Alex Alders' two-out, go-ahead RBI single in the top of the ninth inning on Friday night lifted the Wright State baseball team to a series opening victory at No. 11 Tennessee, handing the Volunteers their first loss of the season with a 5-4 Raider victory.
 
The win was Wright State's second over a ranked opponent this season, joining the 10-3 midweek victory over then-No. 1 Louisville back on February 19.
 
The Raiders and Tennessee continue the series on Saturday afternoon with a 2 p.m. first pitch from Knoxville.
 
Wright State (4-8) took a two-run lead in the seventh on an Alders' RBI groundout, but Tennessee (13-1) responded with two runs in the eighth to tie the game before Raider reliever Jake Schrand got a flyout to end the inning and leave three Tennessee base runners stranded to head to the ninth tied.
 
In the ninth, Gehrig Anglin opened the inning with an infield single and advanced to second on a Tennessee throwing error. Anglin moved over to third moments later on Julian Greenwell's groundout before Zane Harris' groundout was unable to score the runner and brought Alders back to the plate with two outs.
 
Alders wasted no time giving the Raiders the lead, sending the first pitch of the at-bat into center field for the RBI single to give Wright State the one-run advantage.
 
Schrand took things the rest of the way, striking out the side in the bottom of the ninth to seal the win in the series opener. He finished the afternoon tossing three innings with five strikeouts on the way to his first victory of the year.
 
Anglin and Greenwell each had two hits at the top of the Raider lineup, while Justin McConnell had a three-hit day with a pair of doubles. Both Alders and Harris drove in two RBI, while Jay Luikart added an RBI as well.
 
Down 1-0 after Tennessee plated a run in the bottom of the second, Wright State responded in the third to tie the game when McConnell opened the frame with a double and scored two batters later on Luikart's RBI double to left center. The Raiders took the lead with two runs in the top of the fifth on Harris' two-run single to push out to a 3-1 advantage.
 
Tennessee cut into the Raider lead with one run via an RBI groundout in the fifth before Wright State plated a run in the seventh when Greenwell led off the inning with a double and scored on Alders' RBI groundout. The hosts tied the game with two runs in the bottom of the eighth on an RBI double and a run-scoring single before Schrand left three runners stranded to keep the game tied and set up the ninth inning for the Raiders and Alders.