Wheeling, W. Va. - At the beginning of the season, Head Coach Ryan Lewicki and the Wheeling University Baseball team set out the goal of making it to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history. On Monday, they took the first step towards doing just that when the National Collegiate Baseball Writer's Association (NCBWA) announced their weekly poll on Monday. After receiving votes in three of the last four weeks, the Cardinals broke into the top 10, sitting #10 in the seventh week of the season.
The Cardinals are coming off their first weekend sweep of the season, traveling down to West Virginia Wesleyan and Davis & Elkins. The Cardinals started the weekend strong with a come from behind win in game one against West Virginia Wesleyan, putting up four runs in the top of the seventh on their way to a 7-3 victory. Game two in Buckhannon would see the Cardinals start out strong, scoring six runs in the first two innings, and riding that success to an 8-4 victory to earn the first doubleheader sweep of the weekend. They carried that momentum into their day two doubleheader against Davis & Elkins, scoring nine runs in three innings to start game one. It propelled them to a 12-3 win to open the day, and that offense would round out the weekend sweep. They put up seven runs in the finale, earning a 7-2 victory to complete the four-game sweep.
As they continue through their crossover schedule against the Mountain East Conference (MEC) South Division, the Cardinals currently find themselves holding the #2 spot in the MEC North Division. They sit one game behind Frostburg State for the division lead, while also holding a one-game advantage over both Point Park and West Liberty for the top four seeds in the division. Wheeling holds the second best record in the conference entering play this weekend, while holding the conference's top offense. They lead the MEC with a .324 average, while driving in a conference high 152 RBI and sitting second with 17 home runs across their first 21 games. After missing the MEC Tournament a season ago, the Cardinals are looking to get back in the tournament and cement their way into the regional tournament field.
Leading the Week 7 NCBWA Atlantic Regional poll is West Chester University, sitting at 16-3 overall and receiving 10 first-place votes. They were followed by Seton Hill (16-5) and East Stroudsburg (13-7) to round out the top three. Wheeling was one of two MEC teams ranked, joining #6 Frostburg State.
The Wheeling University Baseball team returns to action on Saturday, March 28th, when they take on Concord at Franciscan University with first pitch at 1 PM.
