Baseball heads to Dayton for Tuesday meeting

Tuesday, April 19

Dayton, OH

3 PM

Wright State University

Dayton

4/18/2022 5:00:00 PM | Baseball

DAYTON — The Wright State baseball program will head across town to face Dayton on Tuesday, April 19, at Woerner Field. The non-conference tilt is slated for a 3 p.m. start, and live stats will be available.

Tuesday, April 19 - 3 p.m. - Live Stats

LAST TIME OUT
The Raiders are coming off a Horizon League series loss to UIC at home. WSU dropped the opener 8-6 before bouncing back with a 5-3 victory in game two. The Flames garnered a 6-5 win in 10 innings to clinch the series on Saturday.

Jay Luikart's paced the offense by batting .500 (7-for-14) with two doubles and three home runs over the three-game stretch. Julian Greenwell (.444 BA) and Gehrig Anglin (.417 BA) also hit above .400 in the series. Sebastian Gongora started on the mound in WSU's win against the Flames, allowing just one run on five hits and one walk in a career-high 7.1 innings. Josh Laisure, Logan Tabeling, and Aaron Ernst added scoreless outings in relief on the weekend.

SCOUTING THE FLYERS
Dayton is 14-17 overall under the guidance of fifth-year head coach Jayson King. The Flyers have earned series wins against North Carolina A&T, Evansville, and Belmont, along with midweek triumphs over Ohio State, Northern Kentucky, and Purdue Fort Wayne. UD has been aggressive on the base paths with 45 steals on 64 attempts, while the pitching staff has limited opponents to 4.25 runs per game. The Flyers have shown an ability to close out games, as 11 of their 14 victories have been decided by four or fewer runs.

Last season, UD was just shy of an NCAA Regional appearance, falling to VCU in the Atlantic 10 Championship title game. Dayton finished 12-4 in conference play, good for the program's highest winning percentage since the 2009 season. Headlining UD's lineup is Marcos Pujols, a First Team All-Conference honoree who was named to the Bobby BraganCollegiate Slugger Award Watch List.

HISTORY VS. DAYTON
The Raiders have won 17-straight games against Dayton dating back to the 2009 season. WSU opened its 2022 home slate against UD, securing a 14-0 shutout. Wright State's Sam Wirsing, Garret Simpson, Tristan Haught, Alex Theis, and Justin Hornschemeier combined for the nine-hit shutout. The offense put the game out of reach with a 10-run sixth inning.

HE CAN DO IT ALL
On the season, Luikart is batting .348 with 11 doubles, two triples, eight homers, 20 RBI, and 35 runs. The Ashland, Ohio native has homered five times in his last five games and leads the Horizon League in runs and slugging percentage (1.131). Luikart is 2-1 as WSU's closer with a team-low 2.53 ERA and four saves in 10.2 innings.

VIDEO GAME NUMBERS
Luikart has reached base in a team-leading 17 consecutive games. In the span, he is slashing .451/.524/.972 with nine doubles, two triples, eight homers, 19 RBI, and 25 runs. The sophomore has recorded an extra-base hit in 13 of the 17 games, including multi-homer performances versus Bradley (4/9) and UIC (4/15).

HE GETS ON BASE
On the season, Greenwell is batting .339 with nine doubles, two triples, four home runs, and 29 RBI. He leads the conference in triples (T-1st) and hit by pitch (14) while possessing top-five HL marks in on-base percentage (2nd, .493), OPS (3rd, 1.062), runs (4th, 30), and walks (T-5th, 21).

VETERAN POWER
Anglin is tied for 40th nationally with a conference-leading 11 home runs. The redshirt junior homered nine times in a 15-game span, starting at Oral Roberts (2/28) and ending against NKU (3/27). He entered the 2022 campaign with three homers in 178 career at-bats. This season, the St. Clair, Mich., native has slugged 11 homers in just 121 at-bats.

In addition to home runs, Anglin sits third in the Horizon League in RBI (31) and fourth in slugging percentage (.603).

RUNS FOR DAYS
Wright State sits 45th nationally with a conference-best 7.6 runs per game. Four of the top-six individual run-scorers in the HL sport the Green & Gold, led by Luikart in first with 35 runs. The Raiders have pushed across 10-plus runs in seven of their last 15 games.

BALL MAGNET
Greenwell was plunked in four consecutive plate appearances at Georgia Tech and five times overall in the season-opening series. To date, Greenwell ranks 15th nationally in total hit by pitch (14) and 18th in hit by pitch per game (0.44). Wright State sits atop the Horizon League in HBP (45) as a team.

STAR IN THE MAKING
To date, Alec Sayre possesses top-five HL marks in doubles (T-2nd, 12), hits (3rd, 43), and runs (T-5th, 29). He has totaled 13 multi-hit games and has gone 6-for-6 on stolen base attempts. In WSU's 17-10 win at PFW (4/2), Sayre batted 3-for-6 with two homers and a career-high seven RBI.

RACKING UP K's
Gongora ranks fifth in the Horizon League with 50 strikeouts. The redshirt freshman punched out a season-high 10 batters in just five innings at NKU (3/26). Another starting pitcher in Theis sits eighth in the conference with 45 strikeouts.

CONSISTENT ON THE MOUND
Jake Shirk is 3-1 with a 3.68 ERA and 23 strikeouts over his last five visits to the mound. The sophomore has given up four or fewer earned runs while lasting five-plus innings in each appearance.

REMEMBER THE NAME
Theis has gone 3-0 with a 2.53 ERA and 33 strikeouts over his last five outings, allowing just eight runs, six earned, on 23 hits and six walks in a combined 21.1 innings. The New Riegel, Ohio native struck out a career-high nine batters at Purdue Fort Wayne (4/3) en route to his second win of the year.

NEWCOMERS SHOWING OUT
Justin Riemer ranks fourth on the team with a .301 batting average and has added 17 RBI and 22 runs. Drew Baker has batted .258 with three doubles and five RBI in limited action. He doubled twice in his first career start against Xavier. Chris Gallagher has recorded a 4.37 ERA with 25 strikeouts in 22.2 innings.

ACTIVE STREAKS
Luikart » 17-game reached base streak
Luikart » 5-game hitting streak
Luikart » Has an extra-base hit in five-straight games
Harris » 5-game reached base streak