The Wright State baseball team took an early lead five batters into the afternoon on Saturday, but the Raiders were unable to hold off Western Kentucky as the hosts handed Wright State a 7-2 loss in the middle game of the weekend series.
 
The Raiders and Hilltoppers will finish off the weekend series with a 2 p.m. first pitch Sunday afternoon.
 
Damon Dues opened the game with a double down the left field line and scored three batters later on Gehrig Anglin's two-out RBI single into center field to give the Raiders the early lead. The advantage wouldn't last long however, as Western Kentucky responded with four runs on four hits in the second frame, plating runs on a groundout and sacrifice fly along with a pair of RBI singles.
 
Both pitching staffs settled in from there, as the two teams combined for just five baserunners left on over the next five frames. The Raiders left three runners on over that stretch, one in the third on Quincy Hamilton's single and two in the sixth when Anglin and Zane Harris reached on back-to-back two out singles.
 
The Hilltoppers extended the lead with three in the bottom of the eighth, using a two-run double and an RBI single to push the advantage to six before the Raiders pushed across a run in the ninth when Alders opened the frame with a single and came around to score on Alec Sayre's RBI groundout.
 
Anglin led Wright State with a 3-for-4 afternoon with his RBI, while five other Raiders each had one hit. Dues' double was the lone extra base hit for the visitors.  Bradley Brehmer took the loss on the mound, allowing four runs on six hits with four strikeouts over six innings of work.
 
Sean Bergeron went six innings to collect the win for Western Kentucky, allowing six hits with three strikeouts and one run in six innings. Matt Phipps finished with two hits and three RBI to pace the Hilltopper offense.