DAYTON — The Wright State baseball program secured a 5-4 comeback win over Army on Saturday afternoon at Nischwitz Stadium.
With the series knotted at one game apiece, the Raiders (4-9) and Black Knights (6-7) will conclude the three-game set on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Wright State finished with nine hits and tied a season-high mark in doubles with five in game two of the Saturday doubleheader.
Sammy Sass paced the offense by going 2-for-4 at the plate with a double and two runs batted in.
Luke Arnold batted 2-for-3 with a double and a run scored, while
Jay Luikart and
Julian Greenwell added RBI hits.
Gehrig Anglin recorded a double and scored a team-leading two runs for the Raiders.
Starting pitcher
Sebastian Gongora held Army to two runs, one earned, on five hits and two walks while striking out a season-best eight batters in five innings of work. Tristian Haught (1-1) gave up two runs in the sixth inning but followed with back-to-back scoreless frames to earn the winning decision. Luikart blanked the Black Knights in the ninth inning for his second save of the 2023 campaign.
The Raiders reached the scoreboard in the opening inning, as
Andrew Patrick led off the game with a single and touched home on a sacrifice fly by Sass. On the mound, Gongora struck out the side in the first and zeroed Army in the second and third innings to maintain WSU's one-run lead.
Army swung the momentum to its side with two runs in the top of the fourth. However, Anglin started the bottom half of the frame with a double and came around to score on a single by Sass to tie the game, 2-2.
The Black Knights broke the tie with a pair of two-out RBI hits in the top of the sixth inning to go up 4-2. Wright State responded with two runs in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game at 4-all. Anglin notched a leadoff walk in the sixth, followed by a Sass double to place two Raiders in scoring position. Both scored thanks to an RBI groundout by Greenwell and a sac fly by
Boston Smith.
Arnold led off the seventh inning with a double, but the Army pitching staff followed with back-to-back outs. Luikart delivered an RBI single to right field to score Arnold from third for the game-winning run.
Haught retired the side in order in the top of the eighth, while Luikart induced a groundout for the final out in the ninth to seal the comeback victory.
