Top-seeded Raiders to host Horizon League Championship

Thursday, May 26

Dayton, OH

10 AM

Wright State University

No. 6 Northern Kentucky

Photo by: Jessica Roberts

Top-seeded Raiders to host Horizon League Championship

5/23/2022 5:00:00 PM | Baseball

Championship Central Championship Bracket Live Stats

DAYTON — The No. 1 seed Wright State baseball program will host the 2022 Horizon League Championship from May 25-28 at Nischwitz Stadium, with the conference's top six seeds in a double-elimination bracket. The bottom four teams will open the tournament on Wednesday (May 25) in two elimination games, while the Raiders will play against the lowest seed remaining on Thursday (May 26) at 11 a.m.

Tickets are available for purchase at the gate of Nischwitz Stadium. All-Tournament passes can be purchased for $25, while day passes are $10. Horizon League students with their ID cards and children under five years old are admitted free. Every game of the tournament will be broadcast nationally on ESPN+.

Tournament Info » Championship Central | Bracket | Live Stats

Thursday, May 26 — 10 a.m. —Watch — Live Stats
Wright State vs. No. 6 Northern Kentucky

REGULAR SEASON CHAMPS
Last Saturday, the Raiders defeated Milwaukee 7-5 in 10 innings to clinch the Horizon League regular season title. Wright State has captured the regular season crown in four consecutive seasons (2018, 2019, 2021, 2022) and five times in the last six years.

THE FIELD
In the tournament, the top-seeded Raiders will compete alongside No. 2 Oakland, No. 3 UIC, No. 4 Purdue Fort Wayne, No. 5 Youngstown State, and No. 6 Northern Kentucky. WSU went 17-7 against the five teams in the regular season.

LAST TIME OUT
Wright State is coming off a series win over Milwaukee on the road. The Raiders dropped the opener 7-0 but bounced back with consecutive comeback victories. WSU used 10 unanswered runs to take down MKE 12-8 in game two before knocking off the Panthers 7-6 in extras in the regular-season finale.

Andrew Patrick paced the offense in the three-game stretch, as he batted .455 (5-for-11) with a triple, two RBI, and two runs scored. Gehrig Anglin finished with a home run and five RBI, while Sammy Sass batted .357 (5-for-14) with a triple and three runs. Jay Luikart allowed no runs in 2.1 innings of relief, collecting a win and a save in the process.

HOME RUN KING
Anglin belted his 16th home run of the season in WSU's 12-8 win at Milwaukee last Friday, which tied the single-season school record held by Nick Shields ('01) and Bryan Vickers (' 04). He entered the 2022 campaign with three home runs over four seasons but has slugged 16 homers in 191 at-bats this year.

The redshirt junior leads the HL in home runs and slugging percentage (.597) while ranking third in OPS (.997) and RBI (46).

PLAYER OF THE YEAR?
Alec Sayre has placed himself in the running for Horizon League Player of the Year, as he is batting .340 with 15 doubles, one triple, nine homers, 45 RBI, 49 runs scored, and nine stolen bases. The Dover, Ohio native possesses top-five HL marks in runs (1st), hits (2nd), batting average (4th), doubles (4th), RBI (4th), home runs (5th), OPS (5th, .980), and walks (5th, 30).

In conference-only action, Sayre leads the HL in home runs (8), RBI (32), and runs (33).

STUDENT-athletes
WSU had a 3.22 team grade point average in the 2022 spring semester, including 29 individuals with a GPA above 3.00. Dating back to 2012, the Raiders have accumulated a team GPA of 3.00 or higher in 19 of their last 20 semesters.

HE GETS ON BASE
On the season, Julian Greenwell is batting .317 with 15 doubles, five triples, eight home runs, and 47 RBI. He leads the conference in triples, OPS (1.033), and hit by pitch (14) while possessing top-five conference marks in on-base percentage (2nd, .448), RBI (2nd), slugging percentage (3rd, .585), runs (4th, 45), doubles (4th, 15), and walks (4th, 32).

HE CAN DO IT ALL
On the season, Luikart is batting .290 with 14 doubles, three triples, nine homers, 27 RBI, and 45 runs. He is also is 4-1 as WSU's closer with a team-low 2.04 ERA and seven saves in 17.2 innings. The Ashland, Ohio native possesses top-five HL marks in triples (2nd), saves (2nd), walks (3rd, 33), runs (4th), and home runs (5th).

POWER SURGE
In May, Andrew Patrick is batting .410 with three doubles, one triple, five home runs, and 10 RBI. He opened the month by homering in three-straight games, highlighted by a career-high two roundtrips against YSU (5/1).

RUNS FOR DAYS
Wright State sits 68th nationally with a conference-best 7.3 runs per game. Four of the top-six individual run-scorers in the HL sport the Green & Gold, led by Sayre in first with 49 runs. The Raiders have pushed across double-digit runs in a league-leading 17 games.

RBI KING
Zane Harris is fifth in the conference with 44 RBI. After a quiet start to the season, the senior has batted .308 with seven doubles, two triples, four home runs, and 37 RBI over his last 33 games.

PATIENT AT THE PLATE
The Raiders have walked 278 times through 52 games, good for 24th nationally and first in the conference. WSU drew a season-high 13 free passes in its series finale against NKU (3/27).

PLAYING LIKE AN ACE
Starting pitcher Jake Shirk is tied for the conference lead in wins with five. He also ranks fifth in innings pitched (75.1) and ninth in opponent batting average (.277). The sophomore was named Horizon League Pitcher of the Week after tossing a complete-shutout shutout against NKU (4/23).

HE'S JUST A FRESHMAN
Starting pitcher Sebastian Gongora is 4-0 with a 4.83 ERA and 47 strikeouts in 50.1 innings against Horizon League opponents. The redshirt freshman ranks sixth in the conference in strikeouts (71) and innings pitched (72.0) and seventh in opponent batting average (.269). He tossed a three-hit shutout against YSU (4/3) and punched out a season-high 10 batters in just five innings at NKU (3/26).

PITCHING EXCELLENCE
Starting pitcher Alex Theis is 4-1 with a 2.41 ERA and 65 strikeouts in 41.0 innings against conference opponents. The redshirt junior leads the Horizon League in ERA, strikeouts looking (21), fewest runs allowed (13), and fewest home runs allowed (1) in HL-only games.

HERO OF THE GAME
Avery Fisher had a career day in WSU's 11-10 comeback win at UIC (4/24), as he batted 3-for-4 with three homers, five RBI, three runs, and a hit by pitch. Fisher hit his third home run with two outs in the top of the ninth, a game-tying solo blast over the right-field wall. The Ontario, Ohio native became the third Horizon League player to reach three home runs in a game this season.

WIN NO. 100
Head coach Alex Sogard reached 100 career wins in Wright State's 8-0 win over NKU (4/23). Among fourth-year Division I coaches, Sogard entered the season with the top winning percentage (.680), fewest losses, and third-most wins.

ACTIVE STREAKS
Patrick » 13-game reached base streak
Anglin » 6-game reached base streak
Anglin » 4-game hitting streak
McConnell » 5-game reached base streak
Luikart » 3-straight scoreless appearances
Gongora » Three or fewer earned runs allowed in four-straight starts

"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 Alec Sayre were listed as top 250 prospects for the 2022 Major League Baseball Draft. Sammy Sass was ranked 17th among D1 catchers, while Sayre checked in as the 19th-best outfielder. Zane Harris was listed as the No. 21 first baseman in the site's positional rankings.

COACHING SUCCESS
Alex Sogard, the seventh-youngest active head coach in Division I baseball, is 110-64 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.