DAYTON – The Wright State baseball program heads South to open their 2024 season, competing in a three-game series against the University of Louisiana Lafayette from February 16-18 at M.L "Tigue" Moore Field at Russo Park. The series opener and finale will be streaming on ESPN+, with live stats provided for all three games.
 
Game 1 - Friday, February 16 - 7:00 p.m. ET - Watch - Live Stats
Game 2 - Saturday, February 17 - 3:00 p.m. ET - Live Stats
Game 3 - Sunday, February 18 - 2:00 p.m. ET - Watch - Live Stats

RAIDER REWIND
Wright State is coming off a 39-23 campaign in 2023, winning the Horizon League regular season and tournament championships on the way to their sixth trip to the NCAA Regionals in the last eight seasons. Head coach Alex Sogard was named the 2023 Horizon League Coach of the Year, becoming the first-ever Raider head coach to win three HL Coach of the Year honors. The Raiders placed six players on the All-League First Team, including returners Jay Luikart, Andrew Patrick, Sammy Sass, and Jake Shirk, while Patrick Fultz and Joey Valentine collected All-Freshman Team honors. Andrew Patrick was named the Horizon League tournament MVP. The Raiders closed the season with 23 wins over their last 30 games, finishing the year with six victories over teams in top 100 in the RPI rankings and now have 10 NCAA Division I tournament appearances in program history.

SCOUTING THE RAGIN' CAJUNS
Under direction of Head Coach Matt Deggs, the Ragin' Cajuns finished 41-24 overall, going 18-12 in the Sun Belt Conference. This year, the Cajuns were picked fourth in the SBC preseason poll with 159 points and two first place votes. LU returns 18 players, including Junior infielder Kyle DeBarge, who was named the SBC Preseason Player of the Year. The Cajuns finished the 2023 season first in the SBC for fielding, holding a .981 fielding percentage. They were second in pitching, recording a 4.82 ERA. At bat the Cajuns lead the conference with 167 stolen bases, are second with 142 doubles, and third for runs (465), hits (625), and RBI (421).
 
HISTORY VS. LOUISIANA
The Raiders have a limited history with Louisiana, with their previous and only matchups in February of 2018. In this matchup, Wright State bested the Cajuns, taking two of the three games at Louisiana.

PRESEASON ACCOLADES
The Raiders were claimed the top spot in the 2024 Horizon League preseason poll, with 34 points and four first-place votes. Multiple Raiders were awarded preseason honors by D1 Baseball. Jay Luikart and Andrew Patrick were honored in the top 100 outfielders, and Sammy Sass in the top 50 catchers. D1 Baseball named Patrick as the top prospect of the Horizon League, followed by Ty Roder as the number five prospect.

VETERAN GROUP
The Raiders are returning 25 athletes, 13 of which were starters in the 2023 season. Andrew Patrick, Sammy Sass, and Jake Shirk were awarded a spot on the All-Horizon First Team, while Patrick Fultz and Joey Valentine were added to the All-Freshman Team. Julian Greenwell, Andrew Patrick, Jake Shirk, and Joey Valentine earned Horizon League weekly honors, with Patrick and Shirk being awarded twice. Patrick was also named to the East-ABCA/Rawlings All-Region First Team. 

ALL-REGION RECOGNITION – ANDREW PATRICK
Andrew Patrick was awarded 2023 East-ABCA/Rawlings All-Region First Team honors. Patrick earned his accolade after putting up an remarkable 326/.433/.703 with 21 doubles, four triples, 20 homers, 59 RBI, 72 runs, and 31 stolen bases, and starting in 61 of the 62 2023 games. Patrick sat alone as the only NCAA Division I player with 20-plus doubles, 20-plus homers, and 30-plus stolen bases. The Hilliard, Ohio native led the Horizon League in doubles (T-1st), home runs, runs, stolen bases, total bases (166), three-plus hit games (12), and multi-homer games (T-1st, 4) while ranking second in hits (77), triples, slugging percentage, and OPS (1.136).
 
2^ND LIEUTENANT DUKE BENGE
This season the Raiders will be even closer to the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, as recent Air Force Academy graduate 2^nd Lieutenant Duke Benge will be training with both the Air Force and Wright State Baseball. He is currently enrolled in the sports management program at WSU and earning a master's degree in operational logistics on base as he waits for a spot in the Wright-Patterson pilot training program. Benge attended and played for the Air Force Academy over the past four seasons, notably becoming the first-ever cadet-athlete from Air Force or any service academy to make the NWL All-Star game.

STUDENT-athletes
WSU held a team average grade point average of 3.55 for the 2023 fall semester. 31 athletes finished with a GPA higher than 3.00, 23 with a GPA over 3.5, and 11 earned a 4.0 or higher. Since 2012, the Raiders have maintained a team GPA of 3.00 or above in 21 of their last 22 seasons. Fifteen student-athletes were added to the Spring 2023 Horizon League Academic Honor Roll, which requires a cumulative GPA of 3.20 or higher with at least three semesters at the same institution.

HEAD COACH – ALEX SOGARD
Head coach Alex Sogard has acquired many accolades in his time at WSU. Most recently, Sogard became the first Raider to win three Horizon League Coach of the Year honors. After leading the Raiders to a 39-23 overall record, earning their fifth HL Regular Season title, and to their third NCAA Regional Appearance, Sogard was awarded the 2023 Horizon League Coach of the Year title.
 
His Coach of the Year awards are not the only accomplishment Sogard achieved at WSU. In 2019, Sogard took the Raiders to a 42-17 record, tallying the most wins by a first-year head coach in program history. Sogard led the Raiders to three consecutive NCAA Regional appearances, 2021-2023, being named the 2021 ABCA/ATEC East Coach of the Year. In June 2021, Sogard was named to the 2021 USA Baseball Collegiate National Team coaching staff. 

DRAFT TALENT
The 2023 draft gave attention to a few of the Raidergang. Middle infielder, Justin Reimer, was the first Raider to be picked in the 2023 MLB draft, being the 133^rd pick in the fourth round. Before a season-ending injury, Reimer put up .323/.563/.645 through the first 12 games of 2023, with four extra-base hits (3 home runs), seven runs batted in, 12 runs scored, 15 walks, and three stolen bases. He reached base in all 12 games, including multiple times on eight occasions. Right-handed pitcher, Luke Stofel, comes in as the second Raider to sign a professional contract in Major League Baseball, joining the Detroit Tigers as a free agent. Stofel is the first Raider in nearly a quarter-century to sign with the Tigers, the previous being Busty Beam in the 20^th round of the 1999 MLB draft. A notable mention, Alex Theis, signed a professional contract with the Florence Y'alls of the Frontier League.

PRO RAIDERS
The Raiders are no strangers to sending their athletes pro, with three current professional players, Peyton Burdick, Sean Murphy, and Jesse Scholtens. Burdick, drafted by the Miami Marlins in 2019, was recently traded to the Baltimore Orioles after his 2022 debut with the Marlins. Murphy debuted with the Athletics in September 2019 and earned the Gold Glove award following the 2021 season. In 2023, Murphy served as the starting catcher on the National League All-Stars. He team 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. Scholten recently made his debut with the Chicago White Sox in September 2023 after working his way through the minors.
 
ON THE ROAD AGAIN…
Staying West of the Mississippi, the Raiders will continue playing on the road February 23-25, in a four-game series against the University of Oklahoma. All four games will stream on ESPN+.