The Wright State baseball team used a four-run third inning to open the weekend series against visiting Charleston with a 6-2 victory on Friday night.
 
The Raiders (30-11) and Charleston (31-9, NCAA Division II) added this weekend's series as the remainder of the Horizon League finishes the regular season this weekend. Charleston awaits hosting duties as one of the upcoming NCAA Division II regional hosts.
 
Friday's scheduled 7 p.m. first pitch was the first start at Nischwitz Stadium scheduled for 7 p.m. or later in a single scheduled game since a Raider win over UIC on May 16, 2013.
 
On Friday night, Charleston got on the board first with an RBI single in the top of the first inning as part of a two-hit first frame against starter Jake Schrand. Schrand finished his outing by allowing three total hits in his three innings of work with a strikeout and the one run allowed.
 
The Raiders took the lead for good with the four-run third inning, sending eight men to the plate and tallying a pair of hits while being aided by two walks and a Charleston error. With runners on the corners and one out, Sammy Sass reached on a fielding error to plate Quincy Hamilton and tie the game before Tyler Black scored moments later via a passed ball to give Wright State the lead. The Raiders added to the margin with Zane Harris' two-run double down the left field line to plate Sass and Alec Sayre.
 
Charleston cut its deficit in half with a sacrifice fly RBI in the top of the fifth inning, but the Raider lead would remain two until the eighth, when Sass singled down the left field line to bring in a pair of runs and end the evening's scoring.
 
Raider reliever Jake Shirk earned his sixth win of the season after two innings out of the bullpen, allowing two hits and one run, while usual starter Austin Cline tossed 2.2 innings of hitless relief with a pair of strikeouts. Tristan Haught tallied a strikeout of his own in the ninth on the way to his second save of the year.
 
Wright State finished with six hits, as Black was the lone Raider with multiple base knocks, while Sass drove in three RBI and Harris added two RBI of his own. As a team, the Raiders drew 10 walks on the night, with Hamilton collecting four walks by himself, with Sayre also walking twice.
 
Hayden Cartt had two of Charleston's five hits in the loss, while starter Logan Campbell (9-1) suffered his first loss of the season after allowing four runs (three earned) with five walks and five strikeouts over the opening 3.2 innings.