West Liberty, W. Va. – Heading into the final day of the 2026 Mountain East Conference (MEC) Baseball season, the Wheeling University Baseball team (36-14, 21-7) was battling for not only the North Division title, but also the MEC Overall championship. The Cardinals split the day with the Hilltoppers to claim their first MEC North Division title since 2021, and earned a co-overall conference regular season championship. They won game one 8-6 to claim the divisional title, before falling 8-5 in game two to round out the day.
Game One: Wheeling 8, West Liberty 6
After a Cardinal sweep in the first two games of the series, West Liberty would come out strong looking for revenge in game two. Brock Elliott would get the game one start, as Head Coach Ryan Lewicki went with a bullpen game. Elliott would give up a run in the bottom half of the first, but followed it up with a 1-2-3 bottom of the second to keep it a one-run game. He would end his day there, throwing 2.0 innings allowing just the one run on three hits while striking out two batters. West Liberty would keep the offense going early on, with two runs in the bottom of the third and a run in the bottom of the fifth and they would take a 4-0 early lead. Tomoki Jitsukawa would start the third inning, giving up a run over 0.1 inning, and Ethan Wells would add 1.2 of his own allowing a run on two hits while striking out a batter.
With Wheeling trailing 4-0, they would get their offense going in the top of the sixth when Gavin Millians started the inning with a single. Luke Meyer would double two pitches later, and the Cardinals had runners on second and third with nobody out for Kalayo Shaw. The junior would send the ball into left field, scoring both runners and cutting the West Liberty lead to 4-2. The Cardinals needed a scoreless inning out of the bullpen, and got one from Kyle Binder to send it to the top of the seventh with the score at 4-2. That is when the power strike hit as Griffin Pickhardt started the seventh with a solo home run to cut the score to 4-3. He was quickly followed by Edward Mateo, who took a 1-0 pitch out of the yard to tie the game at 4-4. For the second time in the series, the two teams would go to extra innings, with neither team getting on the board in the eighth.
However, in the top of the ninth, the Cardinal bats would come to life when Gavin Millians walked to start the inning. Two batters later, he was still at first with two outs before back-to-back walks by Chris Alvarez and Nicholas Schulz would load the bases. Noah Gutierrez would be hit by a pitch to bring home the first run of the inning, and a Hilltopper error would bring home Alvarez to make it a 6-4 game. Mateo added a bases loaded walk, and Caid Heflin would add a walk of his own to send the game into the bottom of the ninth with Wheeling leading 8-4. Chris Sauer, who entered in the eighth inning, allowed two runs in the bottom of the inning, but it was enough to hold off the late surge and give the Cardinals the 8-6 win. With the win, the Cardinals officially clinched the MEC North title, and would have a chance to clinch the overall regular season championship in game two.
Leading the way for the Cardinals was Edward Mateo, who finished 3-5 with a home run, a run scored, and two RBI. He would deliver the game tying home run in the top of the seventh to push the game to extra innings, and drew a bases loaded walk to bring home his second RBI during the two-out ninth inning rally. Kalayo Shaw added a 1-3 day with a run scored and two RBI, while Griffin Pickhardt drove in two runs and added the second Cardinal home run of the day to round out the effort. The MEC North Division title was the first for the program since 2021, and they looked to carry the momentum into the series finale.
Game Two: West Liberty 8, Wheeling 5
After rallying late in game one, it was the Cardinals who got the bats going early and often in game two. It started in the top of the first, when Edward Mateo singled to start the game, and got to second on a Hilltopper error. Two batters later, Luke Meyer would come to the plate and brought Mateo home with an RBI single to make it a 1-0 Wheeling lead. With the lead in hand, Jacob Rollyson would take the mound for the Cardinals, and gave them a solid start on the mound. He finished throwing 3.0 innings allowing one hit while walking one and striking out one. It was a bounce back effort for Rollyson to round out the regular season, and he would leave the game with the lead thanks to the early offense. In the top of the second, Jalen Raysor started things with a one out hit by pitch, followed by a Nick Chiappetta walk that put runners at first and second with one out.
Two batters later, Mateo would step in and singled home Raysor to give Wheeling a 2-0 lead. After Rollyson left the ball game, Wheeling would get him two more runs of support in the top of the fourth. This time, it was Chiappetta that started the inning with a hit by pitch, and with one out he got into scoring position with a stolen base. Mateo would reach on a error, moving Chiappetta to third, and Kale Wilkins would step in and single him home to make it a 3-0 Wheeling lead. Tyler Armstrong would then pinch hit for Meyer and was able to reach on a Fielder's Choice to bring home the fourth run of the game and the Cardinals led 4-0 heading to the bottom of the fourth. Lamont Akins would take over for the bottom of the fourth, and allowed one unearned run before Wheeling was back to the bat racks in the top of the fifth.
Keaton Ference would get things started with a hit by pitch, and a Raysor double would put runners on second and third with one out. It brought Chiappetta to the plate and he would lift a sacrifice fly to make it a 5-0 Wheeling lead with three more Hilltopper at-bats to go. West Liberty would get the bats going in that bottom of the fifth inning, putting up a four-spot and making it a 5-5 game. The Cardinals were held off the board in the top half of the sixth, but West Liberty kept swinging the bats in the bottom of the sixth. They would put up three more runs in the bottom of the sixth and the Cardinals would come to the plate trailing 8-5. Wheeling would get a runner into scoring position in the top of the seventh, with Wilkins being hit by a pitch and stealing second, but he would be stranded their to end the game, with West Liberty picking up the 8-5 win.
Leading the effort for the Cardinals was Edward Mateo, who finished out the day at the plate going 2-4 with a pair of runs scored and an RBI. It rounded out a day that saw him go 5-8 with a home run, three runs scored and three RBI on the day. The top three spots in the batting order would drive in four of the five runs for the Cardinals, with Kale Wilkins, Tyler Armstrong, and Luke Meyer each adding an RBI. The other multi-hit day for the Cardinals came from Jalen Raysor, who finished 2-3 with a double and a run scored.
The Wheeling University Baseball team returns to action on Wednesday, May 6th, when they open MEC Tournament play against #3S Glenville State with first pitch at 3:30 PM
