Box Score The Wright State baseball team scored five runs in the second and broke the game open with four more in the fifth as the Raiders went on to a 10-4 decision over Milwaukee in its Horizon League Tournament opener Thursday in Whiting, Indiana.
After WSU starter Luke Mamer pitched out of a first and third situation in the top of the second with a double play, the offense came alive in the bottom of the inning. With one out, Mitch Roman singled to center, Matt Morrow walked and Ryan Fucci followed with a double to left to drive in Roman with the first run. An Andrew McCafferty grounder plated the second run and back-to-back home runs to left center off the bats of John Brodner and Sean Murphy extended the margin to 5-0.
The Panthers answered with four runs in the top of the third and had the tying run at second with one out, but Mamer retired the next two batters to maintain the lead. From there, Mamer (one inning), E.J. Trapino (three innings) and Logan Blair (two innings) held Milwaukee to no runs, one hit and three walks over the final six innings while striking out five.
Wright State tallied four runs in the sixth to open up a 9-4 lead. Singles by Murphy, Mark Fowler and Michael Timm loaded the bases and a Roman walk forced in the first run. A wild pitch brought in another run and the final two runs scored on an error.
The Raiders scored their final run in the seventh as Brodner singled in Morrow.
Trapino (7-0) earned the win with his three scoreless innings, stirking out two, while offensively, Brodner had two hits and drove in three runs, Murphy had three hits and two runs scored and Roman and Morrow each scored twice.
With the victory, WSU (39-14) ties the 1993 squad (39-15) for the fourth-most wins by the program in a single season and the third-most since moving up to Division I.
Wright State now faces UIC in the winner's bracket final Friday at 1:00 Eastern. The winner advances to Saturday's championship round while the loser faces Milwaukee in an elimination game Friday at 5:00.
