Washington, PA. - With the start of Mountain East Conference (MEC) North Division play came a big showdown in the NCAA DII Atlantic Region. The Wheeling University Baseball team (25-9, 11-3) welcomed in Frostburg State in a battle of the only two regionally ranked teams in the conference. The match-up would be as advertised, with the teams splitting the day as Wheeling won game one 4-3 and Frostburg State took the second game 4-1 to round out the day.
Game One: Wheeling 4, Frostburg State 3
The first game of the day would pit the two best starting pitchers in the conference against each other as Wheeling's Sebastian Khan battled Frostburg's Zach Dodson. Khan would take the mound in the top of the first and got the lead-off hitter to send a fly ball to right field. However, Tanner Cunningham put the ball just out of the reach of a diving Gavin Millians, and he raced around the bases for an inside-the-park home run. Frostburg State would end up getting runners to the corners with one out following the hit, but a strikeout and a fielder's choice would hold the Bobcats to just one run. Wheeling would put together a threat of their own in the home half of the third, with Caid Heflin hitting a triple to right-center to put a runner on third with one out. However, he would be stranded there and the game moved to the second inning with Frostburg State leading 1-0.
After both teams threatened in the first, Dodson and Khan would lock in, with both throwing 1-2-3 innings in the second and third inning. Khan would retire eight straight batters until the top of the fourth when Ryan Bouma picked up a two-out single. Logan Helser followed with a single of his own, and two walks and a hit by pitch would give Frostburg State a 3-0 lead heading to the bottom of the fourth. The Cardinals would get one of those runs back in the bottom of the inning, when Heflin and Edward Mateo drew back-to-back walks to start the inning. Gavin Millians would reach on a fielder's choice, and runners were still on first and second with one out. Luke Meyer would step in and came through with an RBI single up the middle and the Cardinals cut into Frostburg State's lead at 3-1.
Khan responded with a 1-2-3 top of the fifth and the Cardinals were right back at it in the home half of the fifth. Griffin Pickhardt would walk to start the inning and a Jalen Raysor laid down a sacrifice bunt would move him into scoring position. Kalayo Shaw would step in and sent an RBI triple to right center field, scoring Pickhardt and making it a 3-2 game. It would mark the end of the day for Dodson, and the Cardinal offense would keep swinging. Heflin would bring home Shaw with an RBI double to tie the game at 3-3, and Millians sent a rocket off the right field wall to bring home Heflin and give Wheeling their first lead of the day at 4-3. With the lead on his side, Khan would put together back-to-back 1-2-3 innings in the sixth and seventh to secure the 4-3 Cardinal victory.
It was the fourth complete game of the season for Khan, who finished his 7.0 innings allowing three runs on four hits while walking three and striking out nine. It was his third complete game in his last four starts, with all four of those starts seeing Khan complete six innings. Leading the offensive effort was Caid Heflin, who finished 2-2 with a double, an RBI, and a run scored in the game. Gavin Millians would add a 1-3 effort with the game-winning RBI, while Kalayo Shaw finished 1-3 with a triple and an RBI on the day.
Game Two: Frostburg State 4, Wheeling 1
After picking up the game one win, the Cardinals would look for the sweep as they headed into the second game of the day. Mason Fenwick would get the start for the Cardinals and, like Khan, gave up a run in the top of the first. It would come on a Jackson Schalick double that made it a 1-0 Frostburg State lead. In the bottom of the first, Noah Gutierrez would single on the first pitch of the game, but was stranded in scoring position to keep it a 1-0 game. John Smith would get the start for the Bobcats and, after giving up that lead-off single, he would throw up three zeros to start the game. Brett Johnson would start the second with a walk, but he was erased on a 4-6-3 double play and Frostburg State held the 1-0 lead after two innings of work.
In the top of the third, Frostburg State would add to the lead, scoring three runs and taking a 4-0 lead into the bottom of the third. The big hit came in the form of a Ryan Bouma two-RBI single and the Cardinals would have to battle back once again. Fenwick would throw a scoreless top of the fourth to round out the day, and left with the score sitting at 4-0. He would end up throwing 4.0 innings allowing four runs on seven hits while walking one and striking out two. In the bottom of the fourth, Wheeling's offense would get on the board after Mateo started the inning with a double. After a groundout moved the runner to third, Nicholas Schulz would step in and delivered a clutch two-out hit. It would be an RBI single that brought home Mateo and made it a 4-1 game.
Tomoki Jitsukawa would come on in relief in the top of the fifth, and continued his recent success on the mound. He allowed two base runners in the top of the fifth, one on an error and the other on a single, but got a flyout to end the inning. In the top of the sixth, he would deliver a 1-2-3 inning and wrapped up his day. He would end up throwing 2.0 scoreless innings allowing one hit and moving his scoreless inning streak to 8.2 straight innings. Jacob Rollyson would come on for the seventh and threw a scoreless inning, striking out one. The Cardinals did not have a comeback in their tank in game two, and would fall 4-1 to end up splitting the day.
Leading the offense was Nicholas Schulz, who finished 1-3 with an RBI on the day. He would come through with a clutch two-out RBI and got the Cardinals on the board in the bottom of the fourth. Noah Gutierrez went 2-3 at the top of the Cardinal lineup, while Edward Mateo and Gavin Millians added a hit to round out the day.
The Wheeling University Baseball team returns to action on Sunday, April 12th, when they play games three and four of their series with first pitch at 1 PM.
