Cards escape IUP with 18-17 victory
INDIANA, Pa. (April 27) - The Cardinals escaped with a wild 18-17 win at Indiana University of Pennsylvania in a non-conference game Tuesday afternoon.
The Wheeling University baseball team (24-8) won for the fifth time in three days and extended its winning-streak to a program-best nine straight with the win over the Crimson Hawks (2-27).
The Cardinals took a 7-0 lead in the top of the second inning. After IUP touched up Wheeling for three runs in the bottom of the second, the Cardinals exploded for 10 runs in the third inning to take a 17-3 lead. Wheeling sent 15 batters to the plate in the frame and connected on eight hits to race out to the big lead.
IUP answered right back with a seven-run frame of its own in the bottom of the fourth to make the score 17-10. The next three innings were scoreless, before the Crimson Hawks brought three more runs across to draw within 17-13.
In what would end up being the game-winning run, senior Luis Dominguez (Bronx, N.Y./Cardinal Spellman) got on base with a two-out single in the eighth inning, stole second and scored on a RBI-single by sophomore Jacob Murray (Beallsville, Ohio/Linsly) to make the score 18-13.
IUP got the run back in the bottom of the eighth and made the score 18-17 with the help of an error and two hits in the bottom of the ninth. The Crimson Hawks had runners at second and third with two outs, but a fly out to left field stranded the potential game-tying and game-winning runs on base to allow the Cardinals to escape with the win.
Sophomore Riley Cameron (Vass, N.C./Union Pines) had three hits, including a double, three RBIs, two runs scored and a stolen base. Junior Hayden Hizer (Paden City, W.Va./Paden City) finished with two hits, three RBIs and four runs scored.
Murray also chipped in three RBIs and a stolen base.
Junior Vaughn Wiggins (Pickerington, Ohio/Pickerington Central) tossed 3.2 innings of scoreless relief to earn the win on the mound.
Wheeling will hit the road for a Mountain East Conference (MEC) North Division four-game series with Alderson Broaddus (13-14, 12-11 MEC) on Friday and Sunday. Game one of the series is slated for 1 p.m. on Friday, April 30.