Charleston, W. Va. – After an off day on Saturday due to the weather, the Wheeling University Baseball team (12-4, 0-0) wrapped up their weekend with the final two games of their four-game weekend set with Bluefield State. The Cardinals would end the weekend with their second Atlantic Regional weekend win of the season, as they swept the Sunday doubleheader to take three of four from the Big Blue. It was a back and forth battle in game one, with the Cardinals coming away with an 8-6 win, while the Wheeling offense jumped out early for a 13-3 game two win.
Game One: Wheeling 8, Bluefield State 6
After splitting the two contests on Saturday, both teams came into Sunday looking to take a pivotal game three of the series. Jacob Rollyson would get the ball for the Cardinals, opposed by Bluefield State's Alex Compton and both pitchers had it working early. Both teams were held scoreless over the first two and a half innings of play. Wheeling would get things going in the bottom of the third when Luke Meyer drew a two-out walk. He remained on first with two outs before a wild pitch moved him to scoring position. The Cardinals were looking for a clutch two-out hit, and Brett Johnson obliged with a two-out single that gave the Cardinals a 1-0 lead. Johnson would get himself into scoring position with two outs before Nicholas Schulz left the yard with a two-run home run, his first of the season. It would give the Cardinals a 3-0 lead after three innings, but it wouldn't take long for the Big Blue to respond.
Bluefield State would counter punch with three of their own in the top of the fourth, and the game was tied at 3-3. It was the first of back to back three run innings for Bluefield State, bringing Rollyson's day to an end. He would end up throwing 4.2 innings, allowing five runs on seven hits, while walking two and striking out three. Jack Davidson would come on for the final out in the fifth inning, but not before a two-run home run made it a 6-3 Bluefield State lead. The Cardinals would get one of those runs back in the bottom of the fifth inning, aft loading the bases with two outs. Jaylen Raysor would step in and drove in the run the hard way with an RBI hit-by-pitch that made it a 6-4 game. Davidson and Lamont Akins would combine to throw a scoreless tip of the sixth, with the later getting the final two outs of the inning, before the offense took the lead for good in the bottom half of the inning.
Kale Wilkins would start things by being hit by a pitch, and Meyer would make it come back to bite the Big Blue. He sent his fourth home run of the season over the right field wall, tying the game at 2-2. Wheeling would immediately follow that up with a Kalayo Shaw walk and a double by Brett Johnson that put runners at second and third with nobody out. Schulz would be intentionally walked to load the bases for Gavin Millians. Millians would come through with an infield single that not only brought home the run, but gave Wheeling the lead at 7-6. Griffin Pickhardt would pick up the runner at third with a sacrifice fly, giving the Cardinals some much needed insurance. It has them an 8-6 lead heading to the top of the 7th. The Cardinals would call on Brock Elliott to close things out in the 7th, and he did just that. He retired the side. 1-2-3, including a strikeout, and picked up his third save of the year in Wheeling's 8-6 win.
Leading the way for the Cardinals was Nicholas Schulz, who finished th day 2-3 with a home run and a pair of RI, including a run scored. It was the senior's first home run of the season, and one of two home runs for the Cardinals in the effort. The other came off the bat if Luke Meyer, who hit his fourth while finishing 1-3 with two RBI and two runs scored in the effort. Brett Johnson and Gavin Millians each added multi-hit games with an RBI each, while Jalen Raysor finished 1-1 with an RBI hit by pitch. The Cardinals would come back in game two looking for the sweep and the weekend win .
Game 2: Wheeling 13, Bluefield State 3
After getting the final three outs of game one, the Cardinals gave the ball right back to Brick Elliott for the game two start. He would retire the side 1-2-3 in the top of the first, retiring six straight batters between games one and two, and the Cardinals offense would erupt in the bottom of the first. Edward Mateo would start the inning with a lead-off single, before back-to-back walks loaded the bases with one out. Noah Gutierrez would follow with the third straight walk in the inning, and the Cardinals took a 1-0 lead. Keaton Ference would pick up the first RBI hit of the day, lining a two-RBI single to left to bring home Luke Meyer and Nicholas Schulz and make it a 3-0 Cardinal lead. Freshman Robbie Wilson-Jones would add an RBI single two batter's later and Nick Chiappetta would ground into a Fielder's Choice that made it a 5-0 Cardinal lead heading to the second.
Wheeling would follow with two more in the bottom half of the second, with Caid Heflin being hit by a pitch and moving to second on a lineout. Schulz would pick up the runner from scoring position with an RBI single and Wheeling's lead would hold at 6-0. Gutierrez would draw a walk and Ference would double to bring home Schulz and the Cardinals lead was extended to 7-0 in the bottom of the second. After being held off the board in the bottom of the third, the Cardinals were right back at it in the bottom of the fourth, loading the bases with nobody out after Gutierrez singled and back-to-back walks loaded the bases. Chiappetta would bring home the first run of the inning with an RBI single and Brett Johnson would add a sacrifice fly to make it a 9-0 Cardinal lead after four innings of play.
Elliott rounded out a strong game four start that saw him throw 4.0 innings allowing just one hit while striking out three. Elliott, would end the day with 5.0 total shutout innings, while picking up a win and a save across the two games. Tomoki Jitsukawa and Luke Walter would each add scoreless innings out of the bullpen in the fifth and sixth innings as the Cardinals extended their lead in the bottom of the fifth. Luke Meyer would start the inning with a walk and two batters later, Gutierrez was hit by a pitch to put runners at first and second with one out. Ference would pick up his second RBI of the day with a single that brough home Kaden Shields and the Cardinals took a 10-0 lead. With two runners on and one out Chris Alvarez would step up and brought home three more runs, launching a home run over the left field wall. It extended the Cardinal's lead to 13-0, and Head Coach Ryan Lewicki would start to go to his depth pieces. Bluefield State would make a push in the final inning, bringing home three runs and it would wrap up a 13-3 win for the Cardinals.
There was a lot of offense all around for the Cardinals, with eight of the nine starters for the Cardinals finishing with at least one hit. Leading the effort was right fielder Keaton Ference, who finished 3-3 with three runs scored, four RBI, and a walk on the day. He would finish with one of the two Cardinal extra base hits, finishing with a double and played a role in seven of the Cardinal's 13 runs on the day. Chris Alvarez would have the other extra base hit, finishing 2-2 with a home run, three RBI, two walks, and a run scored. Brett Johnson, Nicholas Schulz, Noah Gutierrez, and Robbie Wilson-Jones each added RBI in the effort.
The Wheeling University Baseball team returns to action on Saturday, March 14th, when they face the University of Charleston with first pitch at 1 PM.
