Charleston, W. Va. – On Thursday, the Wheeling University Baseball team (28-21, 17-13) suffered their first loss of the Mountain East Conference (MEC) Tournament presented by YES! Chevrolet and YES! Ford. They now face an elimination game on Friday as they take on the #3 seed from the MEC North, West Liberty at 10 AM. It will be the 19th meeting of “The Battle for Wheeling” across all sports this season, and the second postseason meeting between the two schools.
Wheeling opened tournament play on Thursday morning when they faced the #2 seed from the MEC South, Concord. Early on, everything was going the Cardinals’ way as they got a run in the top of the first and had a great start from Kody McCarley on the hill. They added on in the fourth and fifth inning and after five, the Cardinals led 3-0. The bullpen came in and did their jobs, holding Concord off the board for the next three innings and heading into the bottom of the seventh it was still 3-0 Wheeling. However, Concord wasn’t done as they put a three-spot to against the Cardinals in the eighth that tied the game at 3-3. They would add one more run in the bottom of the eighth and the Cardinals went 1-2-3 in the top of the ninth to bring their opening game to an end.
The Cardinals offense got off to a hot start in their tournament opener and they were led by Scott Kondroik, who had the lone multi-hit game of the day. He finished 2-4 with an RBI, with both hits being singles. Kondroik has been one of several Cardinals who have rotated out of the left field spot this season as he has raised his average to .282 for the season. It was his fourth multi-hit game of the season and his first multi-hit effort, and his first since he went 2-4 in a game against Fairmont State on April 14th. Kondroik looks to continue his success into the team’s elimination game on Friday as they try to stay alive in the tournament field.
The Cardinals pitching once again had a strong outing with McCarley and Kenny Jinks carrying the load over the first seven innings of play. McCarley turned in his second strong start in a row, allowing no runs and just two hits over 4.0 innings of work. The Second Team All-MEC honoree lowered his ERA to 4.20 for the season, the lowest among the team’s starting staff. Jinks followed him up by retiring the first seven batters he faced and keeping Wheeling ahead 3-0. The Cardinals are looking for more consistency on the mound and the rest of the staff is looking to build off that success.
With one loss under their belt, the Cardinals are in a win or go home situation for the remainder of the tournament. Their journey starts on Friday, and they will have to rattle off four wins in a row to bring home the program’s first MEC Championship. Wheeling is one of two teams remaining in the tournament that has one loss under their belt, joining the University of Charleston, who is currently 1-1. Wheeling begins their journey to the MEC Championship against the team that handed Charleston their lone loss of the tournament as they try to battle back in the tournament.
The Matchup
The Cardinals and Hilltoppers are meeting for the 59th time in program history on Friday, and for the first time ever in postseason play. The Cardinals have seen the bulk of the success in the season series as of late, winning seven of the last 10 meetings between the two teams. Wheeling is averaging 4.5 runs per game in the 59 all-time meetings and has scored three or more runs in each of the last three games.
During the regular season, the Cardinals swept the lone doubleheader the teams played after rain canceled their final two regular season games. Wheeling won both halves of those doubleheaders by scores of 3-2 and 7-5. Game one was led by the pitching staff, with Kenny Jinks throwing four hitless innings while striking out four batters. In game two, Jacob Murray got the Cardinals started, going 1-4 with a home run and two RBI while Braden Killens added a 1-3 day with two RBI.
The Details
First Pitch for Friday morning’s game is scheduled for 10 AM at GoMart Ballpark in Charleston, West Virginia. You can watch the game live by clicking HERE and follow along with Live Stats by clicking HERE.
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