Washington, Pa. – Charleston picked up their first two Mountain East Conference wins of the 2024 season with two victories over the Wheeling Cardinals.
 
GAME 1
 
The Basics:
Location: Wild Things Park
Score: UC 10, WU 5
Records: UC 11-4 (1-0 MEC), Wheeling 9-4 (0-1 MEC)
 
How it Happened:
Charleston got on the board first in game one of the double header when Casey Finck drew a two out a walk and proceeded to steal second. With a runner in scoring position, JD Armstrong tripled to left field to score Finck and put the Golden Eagles on the board in the top of the first inning.
 
The Cardinals responded in the bottom half of the inning with three runs of their own after loading the bases with no outs. Wheeling scored off an RBI walk and two sacrifice flies before Charleston ended the inning on a double play.
 
The second and third inning were scoreless for both sides, Wheeling taking their 3-1 lead as they headed to the plate in the bottom of the fourth. A leadoff walk was costly for Charleston as the next batter homered to left field to extend the Cardinals lead to 5-1. Following the home run Charleston retired the next three batters to get out of the inning.
 
The fifth inning was scoreless for both teams, but Charleston chipped away in the top of the sixth. Casey Finck tripled to right field which allowed Eric Chartier, who walked to lead off the inning, to cross the plate for Charleston's second run of the game. Finck then scored on the next play off a JD Armstrong RBI groundout. Now only trailing by two, Charleston kept Wheeling scoreless in the bottom half of the inning.
 
The Golden Eagles needed at least two runs in the top of the seventh to extend the game and the Wheeling pitching staff helped things move along for the Charleston offense. Two one out singles and a Brayden McCallister infield single loaded the bases for Eric Chartier. Chartier drew and RBI walk to cut the deficit to one, before passing the bat to Casey Finck. Finck also drew a walk, allowing Ty Foree to score, and tying the game at 5-5. The walk sent JD Armstrong to the plate who already had two RBI's in the game for Charleston and still had some pop to show off. Armstrong proceeded to blast a grand slam over the left field wall, giving Charleston the lead, 9-5. Later in the inning Carter Rust drew Charleston's fifth walk of the inning before AJ Karosas tripled to right field, scoring rust for Charleston's tenth run.
 
With a five-run lead, Charleston just needed three outs to claim the victory. Cody Godbold entered in the seventh for Charleston, but got into some trouble, giving up two hits after retiring the first batter faced, so Charleston put their faith in Dwayne Sumler to close out the game. Sumler quickly got to work and retired the next two batters, confirming Charleston's first conference victory of the season.
 
Max Wagar was credited with the victory and JD Armstrong went 2-4 with six RBI's and a grand slam in the victory.
 
GAME 2
 
The Basics:
Location: Wild Things Park
Score: UC 5, WU 1
Records: UC 12-4 (2-0 MEC), Wheeling 9-5 (0-2 MEC)
 
How it Happened:
 In game two of the double header, Charleston once again got on the board early, finding their first run in the top of the first inning. Eric Chartier starting things off with a double to left center. Chartier then stole third and went on to score when the Cardinal second baseman bobbled a ball hit by Casey Finck.
 
Despite the costly error, the Cardinals responded with a run of their own. A two out hit batter put a runner on for Wheeling. The runner coming around to score on the next play after a ball was hit to left field for a double. Charleston walked the next Cardinal batter but proceeded to get out of trouble with a strikeout to end the inning.
 
The second, third, fourth, and fifth inning where all scoreless, sending Charleston to the plate in the top of the sixth still tied 1-1. The Golden Eagles strung together some hits, putting runners on with one out for Carter Rust. Rust then doubled to left center field, scoring Hector Carreon Herrera and Casey Finck. The double forced a Wheeling pitching change which was successful in getting the second out of the inning by way of groundout. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, the damage of the sixth inning was not over. With Carter Rust on third, the designated hitter Cody Li sent a ball over the left field wall for his first home run of the season. The two-run blast giving Charleston the 5-1 advantage heading into the bottom of the sixth inning.
 
Trey Ritchie took over for Charleston on the mound and proved to be very effective as he sat the Cardinals down in order, collecting two strikeouts along the way. After Charleston was kept scoreless in the top of the seventh, Ritchie headed back to the mound to close things out for the Golden Eagles. Ritchie once again went one, two, three, retiring the side, and picking up the win for Charleston.