Returning home to Nischwitz Stadium for the first time in 54 days, the Wright State baseball team split a Friday doubleheader with visiting Milwaukee to open the four-game Horizon League series, taking game one 2-0 before falling 11-6 in game two.
 
With expected bad weather on Sunday, the two teams will wrap up the series on Saturday afternoon with a doubleheader beginning at noon with game two to follow.
 
The game two Raider loss snapped Wright State's 23 game home winning streak at Nischwitz Stadium, a mark that was the most in all NCAA action prior to game two.
 
Between games on Saturday, the Raiders will retire former pitcher and Wright State Hall of Fame member Mike Mathile's number. Mathile, who pitched for the Raiders from 1988-1990 before being drafted by the Montreal Expos. He remains inside the top 10 in a litany of Wright State pitching records.
 
In Friday's first game, the Raiders tallied only two hits and a walk, but also used a Milwaukee error to their advantage. Hitless in the second inning, Alec Sayre reached on a Panther error before advancing to second via a wild pitch and then over to third on a fly out. Konner Piotto's RBI groundout plated Sayre and gave Wright State the lead that would prove to be enough for starter Jake Schrand.
 
The Raiders added a final run in the fifth when Zane Harris opened the inning with a single, the first of the afternoon, and pinch runner Jay Luikart was bunted over to second base and advanced to third with a fly out, ultimately scoring on Justin McConnell's hard single down the third base line.
 
Schrand struck out nine batters in the complete game win, improving to 5-4 on the season, but his most impressive inning came early on in the second frame. After back-to-back hits to open the inning put Milwaukee runners on second and third with no outs, Schrand struck out the side, including a pair looking, to get out of the jam and leave the game scoreless heading into the bottom of the second, when the Raiders would find the scoreboard.
 
Harris and McConnell had the lone Raider hits, while Damon Dues drew a walk but was left stranded in the bottom of the first.
 
The Panthers had two hits from Joe Vyskocil in the loss, while starter Riley Frey struck out five with just the two hits and one run allowed.
 
Milwaukee jumped ahead early in game two, plating four runs in the top of the first inning and then adding five runs in the fifth, on the way to handing the Raiders the loss. Three of the four Panther runs in the first inning were unearned, and all five runs in the fifth frame came with two outs in the inning.
 
Wright State chipped away at the deficit with single runs in the first three innings, thanks to an RBI groundout from Tyler Black in the first, an RBI double in the second by Alex Alders and a Sayre run-producing single in the third, to pull within one run before Milwaukee extended the margin with a single run in the fourth and the five-run fifth.
 
After the Panthers added a single run in the eighth, the Raiders made a final push, beginning with two runs in the bottom of the eighth when Quincy Hamilton brought home a run and reached on an error and Gehrig Anglin brought in a second run with a sacrifice fly.
 
In the ninth, Sayre led off the inning with a solo homer to right center and the Raiders had two on with one out before Milwaukee closed up the afternoon with the runners left stranded.
 
Bradley Brehmer took the loss, allowing 10 runs (seven earned) in 4.2 innings on eight hits with six strikeouts. Black finished with three hits to pace the offense, while Sammy Sass, Alders and Sayre all had two hits in the loss.
 
Milwaukee starter Jake Mahoney tossed 115 pitches over six innings on the way to the win, while Mitchell Buban and Jack Cavanaugh both had three hits for the Panthers.