Baseball hits diamond running with the release of the 2021 schedule

Wheeling, W. Va. – In a little over a month, the Wheeling University baseball team will be traveling to sunny Florida to kick off the 2022 baseball season. Before they can embark on this journey, they have released their schedule for 2022, which includes a 50-game schedule that includes a mix of tough non-conference matches and the classic Mountain East Conference (MEC) rivalries. The 2021 season was a historic season for the team and they want to build on those achievements and continue to grow as the program in 2022.

Head Baseball Coach Ryan Lewicki is back for his fourth season as Head Coach of the Wheeling Baseball Team and has helped make a program that was at the bottom of the MEC long runner year after year. During the 2021 season, Wheeling Baseball broke his single-season winning record 27-14 overall and 22-9 in the MEC Play. They made it to the MEC playoffs but dropped both games as they were eliminated from the field. For their efforts, the team had eight All-MEC award winners and Lewicki was named MEC Trainer of the Year.

In early 2022, they begin their journey back to the MEC playoffs with a three-day trip to Florida where the Cardinals face Palm Beach Atlantic University, Lynn University and Nova Southeastern University. They follow with another flight to Murfreesboro, North Carolina, where they will play a three-game set with Chowan University. After a series of three games against the California University of Pennsylvania on February 25, 26 and 27, Wheeling concludes the spring portion of their schedule in Salem, West Virginia, with three games against Mercyhurst, Alderson Broaddus and Salem University.

Their home opener will be the third game in a home and road series on March 13, with the first two games at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and the third game at the JB Chambers I-470 Complex. Then they begin their MEC plan with back-to-back home streaks against Concord and Glenville State before heading out with double heads against West Virginia Wesleyan and Davis & Elkins on March 26th and 27th by the end of March.

After only five home games were played in March, the Cardinals’ home game schedule begins in April and May with 15 home games scheduled between these two months to be ramped up. The track begins April 2nd and 3rd, when Wheeling hosts the University of Charleston and West Virginia State in consecutive one-offs. They return a week later for a non-conference home game against Clarion on April 12th and a four-game weekend weekend against Frostburg State on April 15th and 16th. The Cardinals round out their regular season schedule with four consecutive game weekends against Alderson Broaddus on April 30th and May 1st and West Liberty on May 6th and May 8th to conclude the regular season.

The 2021 season has been a big one for the program, and with many of these key pieces returning, they want to continue building on the program’s success. Of the eight All-MEC honorees from last season, six will return to the 2022 roster. On the offensive side of the ball, juniors Riley Cameron and Jacob Murray back to top the middle section of the Cardinals’ batting order. Cameron was tied for the team lead in the home runs last season with seven home runs in 30 RBI, while Murray has the highest average of the returnees with 0.365.

On the hill, Wheeling loses one of her best helpers in Albert Baez, but brings two of her workhorses back into the starting rotation. Senior Logan pillars led the team last year with 12 appearances, 11 starts and logged 57 innings of work during the season, 4-4 with a 6:00 ERA during that time. Junior Jared Naida was the top pitcher of the rotation with a 4.13 ERA and a 1.65 WHIP over 48 innings of work.

The Wheeling University baseball team kicks off their season on Thursday, February 3rd when they travel to West Palm Beach, Florida to play against Palm Beach Atlantic University.

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