LEXINGTON, Ky. — The Wright State baseball program powered its way to a 12-9 victory over Kentucky on Saturday afternoon at Kentucky Proud Park. 

The Raiders (2-4) finished with a season-high 13 hits, including eight for extra bases against a Wildcat pitching staff that had only given up nine runs in their opening five games of the 2023 season.

The duo of Andrew Patrick and Jay Luikart combined to go 7-for-8 at the plate with two doubles, four homers, eight runs batted in, and six runs scored. Luikart batted 4-for-4 with a double, two roundtrips, three RBI, and four runs in addition to a walk and a steal. Patrick blasted a pair of two-run homers to go along with an RBI double, all in the first five innings of play.

Julian Greenwell doubled home the first run of the game while Gehrig Anglin and Sammy Sass recorded RBI singles. Justin Riemer reached base twice on a single and a walk.

Starting pitcher Sebastian Gongora (1-0) earned the winning decision after limiting Kentucky (4-2) to two runs on one hit and four walks while striking out four batters in five innings of work. 

The Raiders jumped out a 4-0 lead in the first inning and extended their edge to 6-0 by the end of the third. Patrick punctuated the hot start with a two-run homer in the first inning and an RBI double in his second at-bat.

Wright State added three runs in the top of the fifth inning to push its advantage to 9-2. Patrick delivered his second two-run homer of the game while Luikart plated Sass on a double. Luikart belted a solo home run in the top of the seventh inning to boost WSU's lead to 10-2. 

Kentucky closed its deficit to 10-8 with a five-spot off reliever Tristan Haught in the seventh and a solo homer off Luikart in the eighth.

Wright State responded with two insurance runs in the top of the ninth off a Sass single and a second Luikart homer, resulting in a 12-8 Raider lead.

Luikart held Kentucky to one run in the ninth inning to secure his first save of the year and a 12-9 victory for the Raiders.