Washington, PA. – After starting their Mountain East Conference (MEC) South weekend with a sweep on Sunday, the Wheeling University Baseball team (21-6, 10-2) were right back at it Monday at EQT Park. The Cardinals welcomed in Concord and for the second straight day, the Cardinals earned a sweep, moving their win streak to eight straight games. Monday featured a pair of one-run contests with the Cardinals taking game one 3-2 and following that up with a 2-1 victory in the second game.
Game One: Wheeling 3, Concord 2
Game one saw Mason Fenwick get the start for the Cardinals and he worked his way through some first inning traffic. After retiring the first two batters of the game, a two-out hit by pitch would come around to score on a double from Jared Lavergne. Concord would counter with Kerry Collins, and he held the Cardinals at bay over the first two innings. Wheeling would get their first base runner in the bottom of the second, but the score sat at 1-0 Concord heading to the bottom of the third. Chris Alvarez would get things started with a lead-off single and Edward Mateo was hit by a pitch two batters later to put runners at first and second with one out. Gavin Millians would come to the plate and extended his RBI streak to seven straight games. He lined a single right back through the box and the Cardinals would tie the game at 1-1.
Luke Meyer would step in and follow suit by poking an RBI single into left to score Mateo and give Wheeling a 2-1 lead. After giving up that first inning run, Fenwick would settle in throwing up three straight zeros before Concord got to him in the top of the fifth. An Austin Hearn triple to start the inning would come around to score and the game sat tied at 2-2. The Wheeling offense picked up their starter in the bottom of the inning when Kalayo Shaw started things with a single. Mateo followed with a walk and it was once again Gavin Millians that created chaos on the base paths. He grounded a ball to third and bear out a throw that sailed over the first baseman's head. It allowed Shaw to come around and score, making it a 3-2 game. That was all the Cardinals would score in the inning and, after getting the first out of the sixth, his day would come to an end.
Fenwick would finish the day throwing 5.1 innings allowing the two runs on three hits while walking a pair and striking out one. Ethan Wells came on and walked the only batter he faced before Tomoki Jitsukawa got the final two outs to end the inning. Wheeling was looking for some insurance in the home half of the sixth inning and, after back-to-back strikeouts, Chris Alvarez would get things started with a two-out single. Shaw would follow up with a walk, but the Cardinals were unable to push a run across, and held a 3-2 lead heading to the seventh. They would call on closer Brock Elliott and he started things with a strikeout. The Mountain Lions would put the final two balls in play, but a groundout and a fly out would secure the Cardinal's 20th win of the season. Elliott picked up his sixth save of the year and is just one away from tying the single-season saves record.
Leading the game one effort for the Cardinals was senior Gavin Millians, who put together a 2-3 day with an RBI in the effort. It marked the seventh straight game in which Millians has driven in at least one run, as he heats up heading into the month of April. Luke Meyer would add the other RBI for the Cardinals, finishing 1-3, while Chris Alvarez added a 2-2 day with a walk and a run scored. The Cardinals looked to finish out their second straight weekend sweep as they headed into the second game against Concord.
Game Two: Wheeling 2, Concord 1
After making a relief appearance in game one, the Cardinals would turn to Tomoki Jitsukawa once again in game four to make the start. He was locked in a pitcher's duel early with Concord starter Logan Darrow, with neither team getting on the board through the first three innings. Darrow would retire the first eight batters he faced, and didn't give up his first hit of the game until the bottom of the fourth. On the other side, Jitsukawa had his pitches working, picking up a 1-2-3 top of the first and following that by stranding a two-out double in the top of the second. In total Jitsukawa would work the first 3.0 innings allowing just three hits in the effort. Ethan Wells came on out of the bullpen to work a scoreless fourth before the Cardinals offense broke through in the bottom half of the inning.
After a fly out started the inning, Edward Mateo would be the Cardinal's first base runner after drawing a one out walk. Luke Meyer would step in and followed by tallying the first hit of the day with a double off the right center field wall. Mateo would come around to score from first and the Cardinals would jump out to a 1-0 advantage. Nicholas Schulz would follow with a walk and with two outs, Chris Alvarez would step in with a runner in scoring position. He would come through with a single up the middle that allowed Meyer to score and the Cardinals made it a 2-0 game. Wells would record the first out in the top of the fifth and would give way to Brock Elliott to close out the inning. Elliott would allow a one out single but retired the next two batters to keep it a 2-0 game heading to the bottom of the fifth.
After a fly out to start the inning, Robbie Wilson-Jones would get the offense going with a double down the left field line. Caid Heflin would follow with a hit by pitch and Mateo was walked to load the bases with one out. Concord would make the call to the bullpen for a lefty to face Meyer, but Head Coach Ryan Lewicki called on pinch hitter Kalayo Shaw. Shaw would end up grounding into an inning-ending double play and the score would remain 2-0 heading to the sixth. Concord would battle with back-to-back singles to start the inning against Elliott, before the call to the bullpen was made for Lamont Akins. Jared Lavergne would step in and singled home the first Mountain Lion run of the game to make it 2-1. A groundout would move runners to second and third with one out, and Akins would have to bear down to keep Wheeling in front.
He would end up getting Dawson Gragg to ground our to third and got pinch hitter Cooper Stala to fly out to center field to end the threat. Wheeling was retired 1-2-3 in their half of the inning and Chris Sauer would be called on to get the final three outs of the game The Mountain Lions would threaten with two loud fly outs to the warning track to start the inning, before Sauer got one last fly ball to end the game. He picked up his first career save in the effort as he helped the Cardinals earn their second straight weekend sweep of the season.
Leading the offensive effort was Luke Meyer, who finished 1-2 with a double and a run scored in the effort. He would drive in a run in each of the two games for the Cardinals, producing in the middle of the Wheeling order. The other RBI on the day would come from Chris Alvarez, who finished 1-3 with a run scored in the effort. The only other Cardinal hit in the effort would come from Robbie Wilson-Jones, who finished 1-2 with a double.
The Wheeling University Baseball team is back in action on Tuesday, March 31st, when they hit the road to face CAL-U at noon.
