July is here and in just one month, our Wheeling University Athletic teams will be back on campus training for the start of another Athletics season. With July 4th being just two days away, we kick-off July's edition of Saturday Game Rewind with America's Pastime and the race for the Mountain East Conference (MEC) playoffs, which came down to the final game of the season. Wheeling entered the final game with their playoff hopes still very much alive as they battled West Liberty on senior day. They rallied for six runs in the bottom of the sixth and, although they ended up missing the playoffs, it was a game to remember and sent them into the offseason on a high note.
Monday May 9th, 2022: Wheeling 8, West Liberty 4
On a cool Monday afternoon, the tension was heating up at the J.B. Chambers I-470 Complex as the Wheeling Baseball team headed into their final doubleheader of the 2022 season. Before the two games, they honored their senior class with the thought of making the MEC playoffs still very much alive. In order to do so, the Cardinals would need to sweep West Liberty, who they split with on Saturday, and needed Notre Dame College to get swept by Alderson Broaddus. Wheeling got a dazzling pitching performance from Dominic Parker-McDonald, who threw a complete game shutout, and the Cardinals won 1-0. Notre Dame had not yet begun their first game when Wheeling headed into game two, so the Cardinals were focusing on what they could control while hoping for the best.
Brian Shaw would get the start for the Cardinals and things didn't start the way he wanted them to as he gave up back-to-back singles to start the game and, after getting an out, an error would bring home the Hilltoppers first run. That was followed by back-to-back RBI singles that brough home two more runs for West Liberty and put Wheeling in an early 3-0 hole. A first inning single was the only hit the Cardinals could get the first time through the batting order and after three the score remained 3-0 West Liberty. After a rough first inning, Shaw came back with a 1-2-3 second inning to finish his day and was relieved by Paul Tripi in the third. Tripi had one of his best showings of the season, allowing just one hit in two innings of work while striking out two and the Cardinals offense would begin to catch fire.
As the game moved to the bottom of the fourth, West Liberty still had a 3-0 lead, but a Blake Vandiver single led off the inning for the team's second hit of the day. Vandiver would use his legs to get into scoring position, stealing second, and moving to third on a wild pitch to give Wheeling a runner at third and one out. J.R. Heavilin would pick up the runner with a flyout and Wheeling got on the board to make it a 3-1 game. In the fifth, the Cardinals used a similar scenario as Chris Iazzetta drew a leadoff walk and a single from Jacob Murray would put runners at first and second. A pop out moved Iazzetta to third and he would be brought home by a Connor Watt sacrifice fly that made it a 3-2 game. The offense was slowly starting to get the team back in the game, but it was the work of the Cardinals bullpen that kept them in it.
Tripi gave the Cardinals two scoreless innings in the game and every reliever who followed had similar success on the mound. Senior Connor Pinsker came in for the fifth inning and had a 1-2-3 inning, inducing a groundball, flyout, and liner, and Jake Rife followed with a scoreless top of the sixth where he walked one and struck out a batter. The only reliever to give up a run in the game was Kyle Dalton, who allowed a leadoff triple to score. In total, the bullpen threw 5.0 innings allowing just one earned run on two hits while walking one and striking out three. With the game being so close, and having so much on the line, the Cardinals needed shutdown pitching and they got just that. However, as the game went to the bottom of the sixth, the Cardinals still trailed 3-2 and were looking to push across at least two runs to avoid extra innings.
Vandiver would lead off the inning with a walk and after two outs all he could do was steal second to give the Cardinals a runner in scoring position with two outs. Garth Charlton was then hit by a pitch and tensions began to flare as both teams were barking back and forth. It ultimately became the turning point of the game as the Cardinals rallied for six runs with two outs to not only take the lead but build on it. A wild pitch moved runners to second and third before Iazzetta gave Wheeling the lead with a two RBI double that made it a 4-3 game. Murray would draw a walk before Lucas Rawlins reached on an error allowing the Cardinals fifth run to score. Watt would then step in and drove Murray home with an RBI double before Jack Skantze brought both runners home with a double of his own to make it an 8-3 game. Vandiver would then draw his second walk of the inning before Skantze was picked off to end the frame.
The Cardinals would hold on despite another West Liberty run scoring in the top of the seventh to win the game 8-3, but things weren't good in terms of the playoff picture. Unfortunately, Notre Dame had beaten Alderson Broaddus 11-9 in the first game of their doubleheader, ending the Cardinals season. For Wheeling, it was a disappointing finish, but they were able to finish out the year with one of their best performances of the entire season. No Cardinals finished with a multi-hit game, but the comeback was just in time as they fed off each other's energy and headed into the offseason on a high note.
Our Saturday Game Rewinds will continue to roll on all summer long as we look at some of the most memorable games from the 2021-2022 season. Next week, we look back at Day Three of the MEC Women's Golf Championship as the Women's Golf team closes out their third MEC title in program history.
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