The Wright State baseball team dropped the opening game of its weekend set at Alabama on Friday night, falling 8-4 in the first of three against the Crimson Tide.
 
The Raiders (0-3) tied things up early in the top of the second on an Alex Alders solo home run, and then battled back with three runs in the seventh to pull closer, but left eight runners stranded throughout the game. Damon Dues paced the Wright State offense with a pair of hits, while four other Raiders had one hit each.
 
Sam Wirsing took the loss, allowing three runs on four hits over 1.1 innings. Five Raider relievers combined for the final 6.2 frames, with Alex Theis tallying four strikeouts over his two-plus innings of work.
 
Alabama finished with 12 hits and saw four players each with two hits, while Tyler Ras struck out five over six innings with one run on one hit to earn the win.
 
Alabama got on the board first in the bottom of the first with a Parker Wilson solo homer, but Alders' shot to left field in the top of the second knotted the score early. The hosts took the lead in the bottom of the second with a pair of runs before extending the advantage with a pair of solo homers from Zane Denton and T.J. Reeves, along with a bases loaded walk, in the fourth frame. Alabama pushed the lead to 7-1 with a two-out RBI double in the fifth.
 
Wright State cut into the deficit in the top of the seventh, with Zane Harris (hit by pitch) getting on to start the frame before back-to-back singles from Julian Greenwell and Konner Piotto set the Raiders up with the bases loaded and one out. Sammy Sass delivered a pinch-hit sacrifice fly to plate Harris, then moments later Greenwell scored on a wild pitch for the second run of the inning.
 
After a Dues infield single, Quincy Hamilton reached thanks to an Alabama throwing error, allowing Piotto to cross the plate and cut the deficit to 7-4. Dues stole third ahead of Tyler Black's walk to re-load the bases, but Gehrig Anglin struck out to end the inning and the threat.
 
Alabama extended its lead back to four with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh, but the Raiders again set themselves up in the eighth, this time with back-to-back walks from Harris and Alders to begin the top of the eighth. Both runners would be stranded as Alabama struck out the side to end the frame.
 
Dues led off the bottom of the ninth with a single but the Alabama closed the night with a strike out, line out and fly out to wrap up the opener.