Down 5-2 after six, the Wright State baseball team rallied for six runs in the final three innings, capped off by a three-run Ryan Fucci home run in the ninth, to defeat UIC 8-5 in the Horizon League winner's bracket final Friday in Whiting, Indiana.

The Flames opened the scoring with a pair of runs in the first before the Raiders answered with a run in the top of the second.  Matt Morrow led off with a walk, went to second on a Fucci single, advanced to third on an Andrew McCafferty fly ball to right and scored as John Brodner hit a sacrifice fly to center.

WSU tied it in the top of the fifth on singles by Sean Murphy, Mark Fowler and Mitch Roman, only to see UIC regain the advantage at 5-2 with two in the bottom of the fifth and one more in the sixth.

Wright State started on its comeback with a pair of runs in the seventh.  Murphy was hit by a pitch to start the frame and after Fowler doubled to left, Michael Timm drove in Murphy with a single to left.  Fowler later came in on a Roman sacrifice fly.

The Raiders still trailed, though, 5-4 heading into the top of the ninth.  Fowler, however, started the game-winning rally with a hit up the middle and Gabe Snyder drew a one-out walk.  A wild pitch moved Snyder and pinch-runner Derreck Garcia into scoring position and another wild pitch allowed Garcia to score the tying run. 

Pinch-hitter Jason DeFevers was hit by a pitch with two outs to keep the inning alive for Fucci, who crushed a 1-1 pitch over the fence in left center for a three-run home run, his 13th of the season, to give WSU an 8-5 lead.

It was left to Andrew Elliott from there and the senior closer recorded his 11th save of the year by pitching a scoreless bottom of the ninth.  E.J. Trapino (8-0) picked up his second win of the tournament with 1.2 innings of hitless, scoreless relief, striking out two.  Starting pitcher Jesse Scholtens fanned nine in 5.1 innings.

Offensively, Fowler finished with four hits while Fucci had three. 

With the victory, WSU (40-14) reached the 40-win plateau for just the fourth time in program history, joining the 1989 (45-12), 1987 (41-14) and 1992 (40-16) squads.

Wright State now faces Milwaukee (38-19) for the Horizon League title Saturday, with the first game set for 1:00 Eastern.  The Raiders need to win once to qualify for their fifth appearance in the NCAA Divison I Tournament overall and first since 2011.