Wheeling – The Wheeling Jesuit baseball team lined up against the University of Charleston on Wednesday for their second home series at the J.B. Chambers I-470 Complex. The Cardinals picked up two wins by scores of 15-9 and 7-6.
During the first inning, UC recorded the first two outs when Dominic San Felippo blasted a line drive to left for the Cardinals first hit and, Mike Ludewig followed with a double to score San Felippo. Robbie Davia, Mark Linkinoggor, Jordan Kraus, and Andrew Nemecek all singled to put up five runs with two outs.
The Cards continued to light up the scoreboard in the second as Seth Fluharty homered on the first pitch of his at bat. Once again with two outs, Wheeling plated two runs as Ludewig drew a walk, Davia doubled, and Linkinoggor singled giving the home team an 8-0 advantage.
The golden eagles wouldn’t go down without a fight as they sprayed 11 hits around the yard putting up three in the third and exploded for six in the fourth to gain a one run lead heading into the bottom half of the inning.
After retiring the side, Wheeling rallied for five runs of their own when San Felippo struck again with a two run blast while Ludewig and Linkinoggor singled. Steven Buffo doubled down the first base line, driving in two runs.
In the fifth, southpaw Noah Mull came in to shut the door. Mull only allowed one hit in the last three innings. Mull faced 12 UC hitters and struck out half of them to end the game 15-9.
In the nightcap, the Golden Eagles crossed the plate once in each of the first three innings. WJU then rattled off five in the bottom half of the third. Starting the attack was Tom Charles, Jimmy Savel, and Linkinoggor, all whom reached base without a hit. Andrew Kozusko followed with an RBI single while San Felippo registered a SAC fly to center field scoring Savel. Fluharty finished the rally with a 2 RBI single to left field.
It was a see-saw battle trough the next three innings with Charleston to go down without a fight. The Golden Eagles tied the score at 5 on a two-run jack over the left-center field wall.
WJU came right back to take the lead for good when Davia reached on an error, was moved to second on a sac bunt by Dustin Phillips, and then was driven home on a Kraus triple. Kraus then came into score a valuable insurance run on a passed ball to make it 7-5 ballgame going into the final frame.
After two UC singles, and the tying run 90 feet away with 2 outs, Kraus struck out the Golden Eagles last chance to tie the game, sealing the 7-5 Cardinal victory.
The Cardinals even their record at 10-10 and will host conference foe Shepherd University this Saturday and Sunday at the I-470 complex. Both games scheduled to begin at 1pm.
