Wheeling, W. Va. - After playing through their non-conference schedule, the Wheeling University Baseball team (12-5, 1-1) kicked-off their Mountain East Conference Schedule on Saturday at EQT Park in Washington, Pennsylvania. Wheeling welcomed in the University of Charleston for the first of three MEC South weekends, and the two teams would split the conference opener. The Golden Eagles would win a back and forth game in the opener 4-3, before both offenses exploded in game two with Wheeling taking the nightcap 9-8.
Game One: Charleston 4, Wheeling 3
In game one, both teams sent their aces to the hill with Sebastian Khan leading the Cardinals and Breven Dekrosh taking the hill for Charleston. Both pitchers would face three batters in the first, with the Cardinals getting the first base runner on a Kale Wilkins single before a double play ended the inning. The Golden Eagles would be the ones to strike first in the top of the second, with a solo home run from Andrew Kobryn giving them a 1-0 lead. In the top of the third, Charleston would take advantage of a Cardinal error before Samuel Lemond doubled to left-center and Charleston would extend their lead to 2-0. They would threaten to add on more, with runners at first and second with one out, but Khan rolled a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning and keep it at a 2-0 game.
In the bottom of the third, the Cardinal bats got going when Gavin Millians started things with a single to left. Two batters later, Griffin Pickhardt would draw a walk and Edward Mateo followed with a single to load the bases with one out. The Cardinals would get their first run thanks to a wild pitch, as Millians came home to score and the Cardinals cut into the lead 2-1. However, a double play would end the inning, marking the second time that the Cardinals had hit into a double play to end the inning. Charleston would get that run back in the top of the fourth, with a John Stansbury sacrifice fly making it a 3-1 game. The Golden Eagles would add a fourth run in the top of the fifth, before Khan's day would come to an end. The senior would throw 5.0 innings, allowing four runs, two earned, on five hits while walking one and striking out two.
Lamont Akins would come in for the top of the sixth and got a double play for the first two outs of the inning. However, he would walk back-to-back pitches before Jacob Dukate came on to get the final out of the inning. In the bottom half of the inning, Kale Wilkins started things with a walk and moved to scoring position on a wild pitch. A passed ball would move the runner to third and Kalayo Shaw would bring the run home with a groundout to make it a 4-2 game. Nicholas Schulz would step in with a two-out double, and Brett Johnson would follow with one of his own as the Cardinals made it a 4-3 lead. Millians would draw a walk, but that would end the inning with the Cardinals down by one. Wheeling would have one more opportunity in the bottom of the seventh, but a 1-2-3 inning would round out the 4-3 loss.
Leading the way for the Cardinals was Brett Johnson, who finished 1-3 with a double and an RBI. He helped the Cardinals rally for two runs late, but they were unable to complete the comeback. Gavin Millians added a 1-2 effort with a run scored, while Kalayo Shaw drove in the final run with an RBI groundout in the effort. Wheeling would look to bounce back in game two and earn at least a split of the day.
Game Two: Wheeling 9, Charleston 8
After falling in game one, the Cardinals would look to bounce back in game two behind starting pitcher Jacob Rollyson. He would set the tone early, striking out the side around one hit in the top of the first and following it with a 1-2-3 inning in the second to keep it a 0-0 game. The Cardinals would go to the long ball for the first run of the game, as Brett Johnson led off the bottom of the second with a home run over the left field wall. It was the one of two hits in the inning for the Cardinals and they led 1-0 after two innings. Charleston would answer in the top of the third, with Samuel Lemond doubling home Zachary Syvertson to make it a 1-1 game. The Cardinals would take the lead right back in the bottom of the third, with Edward Mateo being hit by a pitch before Luke Meyer followed with a one-out single. Mateo would move up 90 feet by stealing third, and came home on a single by Caid Heflin that made it a 2-1 Wheeling lead.
The Cardinals would end up breaking the game open in the bottom of the fourth, with Keaton Ference setting the tone. After making a diving catch to end the top of the fourth, he would step in and send a solo home run to left to make it a 3-1 game. Back-to-back groundout would bring Mateo to the plate with two outs, and he would draw a walk. Kale Wilkins was hit by a pitch and Meyer walked to load the bases with two outs. Wheeling wa slooking for a clutch hit, and came through with a two-RBI double that brought home Mateo and Wilkins and made it a 5-1 game. Nicholas Schulz would follow and brought home two more with a single of his own, and the Cardinals would lead 7-1 after four innings. Rollyson would allow the first two batters of the fifth to reach on hit by pitches, before being lifted for reliever Luke Walter. Both of those runners would score before Walter got out of the inning, closing the book on Rollyson.
He would end up throwing 4.0 innings allowing three runs on four hits, while walking two and striking out five. Walter rounded things out with a scoreless inning, and the Cardinals added two key insurance runs in the bottom of the inning. Ference was hit by a pitch to start the inning, and Noah Gutierrez would single before Griffin Pickhardt hit into a fielder's choice to move runners to second and third. Mateo would lift a sacrifice fly to bring home the runner from third and Kale Wilkins added a sacrifice fly of his own to bring home Gutierrez and the Cardinals held a 9-3 lead. The Golden Eagles would not go down without a fight, scoring five runs in the top of the sixth to make it a 9-8 game. Ethan Wells would get the final out of the inning, and the Cardinals called on Brock Elliott to close out the game. Elliott would allow one base runner on an error, but he would get another pop out to round out the game and give Wheeling the 9-8 win.
Caid Heflin would lead the effort for the Cardinals, finishing 3-4 with a double, a run scored, and an RBI. His big hit would come as part of the five-run bottom of the fourth, where he hit the RBI double that made it a 5-1 Cardinal lead. Five other Cardinals finished with RBI in the effort, with Edward Mateo, Kale Wilkins, Nicholas Schulz, Bret Johnson, and Keaton Ference each driving in a run. Ference and Johnson would each leave the yard with their first home run of the season to round out the day.
The Wheeling University Baseball team wraps up their weekend on Sunday, March 15th, when they take on West Virginia State in doubleheader action, with first pitch at 1 PM.
