cardinals would find themselves trailing 7-1 after three innings.
That score would remain in the top of the sixth as Keaton Ference stepped in to lead off the inning Ference would send a solo home run over the left field wall and the Cardinals would get one back to make it a 7-2 game. Concord would strike for two more runs in the bottom half of the inning and West Landis's day would come to an end. He would throw 5.2 innings allowing nine runs, eight earned, on 12 hits while walking one and striking out seven. Ethan Wendell would get the final out of the inning and the Cardinals came to the plate for their last chance in the top of the seventh. The Cardinals would go 1-2-3 in the inning and the game would come to an end with Wheeling falling to Concord 9-2.
Leading the way for the Cardinals was Keaton Ference, who finished 2-3 with a walk, a home run, and two RBI in the effort. It was the second straight game that Ference has homered as he finds his groove in right field. Spencer Craig delivered the team's only two hit game of the day, going 2-3 with a double, while Nic Ancelet and Cade Lacy each picked up hits in the effort to round out the day.
Game Two: Concord 9, Wheeling 5
After falling behind early in game one, it was the Cardinal's who jumped on the board early in game two. After a 1-2-3 inning from starter Tomoki Jitsukawa threw a scoreless first inning. Nicholas Schulz would reach on a one-out double to start the second and was quickly replaced as Dylan Maltby brought him home with an RBI double. It was the first of three straight RBI hits for the Cardinals, with Chris Sauer following with an RBI single and Zach Dellerman bringing Sauer home with a single of his own to make it a 3-0 Cardinal lead. Jitsukawa kept it a 3-0 game with a scoreless bottom of the second, but would be pulled after allowing a man to reach in the third to finish throwing 2.0 innings allowing a run on four hits while striking out two.
Concord would add four runs in that bottom of the third inning, and held a 4-3 lead after three innings of play. They would add two more runs in the bottom of the fourth to extend their lead to 6-3 before Christian Boyles stepped in to lead off the top of the fifth. He lifted his second home run of the season over the left field wall and the Cardinals got back to within two runs making it a 6-4 game. The Mountain Lions got the run back in the bottom half of the frame and added two more in the sixth to make it a 9-4 Concord Advantage. As they entered the top of the seventh, the Cardinals were looking to battle back and Jalen Raysor would walk to start the inning. A walk for Josh Rush and a single for Jacob Lentz would load the bases for Spencer Craig, who reached on a fielder's choice to bring home Raysor and make it a 9-5 game. That was the final Cardinal run as they fell to the Mountain Lions 9-5.
Leading the way for the Cardinals was Christian Boyles, who finished 2-3 with a home run and an RBI in the effort. He recorded the only two hit game for the Cardinals and has been a spark plug at the top of the lineup. Dylan Maltby, Chris Sauer, and Zach Dellerman each added an RBI, finishing 1-3 in the effort, while Spencer Craig added the final RBI of the game.
The Wheeling University Baseball team returns to action on Sunday, March 30th, when they battle Glenville State with first pitch at 1 PM.
