SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – Wheeling University jumped on the scoreboard early in both games, on Friday. Although Notre Dame College totaled 23 hits throughout the day, they fell in game one 7-3 and game two by a score of 8-4.

Wheeling scored one run in the top of the first inning, and NDC nearly responded in the bottom half of the first. Sophomore Katelyn DeWeese led off with a single for NDC, and would move to third base, but did not score.

The next inning, WU plated six more runs, as 12 hitters came to the plate. The Cardinals totaled nine hits in the inning.

The leadoff hitter reached base for the Falcons in the second inning as senior Alexi Maciejowski doubled to right field and moved to third on a wild pitch. Sophomore Meadow Odum and senior Mikaela Fording hit back-to-back doubles to score two runs.

NDC made the score 7-3 in the third inning. Maciejowski singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Odum singled to move her to third base and then Maciejowski touched home plate on a single by Fording.

After the third inning, neither team scored. However, both squads had at least one baserunner in every inning the rest of the way, aside from Wheeling's top of the fourth.

For Notre Dame, five different players had two hits. DeWeese, Rivera, Maciejowski, Odum and Fording all recorded two hits. Rivera, Maciejowski, Rehm, Odum and Fording all hit a double.

Wheeling and Notre Dame combined to leave 21 on base in the first game of the day.

Freshman Allison Weilnau entered the circle in relief for the Falcons and pitched 6 innings, allowing just one run.

In game two, Wheeling opened the scoring with a three-run first inning. In the second inning, another run came home and the Cardinals led 4-0.

To lead off the bottom of the third, Rehm tripled off the wall in left-center field. The next batter, Fording, hit a sacrifice fly to center to put NDC on the board.

The Cardinals would get their fifth run on a solo home run in the third inning and sixth run on a solo home run in the fourth. Later on in the fourth inning, a single up the middle by Gina Fogle put Wheeling in front 7-1.

With runners on second and third, in the bottom of the fifth, Maciejowski stepped up with a two-run single to right-center to pull NDC within four runs, 7-3.

The Cardinals' third home run of the game gave WU an 8-3 advantage in the sixth.

In the bottom of the seventh, freshman Emma Gumont and Maciejowski had back-to-back base hits. With two out, junior Emily Marsh knocked a ground-rule double down the right field line scoring NDC's fourth run of the contest.

The top five hitters in the NDC lineup had eight of the Falcons' 10 hits in game two. Gumont, Maciejowski and Rehm all had two hits.

The Falcons now have three hitters who are closing in on 100 career hits in their time at Notre Dame. Rivera sits at 99, Maciejowski now has 97 and Rehm has 93.

Notre Dame will battle West Liberty, on Saturday, with the first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m.