Raiders face back-to-back #HLBASE doubleheaders

Saturday, April 23

Dayton, OH

12 PM

Wright State University

Northern Kentucky

Buy Tickets

4/22/2022 1:22:00 PM | Baseball

DAYTON — The Wright State baseball program will continue its Horizon League slate with back-to-back doubleheaders this weekend. The Raiders will host Northern Kentucky for a noon doubleheader on Saturday, April 23, before heading to Chicago for a 1 p.m. ET doubleheader at UIC on Sunday, April 23. All four games will air on ESPN+, while live stats will also be available.

Saturday, April 23 vs. NKU
12 p.m. — Watch — Live Stats
3 p.m. — Watch — Live Stats

Sunday, April 24 at UIC
1 p.m. ET — Watch — Live Stats
4 p.m. ET — Watch — Live Stats

LAST TIME OUT
Wright State is coming off a 9-3 midweek loss at Dayton, evening the season series at one win apiece. The Raiders trailed 3-1 entering the sixth inning, but UD combined for six runs over the next two frames to put the game out of reach. Sammy Sass led WSU by going 2-for-4 at the plate with an RBI. Gehrig Anglin and Andrew Patrick added two hits, while Julian Greenwell reached base twice on a double and a walk.

SCOUTING THE FLAMES
UIC is 12-17 overall under the guidance of first-year head coach Sean McDermott. The Flames are 5-4 against Horizon League opponents, which includes series wins over Oakland and Wright State. In non-conference action, UIC collected a series victory at California and most recently defeated Purdue 9-6.

Offensively, UIC sits sixth in the HL in batting average (.231), doubles (48), and home runs (19). Bryan Rosario has batted .324 with eight doubles, one triple, two homers, and 14 RBI, while Rayth Petersen has stolen a team-leading nine bases in 12 tries. The Flames have used pitching to their strength, possessing the lowest ERA (5.51) in the conference. Tyler Ingram is 1-4 on the mound but ranks second among Horizon League starters with a 3.24 ERA.

HISTORY VS. UIC
Wright State leads the all-time series 94-67. Last weekend, the teams met for three games at Nischwitz Stadium, where 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.

A year ago, the Raiders advanced to the Horizon League Championship title game with a 15-4 win versus UIC. Quincy Hamilton shined at the plate with a pair of roundtrips and five RBI. Tyler Black and Sammy Sass also homered, while Damon Dues added two hits and a stolen base.

SCOUTING THE NORSE
NKU is 13-21 overall and 7-7 in conference play, highlighted by three wins at Youngstown State. To date, WSU has been the only conference program to sweep the Norse. On February 25, Northern Kentucky defeated defending NCAA Champion Mississippi State, taking down the No. 7 Bulldogs 7-6.

The Norse have one of the top offenses in the HL, as they lead the conference in doubles (71) and hits (326) and rank second in batting average (.275) and slugging percentage (.427). Manny Vorhees tops the League in doubles (14) and runs batted in (34), while Brennan Gick is batting .310 with eight homers and 21 RBI. Relief pitcher Bryson Lonsbury has shined on the mound with a 2.97 ERA and three saves in 30.1 innings. The graduate student has allowed just one run over his last five appearances.

HISTORY VS. NKU
The Raiders have won 12-straight games against NKU dating back to 2019. This season, Wright State combined for 49 runs en route to a Horizon League series sweep at Northern Kentucky. The Raiders exploded for a season-high 18 runs in the series opener before winning the next two games by final scores of 14-11 and 17-10, respectively. Wright State batted .365 over the three-game stretch and added nine doubles and seven home runs as a team. The Raiders also went 10-for-12 on stolen-base attempts and committed just one error defensively.

During the 2021 season, WSU averaged 10.7 runs per game against the Norse en route to a perfect 8-0 record. Zane Harris batted .500 (7-for-14) with eight walks over the eight games, while Alec Sayre added two homers and 11 RBI. Bradley Deboutte had one of his best outings of the season in WSU's 11-5 win versus NKU (3/6/20), tallying a three-inning save with six strikeouts.

HE CAN DO IT ALL
On the season, Jay Luikart is batting .336 with 11 doubles, two triples, eight homers, 20 RBI, and 35 runs. The Ashland, Ohio native has homered five times in his last six games and leads the Horizon League in runs and slugging percentage (.664). 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 18 consecutive games. In the span, he is slashing .427/.506/.920 with nine doubles, two triples, eight homers, 19 RBI, and 25 runs. The sophomore has recorded an extra-base hit in 13 of the 18 games, which includes multi-homer performances versus Bradley (4/9) and UIC (4/15).

HE GETS ON BASE
On the season, Greenwell is batting .339 with 10 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, 1.064), walks (T-4th, 22), batting average (5th), and runs (5th, 30).

VETERAN POWER
Gehrig Anglin is tied for 47th 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. The St. Clair, Mich., native has slugged 11 homers in just 125 at-bats this season.

In addition to home runs, Anglin sits fourth in the Horizon League in RBI (31) and slugging percentage (.600).

RUNS FOR DAYS
Wright State sits 51st nationally with a conference-best 7.5 runs per game. Four of the top-seven 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 16 games.

STAR IN THE MAKING
Alec Sayre is batting .323 with 12 doubles, five homers, 29 RBI, and 29 runs. 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.

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.

RACKING UP K'S
Sebastian 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 Alex Theis sits eighth in the conference with 45 strikeouts.

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.

PATIENT AT THE PLATE
The Raiders have walked 180 times through 34 games, good for 47th nationally and first in the conference. WSU drew a season-high 13 free passes in its series finale against NKU.

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 20th nationally in total hit by pitch (14) and hit by pitch per game (0.42). Wright State sits atop the Horizon League in HBP (46) as a team.

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 4.18 ERA with 26 strikeouts in 23.2 innings.

ACTIVE STREAKS
Luikart » 18-game reached base streak
Harris » 6-game reached base streak
Anglin » 4-game hitting streak
Shirk » 5-plus innings pitched in five-straight appearances
Simpson » No runs allowed in four-straight appearances

"POWER 5" DOMINANCE
After defeating Virginia Tech on March 4, Wright State has knocked off a "Power Five" conference program 19 times since 2014.

2/16/14 — vs. Michigan State (Neutral Site) — W, 7-1
3/1/14 — at #4 Oregon State — W, 6-2
2/22/15 - at #18 Ole Miss — W, 3-1
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
3/5/16 — at Georgia — W, 3-1
6/5/16 — vs. #20 Ohio State (NCAA Regional) — W, 7-3
2/17/17 — at #10 Clemson — W, 6-4
2/19/17 — at #10 Clemson — W, 9-2
2/26/17 — at #4 South Carolina — W, 5-1
3/5/17 — vs. Pittsburgh (Neutral site) — W, 3-1
2/16/19 — at #10 Ole Miss — W, 9-5
2/24/19 — at #19 Oklahoma State — W, 5-4
4/3/19 — at Indiana — W, 15-4
2/19/20 — at #1 Louisville — W, 10-3
3/6/20 — at #11 Tennessee — W, 5-4
3/8/20 — at #11 Tennessee — W, 6-3
3/4/22 — at Virginia Tech — W, 11-5

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 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 98-58 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.