Wheeling, W. Va. - Throughout the weekend, the Wheeling University Baseball team (17-6, 6-2) has been using the mantra "win the weekends" to fuel them to their goal of an NCAA Regional Tournament berth. On Sunday, the Cardinals were able to pick up their first weekend sweep of the season, when they traveled to Elkins, West Virginia for their Sunday finale against Davis & Elkins. It was a big day for the bats, scoring a combined 19 runs between the two games, with the Cardinals taking game one 12-3 and following that up with a 7-2 win in the second game of the doubleheader. 

Game One: Wheeling 12, Davis & Elkins 3 

Game one would mark the third straight game where the Cardinals took the lead before their starting pitcher took the mound. It was their biggest first inning outburst of the weekend, with Kalayo Shaw getting things started with a walk. Brett Johnson would reach first on an error on the next play, before Edward Mateo added a single to load the bases with nobody out. Senior Gavin Millians would step in and continued his strong weekend with a two-RBI single to right, bringing home two runs and giving the Cardinals a 2-0 advantage. Two batters later, Luke Meyer was hit by a pitch, and Griffin Pickhardt would drive in a run the hard way, being hit by a pitch to give Wheeling a 3-0 lead. Chris Alvarez would follow with a fielder's choice to bring home Millians, and Jalen Raysor rounded out the five-run outburst with a two-out RBI single. The Cardinals took a 5-0 lead after a half an inning, and Dom Carlson would take the mound with a big advantage. 

He would give up a lead-off triple in the bottom of the first, and allowed the run to score on a groundout, but he settled in after that, allowing just one run through the first three innings. Wheeling's offense continued to add to their lead in the top of the third, when Meyer started things with a walk. He remained at first with two outs before a Raysor single and a Shaw walk loading the bases with two outs. Brett Johnson would step in and ended up clearing the bases with a single, and an error on the left fielder allowed all three runs to score and Shaw to get to second, giving the Cardinals an 8-0 lead. Johnson would move to third on a wild pitch, and a Mateo single would give the Cardinals a 9-1 lead after three innings of play. In the bottom of the fourth, the Senators would score their second run of the day, but the top of the fifth would see the Cardinals get into double digits on the scoreboard. 

Raysor would start the fifth with a walk and Shaw would double him home to make it a 10-2 Cardinal lead. After a groundout moved Shaw to third, Mateo was hit by a pitch and stole second to bring up Millians. The senior lifted a sacrifice fly to left, bringing home Shaw and giving the Cardinals an 11-2 lead. They would get their 12th run in the top of the sixth, thanks to an RBI single from Pickhardt and they would end up cruising to the win. Carlson would work into the bottom of the sixth, getting two outs and allowing his third run before being pulled. He would finish the night throwing 5.2 innings of work, allowing three runs on four hits while walking one and striking out five. Chris Sauer would get the final out of the sixth and the first out of the seventh, before Elijah Stark recorded the final two outs of the game, hitting a batter to round out the 12-2 Cardinal win. 

Leading the effort for the Cardinals was once again Millians, who finished 1-3 with three RBI and a run scored in the effort. He would raise his RBI total for the weekend to nine in three games, as he proved to be a fixture in the middle of the order. Brett Johnson would also drive in three runs in the game, finishing 1-5 with a pair of runs scored, while Griffin Pickardt added a 2-3 effort with  a pair of RBI in the win. They would look to complete the weekend sweep heading into game two, looking for their first weekend sweep of the season. 

Game Two: Wheeling 7, Davis & Elkins 2 

For the first time all weekend, the Cardinals did not score in the top of the first in game two against Davis & Elkins. Mason Fenwick would get the game four start for the Cardinals, and allowed one earned run over 3.2 innings on three hits while striking out two. He would retire the Senators 1-2-3 in the bottom of the first, and the Cardinals would get him the lead in the top of the second. Nicholas Schulz would start things by reaching on an error, and Keaton Ference would double to right field while Schulz was thrown out at home on the play. With a runner at second and one out, Kale Wilkins singled to move runners to the corners and stole second to put two in scoring position. Noah Gutierrez would follow with a walk to load the bases, and Robbie Wilson-Jones would ground out to bring in Ference and give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead. 

Davis & Elkins got their first run of the game in the bottom of the second, on a sacrifice fly from Joel Wise, and the game headed to the third tied at 1-1. Edward Mateo would get the Cardinal's offense started again with a one-out hit by pitch and advanced to scoring position on a passed ball. Two batters later, Schulz would come through with a  two-out RBI single and Mateo scored to put the Cardinals back in front 2-1. Ference and Wilkins would follow with back-to-back walks to load the bases and Gutierrez added the third straight walk to make it a 3-1 Cardinal lead. Fenwick would finish his 3.2 innings, and gave way to Logan Stalbird to get the final out of the bottom of the fourth. In the top of the fifth, Schulz would reach on a one out single, and it was more two-out offense that got the Cardinals on the board. Wilkins would draw a two-out walk and Gutierrez would add a walk of his own to load the bases. Robbie Wilson-Jones would come up with the big two-out hit that brough home Schulz and Gutierrez and the Cardinals went ahead 5-1 in the game. 

The Cardinals would add two more runs in the top of the sixth, when Mateo got things started with a one-out single and advanced to second on a stolen base. Luke Meyer doubled to put runners at second and third with one out, and two batters later, Ference would come to the plate. He would line a single to center field and Meyer and Mateo both crossed the plate to extend the Cardinal lead to 7-1. Davis & Elkins would add one more run in the bottom of the seventh, but the Cardinals had built a big enough lead to hold on for the win. The Cardinal bullpen would combine to throw the final 3.1 innings of work, combining to allow just one run on the mound. Stalbird, Jacob Dukate, Lamont Akins, Luke Walter, and Ethan Wells combined in the effort to round out the Cardinal win. 

Leading the way for the Cardinals was Keaton Ference, who finished 2-3 with a walk, two RBI, and a run scored in the effort. He had one of two extra base hits for the Cardinals and helped lead them to their first weekend sweep. Robbie Wilson-Jones would be the other Cardinal with multiple RBI in the game, going 1-3 with two RBI in the effort. Nicholas Schulz would add a 2-4 effort with an RBI and two runs scored, while Noah Gutierrez picked up the final RBI in the effort. 

The Wheeling University Baseball team returns to action on Sunday, March 29th, when they host Concord at EQT Park with first pitch at 1 PM.