Stanford, Ca - Wright State fell 11-5 to #2 seed Baylor Saturday afternoon at Sunken Diamond. The Raiders were eliminated from the NCAA tournament as a result of the loss.
The Raiders clawed back against the Bears after being down all game. But, defensive blunders did them in late.    Â
For the second consecutive game both teams got on the board in the first inning. Back-to-back doubles by Richard Cunningham and Davis Wendzel put the Bears up 1-0. The Raiders matched it with an RBI double from Horizon League Player of the Year Gabe Snyder.
A leadoff walk to Davion Downey came back to haunt Raider starter Caleb Sampen in the second. Downey advanced to second on a groundout, and scored on a single to right by T.J. Raguse.Â
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The Bears extended their lead to 4-1 in the fourth on two Raider errors. Defensive mistakes would become an issue late in the season, with seven errors committed here in Stanford, on top of four committed at last week's Horizon League championship game against UIC.  Â
The Raiders chipped away at the Baylor lead beginning in the bottom half of the fourth. Snyder reached second on a ground rule double, advanced to third on a ground out to second, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Chase Sloan.
In the fifth, catcher Brandon Giltrow collected his second hit of the game with a double down the left field line. Giltrow scored on a two-out single to left by JD Orr.
The Raiders chased Baylor starter Hayden Kettler in the sixth. This time it was DH Zane Harris, who delivered an RBI double over the right fielder's head with two outs, scoring Snyder from first base. The Raiders left a runner stranded at third base, but had tied the game 4-4.Â
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Meanwhile, Sampen settled in during the middle innings. Like Raider starter Ryan Weiss the night before, Sampen struggled early with his location. After issuing three walks in the first three innings, he walked none the rest of the way, and gave up only one earned run over his last four innings of work.
Things fell apart for the Raiders in the eighth. The Bears batted around, reeling off four runs on seven hits off reliever Derek Hendrixson. Two more Raider errors aided the cause. The Bears tacked on three runs in the ninth, and the Raiders countered with a run to get to the final of 11-4.
Wright State, which concluded an outstanding season at 39-17, was led by Snyder, who went 2-3, scored two runs and had an RBI. Orr, who was named to the All-Tournament Team, and Brandon Giltrow each had two hits and scored a run.Â
All-Tournament Team
C Shea Langeliers (Baylor)
1B Andrew Daschbach (Stanford)
2B Hank LoForte (Fullerton)
3B Brett Borgogno (Fullerton)
SS Nico Hoerner (Stanford)
OF JD Orr (Wright State)
OF Ruben Cardenas (Fullerton)
OF Alec Wilson (Stanford)
DH Jace Chamberlain (Fullerton)
P Colton Eastman (Fullerton)
P Kris Bubic (Stanford)
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