Wheeling, W. Va. - As March comes to a close, the playoff races are getting tighter across the Atlantic region as teams battle for spots in their respective conference tournaments. On Monday, the week eight edition of the National Collegiate Baseball Writer's Association (NCBWA) released their Atlantic Regional Poll, and the Cardinals were able to cling to their spot in the weekly top 10. Wheeling maintained their #10 spot in the Atlantic Region rankings, marking the first time since the 2022 season that the Cardinals appeared in the weekly rankings in back-to-back weeks.
With rain impacting the Cardinal's weekly schedule, Wheeling only got to play two games before the Sunday night deadline, going 2-0 in those two games. It would be a Sunday doubleheader for the Cardinals as they welcomed Glenville State into EQT Park in Washington, Pennsylvania. The Cardinals would bring out the boom sticks i game one, with three home runs accounting for their four runs of offense. Gavin Millians would hit a two-run shot in the bottom of the second to get things started and the Cardinals carried the momentum to a 4-2 game one win. Game two would see both offenses come to life, with a five-run bottom of the second getting the Cardinals out in front early. They would build as much as an 8-2 lead and were able to survive a Pioneer comeback attempt to hold on for the 8-6 win.
It was a weekend of the long ball for the Cardinals, with the team combining to hit five home runs between the two games. Game one features three Cardinal home runs by three different players, with a Gavin Millians two-run bomb getting things started. It was another big week for the reigning Mountain East Conference (MEC) Hitter of the Week, who finished 3-7 with a home run, a double, and three RBI in the effort. He entered Monday's doubleheader with Concord riding a 10-game hitting streak and has since extended that streak to 13 straight games. The other Cardinal home runs came courtesy of Nicholas Schulz, Luke Meyer, Brett Johnson, and Chris Alvarez, with Johnson being the other hitter to crank a two-run shot, getting the scoring started in game two.
While the offense was rolling, another piece to the Cardinal success was their dominant starting pitching. Wheeling sent Sebastian Khan and Dom Carlson to the mound against Glenville State, and both pitchers continued their early season success. Khan started game one and threw his third complete game of the season, allowing just two unearned runs on four hits while walking one and striking out four. With the Cardinals going through a big stretch of games, Khan saved arms in the bullpen by pitching to contact and lowered his season ERA to 1.65. Carlson got the ball in game two and picked up right where Khan left off. He would throw 5.1 innings allowing four runs, three earned, on seven hits while walking two and striking out three. The Cardinal's top two starters both hold a sub 3.60 ERA and look to continue to give the team quality starts on the mound.
Leading the Week 8 NCBWA Atlantic Regional Poll was West Chester University, sitting at 19-4, receiving seven first place votes from the committee. They were followed by Seton Hill in second, who received three first place votes and 93 points overall, and Millersville to round out the top three. Wheeling was once again one of two Mountain East Conference (MEC) teams ranked in this week's poll, joining Frostburg State, who came in at #4.
The Wheeling University Baseball team returns to action on Friday, April 3rd, when the team takes on Salem in doubleheader action with first pitch at 1 PM.
