DAYTON — The top-seeded Wright State baseball program opened the Horizon League Championship with a 6-3 victory over No. 5 seed Milwaukee on Thursday afternoon at Nischwitz Stadium. 

The Raiders (36-20) will face the winner between No. 2 seed Oakland and No. 3 seed Northern Kentucky in the tournament semifinals on Friday, May 26, at noon. The postseason matchup will broadcast live on ESPN+. 

Wright State raced out to a hot start, as the home team led 5-0 after three innings of play. WSU reached the scoreboard with four runs on three hits and two free passes in the bottom of the second, punctuated by a two-out, two-run double off the bat of Jay Luikart. Julian Greenwell led off the bottom of the third with a solo homer over the right-field wall. 

In the bottom of the sixth, Dane Thomas reached base on a walk, stole second, and came around to score on an RBI single by Luikart. 

Starting pitcher Sebastian Gongora (10-1) opened the game with six shutout frames before allowing two runs in the seventh and one more in the eighth. He limited the Panthers (24-31) to just six hits while walking one and striking out five batters. The left-hander faced the minimum amount of batters from the second to the sixth innings. 

Relief pitcher Tristan Haught retired the Milwaukee side in order in the top of the ninth for his seventh save of the year.

Wright State's offense finished the tournament quarterfinals with seven hits and nine free passes. Luikart led the way by batting 2-for-5 with a double and three runs batted in. Greenwell hit the game's lone homer and added two runs scored. Patrick Fultz reached base three times on two singles and a walk, while Boston Smith recorded an RBI double. Dane Thomas notched a sacrifice fly and a stolen base.