Baseball travels to undefeated Virginia Tech

Friday, March 4

Blacksburg, VA

2 PM

Wright State University

Virginia Tech

3/3/2022 11:00:00 AM | Baseball

DAYTON — The Wright State baseball program travels to 7-0 Virginia Tech for a three-game series from March 4-6 at Atlantic Union Bank Park. The series will stream on ACC Network Extra, while visitor radio and live stats will also be available.

Game 1 - Friday, March 4 - 2 p.m. - Watch - Listen - Live Stats
WSU RHP Aaron Ernst (0-1, 24.00 ERA, 3.0 IP)
VT RHP Griffin Green (2-0, 0.00 ERA, 11.0 IP)

Game 2 - Saturday, March 5 - 2 p.m. - Watch - Listen - Live Stats
WSU RHP Jake Shirk (0-1, 9.39 ERA, 7.2 IP)
VT LHP Ryan Okuda (1-0, 1.93 ERA, 9.1 IP)

Game 3 - Sunday, March 6 - 1 p.m. - Watch - Listen - Live Stats
WSU LHP Sebastian Gongora (0-0, 5.63 ERA, 8.0 IP)
VT - TBD

LAST TIME OUT
The Raiders went 0-3 with two losses at No. 3 Oklahoma State and a 12-3 defeat against Oral Roberts. Opponents opened early leads over the three games, outscoring the Raiders 15-0 in the first inning. WSU led nationally-ranked OSU 6-2 in the ninth inning of the series finale, but the Cowboys rallied back to win 7-6 in 10 innings.

Gehrig Anglin scored a team-leading four runs to go along with a home run, three walks, and a stolen base on the weekend. Justin McConnell batted .286 (2-for-7) with two runs batted in and three walks. Jake Shirk gave up two runs in 4.2 innings of work against Oklahoma State on the mound. Sebastian Gongora struck out six batters in 3.2 innings of relief in the same game. Josh Laisure threw a scoreless eighth inning with two strikeouts at ORU.

SCOUTING THE HOKIES
Virginia Tech is off to a 7-0 start to the 2022 campaign, highlighted by three-game sweeps over UNC Asheville and Fordham. Last Tuesday, the Hokies took down High Point 10-4 in their first midweek contest of the season. VT is one of 15 Division I programs unbeaten and ranks top-10 nationally in batting average (.365), doubles per game (3.57), home runs per game (2.00), on-base percentage (.482), slugging percentage (.691), and sacrifice flies (10).

Tech went 27-25 overall and 16-20 in ACC play last season. The Hokies retained all but five of their 17 position players that saw the field a year ago. Headlining Tech's lineup is Gavin Cross, a five-time 2022 Preseason All-American and Golden Spikes Award preseason watch list mention.

HISTORY VS. VIRGINIA TECH
Friday will mark the first-ever meeting between Wright State and Virginia Tech. While the Raiders have never faced the Hokies, WSU has defeated six ACC opponents since 2015.

3/1/15 — at #11 Miami — W, 12-6
5/31/15 — vs. Notre Dame (NCAA Regional) — W, 4-0
2/26/16 — at #8 NC State — W, 10-8
2/17/17 — at #10 Clemson — W, 6-4
2/19/17 — at #10 Clemson — W, 9-2
3/5/17 — vs. Pittsburgh (Neutral site) — W, 3-1
2/19/20 — at #1 Louisville — W, 10-3

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 sixth nationally in hit by pitch per game (0.83) and 11th in total hit by pitch (5). As a team, Wright State leads the Horizon League in HBP (11).

QUICK ON THE BASES
WSU has stolen eight bases in six games, good for the second-most among HL programs. Anglin leads the pack with three steals on three tries. Greenwell has gone 2-for-2 on stolen-base attempts.

STRONG START
Alec Sayre is batting .333 (9-for-27) on the season with a team-high three doubles and two RBI. The third-year outfielder has totaled three multi-hit games, including a 3-for-5 showing with two doubles at Georgia Tech (2/20).

PATIENCE IS KEY
Wright State has walked 32 times through six games, highlighted by nine walks at Oklahoma State (2/27). Anglin, Greenwell, and Justin Riemer have walked a team-best five times apiece.

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 Sammy 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. A fifth-year senior in Zane 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 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 83-45 at the helm of the Raiders. Among fourth-year D1 coaches entering the season, he possessed 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.