DAYTON — The Wright State baseball program will continue its season-opening road slate with a three-game series against Kentucky from February 24-26 at Kentucky Proud Park. The weekend series will broadcast live on SEC Network Plus. Live stats will also be provided.
Game 1 - Friday, February 24 - 4 p.m. - Watch - Live Stats
WSU RHP
Jake Shirk (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 6.0. IP)
UK RHP Logan Martin (0-1, 3.60 ERA, 5.0 IP)
Game 2 - Saturday, February 25 - 1 p.m. - Watch - Live Stats
WSU LHP
Sebastian Gongora (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 5.0 IP)
UK LHP Tyler Bosma (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 6.0 IP)
Game 3 - Saturday, February 26 - 1 p.m. - Watch - Live Stats
WSU LHP
Alex Theis (0-1, 47.25 ERA, 1.1 IP)
UK RHP Zack Lee (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 5.0 IP)
LAST TIME OUT
The Raiders won their season opener at Hawaii 8-3 but lost the series after dropping the next three games.
Gehrig Anglin blasted a go-ahead three-run homer in the sixth inning of game two (scheduled seven-inning game). However, the Rainbow Warriors forced extras with a game-tying RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the seventh and hit a walk-off double in the bottom of the eighth. Hawaii pushed across double-digit runs in the last two games, which was too much for WSU to overcome.
Sophomore outfielder
Andrew Patrick batted .400 with team-leading marks in hits (4), runs scored (3), hit by pitches (2), and stolen bases (3) over the four-game stretch. Starting pitchers
Jake Shirk and
Sebastian Gongora allowed no earned runs in a combined 11.0 innings of work.
PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Friday starter
Jake Shirk earned Horizon League Pitcher of the Week honors after firing six scoreless innings in Wright State's season-opening 8-3 victory at Hawaii (2/17). The junior right-hander allowed just two hits and one walk, while striking out six batters over 76 pitches en route to his first win of the 2023 season. Hawaii did not reach scoring position on Shirk in his last five innings of work.
SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
Kentucky is 3-1 on the season with a series win at Elon and a midweek victory over Evansville. The Wildcat pitching has been dominant by allowing just six runs through four games, highlighted by a 4-0 shutout against Elon last Saturday. The offense has slashed .237/.336/.301 this year, led by Émilien Pitre with a .412 batting average on seven hits.
UK finished the 2022 season 33-26 overall and 12-18 against Southeastern Conference opponents. The Wildcats defeated Auburn, Vanderbilt, and LSU in the SEC tournament before falling to No. 1 Tennessee.
HISTORY VS. KENTUCKY
Wright State holds an all-time record of 7-13 versus Kentucky, losing its last eight meetings to the Wildcats. WSU's most recent win over UK transpired during the 2004 season with a 7-4 victory.
ALWAYS READY
A trio of redshirt freshmen impressed in WSU's opening series at Hawaii last weekend.
Parker Harrison reached base four times on four plate appearances in his Wright State debut (2/18), batting 2-for-2 with two doubles, two runs batted in, and two walks.
Dane Thomas has a team-leading .600 batting average, highlighted by a 2-for-3 showing at the plate with an RBI double and a run scored last Sunday (2/19).
Ben Stoner had an RBI single, two walks, and two runs scored in the series finale, which was his second-ever collegiate game.
VETERAN GROUP
WSU returns 16 letterwinners and 11 starters from last year's team, including eight All-Horizon League recipients.
Gehrig Anglin and
Julian Greenwell collected All-League First Team honors, while
Jay Luikart,
Jake Shirk, and
Alex Theis were named to the Second Team.
Sebastian Gongora,
Andrew Patrick, and
Justin Riemer earned spots on the All-Freshman Team.
ALL-AMERICA RECOGNITION
Jay Luikart earned preseason All-America nods from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) and Collegiate Baseball Newspaper after starring as WSU's starting outfielder and closer in 2022. The Ashland, Ohio native slugged .299/.409/.544 with 14 doubles, three triples, 10 homers, 31 RBI, and 49 runs scored over 54 starts. Luikart pitched to a 4-2 record with a team-low 2.53 ERA and seven saves in 21.1 innings.
PRO RAIDERS
Sean Murphy, drafted by the Oakland Athletics in 2016, and Peyton Burdick, drafted by the Miami Marlins in 2019, are the Raiders' two current Major League players. Murphy debuted with the Athletics in September 2019 and earned the Gold Glove award following the 2021 season. He signed a 6-year, $73 million contract extension with the Atlanta Braves in December 2022, which includes a $15 million club option for the 2029 season. Burdick made his debut for the Marlins in August 2022 and finished the season with four homers and 11 RBI. Joe Smith spent 15 years (2007-2022) in the big leagues as a reliever with eight different clubs and currently sits Top 40 all-time with 866 career pitching appearances.
DRAFT TALENT
Wright State's
Alec Sayre was selected in 17th round of the 2022 MLB Draft, becoming the 17th draftee since 2015 and the 41st in program history. The Raiders saw three total players selected in the top 10 rounds of the MLB's 2021 first-year player draft, along with another two signing free agent contracts.
COACHING SUCCESS
Alex Sogard, the seventh-youngest active head coach in Division I baseball, is 114-69 at the helm of the Raiders. Among fifth-year D1 coaches entering the 2023 season, he possesses the third-most wins and fourth-best winning percentage (.631). Sogard had guided the Raiders to back-to-back NCAA Regional appearances and collected ABCA/ATEC East Coach of the Year honors in 2021. The Phoenix, Arizona, native led WSU 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.
"POWER 5" DOMINANCE
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
