Baseball Clinches Horizon League Regular-Season Title with Sweep of Youngstown State

Sunday, May 16

Nischwitz Stadium

1:00 PM

Wright State University

28-20, 16-6

Youngstown State (Game 1)

21-28, 9-13

Youngstown State

Wright State

Baseball Clinches Horizon League Regular-Season Title with Sweep of Youngstown State

5/16/2010 12:00:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: WSU Athletic Media Relations

The Wright State baseball team clinched the Horizon League regular-season title with a sweep of Youngstown State in the home finale Sunday at Nischwitz Stadium, rallying for a 4-3 victory in the first game before holding on to win 9-8 in the nightcap.

In the first game, both teams' starting pitchers started out throwing gems. Wright State's Jon Durket went 6 + innings and gave up three runs on six hits. The outing was his longest of the season since undergoing Tommy John surgery last year.

The only rough patches Durket encountered were in the fourth inning and the seventh. In the fourth, Youngstown State's Tom Clayton hit a solo shot over the right center field wall to make the score 1-0. Durket then allowed the first two batters to reach base before exiting the game in the seventh. Those two runners late scored to give the Penguins a 3-0 advantage.

While Durket kept the Penguins run total to a minimum, Wright State struggled to get anything going against YSU starter Eric Marzec, who blanked the Raiders for six innings and did not allow a hit until the sixth when Quentin Cate and Garrett Gray recorded back-to-back singles with two outs.

The Raiders started their rally with three runs to tie the game in the eighth. Casey McGrew led off with a double to right and came around to score on an RBI single by R.J. Gundolff. After Jake Hibberd was hit by a pitch, Gundolff and Hibberd advanced to second and third on a sacrifice bunt by Cate and both runners scored on a two-run double by Gray off the fence in right center.

For the second straight game, Wright State won with a walkoff hit in the ninth. Aaron Fields started the frame by reached base on an infield single. Four batters later, with two outs and runners on the corners, Jake Hibberd had a hit to deep center to plate Fields and clinch the Horizon League regular season title for Wright State.

It's only the second time in school history Wright State has finished the regular season atop the Horizon League standings, the first since 1997.

Wright State continued its offensive momentum into game two as Cate led the second inning off with a walk and came around to score on a single by Kyle Mossbarger to make it 1-0. WSU then extended that lead to 2-0 in the third when Gray drove home McGrew with an RBI double.

The Raiders broke the game open in the fourth by scoring five runs to make it a 7-0 game. The inning was highlighted by a three-run homerun by Dan Marsh.

Youngstown State made a run, scoring five runs in a three-inning span from the fifth to seventh, but Wright State added a couple of insurance runs in the bottom of the seventh to go up 9-5. The Penguins scored three in the ninth before Greg Robinson retired Marzec on a fly ball to center to end the game.

Wright State (29-20, 17-6 Horizon) will finish up the regular season with a three-game series at Marshall. The Raiders and Thundering Herd will play single game Thursday through Saturday, with Thursday and Friday's game starting at 3:00 and Saturday at 1:00. WSU will then play their first Horizon League Tournament game on Thursday, May 27, at 8:00 Eastern at the U.S. Steel Yard in Gary, Indiana, against an opponent to be determined.