Raiders drop doubleheader at Hawaii

Saturday, February 18

Manoa, HI

6:05 PM ET

Wright State University

1-1

Hawaii

1-1

Wright State

Hawaii

2/19/2023 1:47:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

HONOLULU — The Wright State baseball program dropped a pair of games to Hawaii on Saturday at Les Murakami Stadium, falling 5-4 (8 inn.) in the opener and 12-2 in game two.

The Raiders go to 1-2 on the season and will look to split the four-game series tomorrow at 6:05 p.m. ET.

Game 1 (8 innings) - Wright State 4, Hawaii 5
Wright State wasted no time taking the lead in the scheduled seven-inning contest, as Justin Riemer hit a leadoff double in the opening frame and came around to score on a Sammy Sass sacrifice fly.

The score remained 1-0 in favor of the Raiders until the bottom of the third inning, as Hawaii (2-1) plated three unearned runs on three hits, two hit by pitches, and an error.

WSU's deficit remained 3-1 with two outs in the top of the sixth inning, but Jay Luikart and Sammy Sass kept the Raiders alive with back-to-back singles. Gehrig Anglin followed with a three-run home run over the center field wall to give Wright State a 4-3 advantage.

Luikart retired the Rainbow Warriors in order in the bottom of the sixth inning to keep WSU's lead intact. However, Hawaii's Jacob Igawa forced extras in the bottom of the seventh inning with a game-tying RBI single off Luikart with two outs.

Wright State brought two runners into scoring position in the top half of the next frame but failed to push a run across. Hawaii's Jared Quandt responded with a walk-off double in the bottom of the eighth.

Anglin led the Raiders in the loss, as he walked three times in addition to his three-run homer. Sass batted 1-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored, while Riemer and Luikart both tallied a hit and a run.

Starting pitcher Sebastian Gongora gave up three runs, none earned, on three hits and no walks in five innings. He retired his last seven batters faced. Luke Stofel (0-1) was charged with the loss after allowing the game-winning run in one-third of an inning in relief.

Game 2 (7 innings) - Wright State 2, Hawaii 12
Hawaii doubled in a run to go up 1-0 in the second inning, but the Raiders responded with two runs of their own in the top half of the third inning thanks to Luke Arnold plating Andrew Patrick from first on an RBI double and scoring later in the frame on an error.

The Rainbow Warriors exploded for five runs on five hits and a walk in the bottom of the fourth to take back the lead and added three runs apiece in the next two frames to put the ballgame out of reach.

Starting pitcher Tristan Haught (0-1) was charged with the loss after allowing six runs on four hits and three walks in 3.2 innings of work. Josh Laisure and Ty Roder were both tagged for three runs out of the pen.

WSU's offense was limited to two hits, including none in the last four innings of play. Patrick reached base twice on a single and hit by pitch, while Arnold finished 1-for-2 at the plate with a double, an RBI, and a run scored.