Playing its first Horizon League games in just shy of a month, the Wright State baseball team took down Northern Kentucky in a series-opening doubleheader on Friday afternoon, winning game one 12-1 before an 8-6 victory in the second game.
 
The Raiders 16-10 (15-3 HL) tallied 22 combined hits in the wins over the Norse (13-19, 11-14 HL), their first League foe since playing at Youngstown State in a four-game weekend series March 26-28.
 
The teams played a doubleheader on Friday ahead of anticipated bad weather on Saturday. The series will conclude with another doubleheader on Sunday afternoon beginning at noon, with the series finale to follow. Both games are slated to be streamed on ESPN3.
 
In the opener, Alec Sayre tallied three hits and drove in three RBI to pace the offense, which also saw two-hit games from Jay Luikart and Konner Piotto. Sayre and Piotto each had a double in the win, while Luikart tallied a triple. Alex Alders connected on a two-run homer as part of a five-run third inning, while Quincy Hamilton's solo shot in the sixth was the final run of the afternoon.
 
Jake Schrand struck out seven NKU batters over five innings to record his third win of the season, allowing just one run and one walk while spreading six Norse hits around his afternoon. Brock Nartker and Riley Perlich combined to strike out three of the six batters they faced over the final two frames.
 
Northern Kentucky found the scoreboard first in the opener via a first inning RBI double, but it was all Raiders from there. The visitors posted three runs in the second, all unearned, before the five-run third inning that saw a three-run double by Sayre and Alders' two-run homer. A double steal in the fourth from Hamilton and Damon Dues, coupled with an errant NKU throw, brought home another run before Tyler Black's RBI single later in the fourth. Piotto drove home Luikart with a single in the fifth before Hamilton's solo homer in the sixth gave the game it's final score.
 
Billy Marion was the only NKU batter with multiple hits in the game one loss, while Noah Richardson took the loss after allowing 11 runs (eight earned) and six hits over five innings.
 
Wright State got off to a fast start in the second game as well, plating three runs in the first inning. Sammy Sass delivered an RBI single, Sayre reached on a fielders' choice that plated a run and Cameron Rountree plated the third run of the frame on his RBI groundout. Sayre factored into the scoring again in the third, this time when he belted a two-run homer to left-center to extend the lead to five before Hamilton connected on his second solo homer of the day in the seventh to push the lead to 6-0.
 
Northern Kentucky cut the Raider lead in half with three runs in the seventh thanks to a pair of RBI doubles and a balk before Wright State pushed across a pair of runs in the top of the ninth on Rountree's single back up the middle. The Norse made one final push with a three-run homer from Sam Hedges with nobody out in the bottom of the ninth to make things interesting, but Mitch Gremling induced a lineout and groundout before a strikeout ended the afternoon.
 
Hamilton finished with three hits in game two, including a triple and the homer, while Rountree also had three hits and Black tallied two hits of his own. Sayre (3) and Rountree (2) drove home five of the Raiders' seven RBI in the win.
 
Bradley Brehmer struck out 11 Norse batters over 6.2 innings to pick up his fifth win of the season. Brehmer allowed six hits and three walks to go with the three runs in the bottom of the seventh. Julian Greenwell struck out two of his four batters faced before Gremling finished up the ninth.
 
NKU had four batters with two hits each in the second game, while starter Ben Gerl took the loss after allowing 10 Raider hits and six runs over seven innings of work.