Charleston – On Thursday, the Wheeling University baseball team (28-21, 17-13) suffered its first loss of the Mountain East Conference Tournament presented by YES! Chevrolet and YES! Ford.

The Cardinals now face an elimination game today as they take on the No. 3 seed from the MEC North, West Liberty, at 10 a.m. It will be the 19th meeting of “The Battle for Wheeling” across all sports this season, and the second postseason meeting between the two schools.

Wheeling opened tournament play on Thursday morning when it faced the No. 2 seed from the MEC South, Concord. Early on, everything was going the Cardinals way as they got a run in the top of the first and had a great start from Kody McCarley on the hill. They added on in the fourth and fifth inning and after five, the Cardinals led 3-0.

The bullpen came in and did its job, holding Concord off the board for the next three innings and heading into the bottom of the seventh it was still 3-0 Wheeling. However, Concord wasn’t done as they put up a three-spot against the Cardinals in the eighth that tied the game at 3-3. They would add one more run in the bottom of the eighth and the Cardinals went 1-2-3 in the top of the ninth to bring their opening game to an end.

The Cardinals offense got off to a hot start in their tournament opener and they were led by Scott Kondroik, who had the lone multi-hit game of the day. He finished 2-4 with an RBI, with both hits being singles. Kondroik has been one of several Cardinals who have rotated out of the left field spot this season as he has raised his average to .282 for the season. It was his fourth multi-hit game of the season and his first multi-hit effort, and his first since he went 2-4 in a game against Fairmont State on April 14. Kondroik looks to continue his success into the team’s elimination game on Friday as they try to stay alive in the tournament field.

With one loss under their belt, the Cardinals are in a win-or-go-home situation for the remainder of the tournament. Their journey starts on Friday, and they will have to rattle off four wins in a row to bring home the program’s first MEC Championship. Wheeling is one of two teams remaining in the tournament that has one loss under their belt, joining the University of Charleston, who is currently 1-1. Wheeling begins its journey to the MEC Championship against the team that handed Charleston its lone loss of the tournament as they try to battle back.

The Matchup

The Cardinals and Hilltoppers are meeting for the 59th time in program history, and for the first time ever in postseason play. The Cardinals have seen the bulk of the success in the season series as of late, winning seven of the last 10 meetings between the two teams. Wheeling is averaging 4.5 runs per game in the 59 all-time meetings and has scored three or more runs in each of the last three games.