Wheeling, W. Va. – On the final play of the 2022 Wheeling Baseball season, the Cardinals took down rival West Liberty, but sadly their hopes of making the Mountain East Conference (MEC) tournament were dashed. As they get set to kick off 2023 this weekend, the Cardinals look to use that as motivation this season on another journey back to the MEC Tournament. Their first three games of the season will come at Wild Things Park as they open the season against Lock Haven and Lake Erie on Saturday, before wrapping things up against the host CAL-U on Sunday.
The 2022 baseball season was a year of ups and downs as the team traveled their first full 50 game schedule since the 2019 season. They began with a tough non-conference stretch, that included games against Palm Beach Atlantic, Nova Southeastern, and Chowan over the first two weeks of the season. The Cardinal’s record wasn’t where they would have wanted it, but the tough competition would get them set for what they were about to face in the MEC. They then opened conference play with a split of their opening weekend and were 6-2 in conference play heading into April. However, a few tough series dropped the Cardinals to fourth in the MEC North and that is where they would stay into the final week of the season. The Cardinals had to sweep their final doubleheader and get a Notre Dame sweep at the hands of Alderson Broaddus, but it didn’t come to fruition as the Cardinal’s season came to an end.
The Cardinals have a lot of new faces heading into 2023, with five of their regular starting nine gone due to graduation. However, the Cardinals do get one of their leaders back for the middle of the order in senior Jacob Murray. Murray has the second highest average among returning players, hitting .278, while finishing third on the team last season with six home runs and fourth with 34 RBI. Murray is the lone returning All-MEC honoree from last season and looks to once again be an impact bat for the Cardinals. Joining him in the lineup will be transfer outfielder Scott Kondroik, who had a big season for Salem last season. He hit .362 in 40+ games with the Tigers while hitting five home runs and driving in 37 RBI. The Cardinals will be more kd contact hitting team then in years past, but will look to drive in runs on a consistent basis.
On the mound, one of the Cardinals biggest additions comes from the injury list as Jared Naida returns to the starting rotation. Naida missed the entirety of the 2022 season due to injury, but was an All-MEC First Team starting pitcher selection during the 2021 season. He pitched to a 4.11 ERA that season, which would have been the lowest among starting pitchers last season, and looks to bring a steady presence to the top of the rotation. Joining him will be Dominic Parker-McDonald, who was the Cardinal’s top starting pitcher from 2022. Parker-McDonald pitched to a 6.11 ERA over 53.9 innings of work while going 6-2 on the mound. Parker-McDonald’s best start of the season came in his final outing, where he threw 7.0 shutout innings against West Liberty.
Like they did last season, the Cardinals are once again kicking off the year with some tough non-conference competition. However, this season has more of a regional twist with the team taking on three Atlantic Regional teams to kick off the season. Six of their nine non-conference games to start the season will be against in-region opponents, including CAL-U, who was included in the National College Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) regional Poll both in the preseason and in week one. If the Cardinals can get out to a strong start in those games, it could go a long way for them to reach their ultimate goal of competing for a spot in the NCAA Regional tournament in May.
The Matchups
Lock Haven: The Cardinals and Eagles are meeting for just the second time in program history, and the first time since the 2016 season. Their first meeting came down in North Carolina in a game that saw the Cardinals fall 15-2. Each of the first two meetings in this series will have been in neutral locations, with the Cardinals hoping to even up the all-time series. In that first meeting, Wheeling was led by former Cardinal Brad Trescott, who went 2-4, and former Cardinal Logan Schickler, who went 1-3 with a run scored and an RBI.
Lake Erie: The Cardinals and Storm will be meeting for the first time in program history on Saturday in the second game of the day. Lake Erie was picked #11 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC) Preseason Poll and are coming off a year that saw them go 6-37 overall and 4-28 in GMAC play. They went 1-7 in neutral site games last season as Wheeling looks to start the all-time series with a win.
Cal-U: The Cardinals and Vulcans will be meeting for the 27th time in program history on Sunday with CAL-U leading the series with a record of 23-3. The Cardinals have gone 2-8 in their last 10 meetings with CAL-U and are looking to turn things around with this one-game weekend capper. Last season, the two teams met three times and fell in all three matchups. In their final meeting of last season’s series, Wheeling fell 8-4 and were led by former Cardinal JR Heavilin, who would go 1-4 with a run scored and an RBI.
The Details
The Wheeling University Baseball team begins their weekend with Doubleheader action on Saturday when they battle Lock Haven and Lake Erie. They take on the Eagles at 11 AM, followed by the Storm at 3 PM, with both games being played at Wild Things Park. You can follow the action with Live Stats by clicking HERE.
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