Baseball continues road swing at No. 3 Oklahoma State

Saturday, February 26

Stillwater, OK

3 PM ET

Wright State University

#3 Oklahoma State

2/24/2022 1:41:00 PM | Baseball

DAYTON — The Wright State baseball program continues its season-opening road swing with a three-game series against No. 3 Oklahoma State from February 26-27 at O'Brate Stadium.

The series opener is scheduled for Saturday at 3 p.m. ET, followed by a 2 p.m. ET doubleheader on Sunday. Saturday's contest and Sunday's first game will air on ESPN+. Radio and live stats will be available for all three games.

Game 1 - Saturday, February 26 - 3 p.m. ET - Watch - Listen - Live Stats
WSU RHP Aaron Ernst (0-0, 3.86 ERA, 2.1 IP)
OSU RHP Justin Campbell (0-1, 6.75 ERA, 4.0 IP)

Game 2 - Sunday, February 27 - 2 p.m. ET - Watch - Listen - Live Stats
WSU RHP Jake Shirk (0-1, 18.00 ERA, 3.0 IP)
OSU RHP Victor Mederos (0-0, 2.25 ERA, 4.0 IP)

Game 3 - Sunday, February 27 - 5:45 p.m. ET - Watch - Listen - Live Stats
WSU LHP Sebastian Gongora (0-0, 4.15 ERA, 4.1 IP)
OSU RHP Bryce Osmond (0-0, 5.40 ERA, 5.0 IP)

LAST TIME OUT
WSU was swept by No. 11 Georgia Tech despite leading in all three games. In the series opener, the Raiders rallied back from a four-run deficit to take an 8-7 lead going into the bottom of the ninth inning. However, the Yellow Jackets scored twice in the bottom half of the frame to capture the victory. The Raiders jumped out to a 2-0 advantage in the next game but finished on the losing side of a 16-5 decision. Tech pulled away late with four runs in the eighth inning of the series finale to win 9-6.

STRONG START
Alec Sayre batted .400 (6-for-15) with two doubles, two RBI, and four runs scored over three games in Atlanta. The sophomore outfielder tallied one or more hits, and a run scored in each game. Sayre had two multi-hit performances, including a 3-for-5 showing with two doubles in the series finale. He also recorded a perfect fielding percentage in eight chances, highlighted by two diving grabs in the seventh inning of WSU's 9-6 loss to the Yellow Jackets last Sunday.

BALL MAGNET
Julian Greenwell was plunked in four consecutive plate appearances at Georgia Tech. He was hit four times in 39 career games coming into the weekend. To date, Greenwell ranks third nationally in hit by pitch per game (1.33) and fifth in total hit by pitch (4).

BOMBS AWAY
A trio of Raiders in Sammy Sass, Gehrig Anglin, and Zane Harris homered last weekend. Sass and Gehrig recorded three-run home runs while Harris hit a solo shot in the series finale. A season ago, WSU ranked eighth nationally in home runs per game (1.62) and 20th in total homers (78).

NEWCOMERS SHOWING OUT
Justin Riemer delivered a pinch-hit two-run single to give the Raiders an 8-7 edge in their season opener. The at-bat was the first of his collegiate career. Drew Baker hit a three-run double in his first collegiate at-bat the next day. Garret Simpson allowed just one run on two hits in 3.2 innings of work over two appearances in his debut weekend as a Raider.

ACTIVE STREAKS
» Justin McConnell has reached base in 25-consecutive games
» Julian Greenwell has stuck out one of more batters in all 10-career appearances
» Jay Luikart has not allowed an earned run in seven-straight appearances
» Riley Perlich has not allowed a run in five-straight appearances
» Alec Sayre possesses a four-game hitting streak

SCOUTING THE COWBOYS
The No. 3 Cowboys won their season-opening series at top-ranked Vanderbilt last weekend. After opening the series with a 3-0 loss, Oklahoma State took down the Commodores by final scores of 4-3 and 7-5. On Tuesday, Sam Houston State defeated OSU in extra innings, 6-3.

The Cowboys went 36-19-1 last season en route to their eighth consecutive NCAA Regional berth. OSU returns 13 letterwinners from a year ago, including four position starters and nine pitchers. Highlighting the list are Preseason All-Americans Justin Campbell, Victor Mederos and Nolan McLean, as well as Jake Thompson, a Preseason All-Big 12 pick along with Campbell and McLean.

HISTORY VS. OSU
Oklahoma State leads the all-time series 5-1. The team's last meeting was in 2019, where OSU took two out of three games. In the series finale, WSU knocked off the No. 19 Cowboys 5-4. Seth Gray led WSU by batting 3-for-5 with two RBI and the game-winning run scored. A quartet of current Raiders in Justin McConnell, Bradley Deboutte, Anglin, and Harris also played in the game.

PRESEASON ATTENTION
The Raiders were projected to win the Horizon League in the conference's annual preseason poll, collecting 42 points and six first-place votes, ahead of UIC in second with 35 points. WSU also topped the D1Baseball.com preseason poll, in addition to Sass tabbing preseason Player of the Year and Andrew Patrick earning preseason Freshman of the Year.

TOP PROSPECTS
D1Baseball listed several WSU players as top positional and overall prospects ahead of the 2022 season. A pair of returners in Logan Tabeling and Sayre were listed as top 250 prospects for the 2022 Major League Baseball Draft. Sass was ranked 17th among D1 catchers, while Sayre checked in as the 19th-best outfielder. Harris was listed as the No. 21 first baseman in the site's positional rankings.

RETURNING TALENT
Offensively, WSU returns eight players that appeared in over half of its games last season. The group includes all-conference selections Sass, Sayre, and Harris. The pitching staff features nine individuals who made eight or more appearances, led by Jake Shirk, who went 7-0 with a 2.01 ERA in 22.1 innings of work as a freshman.

COACHING SUCCESS
Alex Sogard, the seventh-youngest active head coach in Division I baseball, is 83-42 at the helm of the Raiders. Among fourth-year D1 coaches, he possesses the top winning percentage (.680), fewest losses, and third-most wins. Sogard collected 2021 ABCA/ATEC East Coach of the Year honors after guiding WSU to the 2021 Knoxville Regional. The Phoenix, Arizona, native led the Raiders to a 42-17 record in 2019, the most wins by a first-year head coach in program history. Wright State beat three ranked teams in 2019 and took down top-ranked Louisville in the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign before going 35-13 in 2021 on the way to the Horizon League regular season and tournament titles. In June 2021, Sogard was named to the 2021 USA Baseball Collegiate National Team coaching staff.

LEADING THE NATION
Wright State led Division I baseball in the following statistical categories a season ago:

» Batting average (.339)
» Doubles per game (2.71)
» On-base percentage (.447)
» Scoring (10.5)
» Slugging percentage (.579)
» Quincy Hamilton - Bases on balls per game (1.17)
» Quincy Hamilton - Runs per game (1.62)

WSU TO THE MAJORS
Wright State saw three total players selected in Major League Baseball's 2021 first-year player draft, along with another two signing free agent contracts. The three selections, all inside the top 10 rounds, give the Raiders 16 total draftees over the last seven drafts dating back to 2015 and 40 total players in program history.