The Wright State baseball team used an eight-run second inning and three home runs from Sammy Sass on Sunday to send the Raiders into next week's Horizon League Championship with a 12-3 victory over Charleston to close the regular season.
 
The Raiders (32-11) and Charleston (31-11, NCAA Division II) added this weekend's series as the remainder of the Horizon League finished the regular season this weekend. Charleston awaits hosting duties as one of the upcoming NCAA Division II regional hosts.
 
Wright State had already secured the No. 1 seed and hosting duties for the 2021 Horizon League Championship, which begins on Thursday with the top-seeded Raiders taking on No. 4 seed Milwaukee at 11 a.m. Full coverage of the Horizon League Championship can be found here.
 
On Sunday, Charleston tallied an early run in the top of the first inning before the Raiders dropped the eight runs in the second inning, sending 11 men to the plate in the frame with eight hits, including a pair of homers from Sass. Sass opened the second with a solo homer to left field to get the scoring going, which also saw Alex Alders and Tyler Black drive in RBI, while Konner Piotto and Damon Dues brought home two more runs with sacrifice flies.
 
The Raiders added three more runs in the fourth, first when Dues walked and later scored from third on a Charleston wild pitch. Later in the inning with two outs, Sass connected on his third homer of the game – another two-run shot – over the left field wall. Colby Johnson hit a solo homer for Charleston in the fifth before Alders drove in Julian Greenwell with an RBI double in the seventh and Hayden Cartt tallied a solo homer of his own for Charleston in the eighth for the afternoon's final score.
 
Sass' three hits and five RBI led the Raider offense, while Alders finished with two hits and two RBI of his own in the win. Hamilton, Black and Greenwell all added doubles to their stat lines as well, while Justin McConnell had a triple.
 
In a scheduled bullpen day, Justin Hornschemeier earned his first collegiate win in his first college start, allowing three hits and one run over the first two innings. Sam Wirsing an Brock Nartker each struck out three batters in their two inning appearances, while Alex Theis turned in a scoreless frame before Henry Von Hollen and Donnie Nicodemus each struck out a batter in the final two innings of the afternoon.
 
Zane Lattig was saddled with the loss for Charleston, allowing six runs on six hits in 1.2 innings, while Tyler Dellerman was the only player to have multiple hits for the visitors.