Alex Kaminsky tossed nine innings, scattered 12 hits to help lead the Wright State baseball team to an 8-3 victory over Butler in the opening round of the 2009 Horizon League Tournament. After falling behind early, WSU rallied to take the lead and Kaminsky settled in, striking out seven batters and not walking anyone to claim his sixth win of the season.

Colin Ziegel smacked a second inning home run off of Kaminsky to give Butler an early 1-0 lead, and starting pitcher Mike Hernandez retired the first eight WSU batters he faced. R.J. Gundolff triple plated him to knot the game at 1-1.

McGrew singled with one out in the third inning, stole second base and came around to score on a Ryan Ashe single up the middle.

With WSU leading 2-1, Ziegel struck again, this time with an RBI single in the sixth inning to tied the game at 2-2. WSU would score the next five runs to open up an 7-2 cushion. WSU struck with two in the sixth and three runs in the seventh to give Kaminsky all the room he needed.

McGrew singled to start the inning and Quentin Cate doubled to give WSU the lead for good. Wright State loaded the bases against Hernandez and after Jake Hibberd grounded into a double play, plating Cate, the Raiders lead was 4-2.

The Raiders plated three runs in the seventh inning – sending nine batters to the plate – and extended their lead to 7-2. Mercer singled to start the scoring, after Gundolff started the inning with a single, plating his first RBI of the contest with a single. McGrew reached on an error in the next at-bat and Cate was intentionally walked to load the bases with one out. Mercer scored on a wild pitcher and Kory Twede singled to drive in the final run of the inning.

After a Michael Letzter plated a run with a fielder's choice in the eighth, Mercer plated Gundolff for the eighth and final run of the contest.

Butler loaded the bases with one out in the ninth inning against Kaminsky, but the right hander got an infield popup and Gundolff recorded the final out with a nice play up the middle to give Kaminsky his second complete game of the season.

Kaminsky didn't walk a batter, allowed 12 hits – only three going for extra bases – and struck out seven to improve to 6-2 overall this season. He coaxed one double play and stranded eight Bulldog base runners to help WSU win their opening game for the third time in their last four league tournaments. Kaminsky was honored as the U.S. Army Player of the Game for his effort.

Mercer plated three with a pair of hits, while McGrew and Gunldolff each collected three hits in the contest. Gray doubled and scored a run, while Twede and Ashe each chipped in a pair of hits versus the Bulldogs.

The Green and Gold will play on Thursday, May 21 against the #2-seeded Milwaukee Panthers at Pipe Yard Stadium. The game will start at 3:00.