DAYTON — The Wright State baseball program rallied back for an 11-7 victory over UCF on Tuesday night in its midweek finale at Nischwitz Stadium.
The Raiders improved to 31-18 on the season with their sixth win in a row, while the visiting Knights dropped to 27-22 overall.
Wright State entered the bottom of the sixth inning trailing 6-2 but erupted for seven runs on five hits and three free passes in the frame to go up 9-6. WSU led for the remainder of the game, adding two runs in the eighth while holding the Knights to just one run on a solo homer in the ninth.
The Raider offense finished with 11 hits — seven for extra bases — to go along with nine walks and a hit by pitch in the victory.
Jay Luikart,
Sammy Sass,
Boston Smith, and
Gehrig Anglin paved the way with two runs batted in apiece. Luikart totaled a team-leading three hits, including WSU's lone home run of the day, while Sass doubled twice and added a walk and a stolen base. Smith recorded a pair of extra-base hits on an RBI double and an RBI triple.
Patrick Fultz reached base a team-high four times on two doubles and two walks.
Ty Roder (2-1) shined for the Wright State pitching staff with three shutout innings out of the bullpen, limiting UCF to just one hit and one walk while striking out two batters.
Joey Valentine also worked a scoreless frame in relief.
The Knights jumped out to an early lead after plating two runs on two hits and an error by WSU's defense in the top of the second inning. Wright State reduced its deficit to 2-1 on a sacrifice fly by
Luke Arnold in the bottom of the frame, but UCF tallied a 2-run triple and an RBI groundout in the top of the third to push its edge to 5-1.
The Raiders got a run back in the bottom of the fourth, as Sass led off the frame with a double and came around to score on an RBI single by Luikart. Wright State the bases loaded with two outs in the fourth but stranded all three runners on base with an inning-ending strikeout.
UCF extended its lead back to four runs, 6-2, on an RBI single in the top of the sixth. However, WSU rallied back with seven runs in the bottom of the sixth on a solo homer by Luikart, an RBI double by Smith, a bases-loaded walk by
Julian Greenwell, a two-run single by Anglin, and a two-run double by Sass.
Wright State increased its edge to 11-6 in the bottom of the eighth on a run scored by Sass off a wild pitch and an RBI triple off the bat of Smith.
Luikart took the mound in the ninth and held the Knights to one run to seal the Raider win.
The Raiders will conclude their regular season home schedule versus Milwaukee from May 12-14 at Nischwitz Stadium.
