DAYTON – The Wright State baseball team defeated Milwaukee 9-8 on Friday afternoon, thanks to a walk-off bunt single by
Drew Baker. Wright State is now 10-7 on the season and 1-0 in the Horizon League. The series will continue on Saturday, March 16, at 2:00 p.m. Fans can keep up with the action on ESPN+ or through live stats.
The Raiders finished with nine runs on nine hits with six walks. Baker led the team with two hits, while the rest of the Raider hits came from
Parker Harrison,
Jay Luikart,
Nate Manley,
JP Peltier,
Boston Smith,
Dane Thomas, and
Ben Vore with one each. There were three Wright State homers on the day, one each from Baker, Smith, and Vore.
The Panthers were the first to put a run on the board, with a single in the first. Wright State followed, taking an early lead with a two RBI home run from Baker, 2-1. Just an inning later, a three-run homer from Vore gave the Raiders the 5-1 lead.
The game slowed in the third, with no runs being scored. Milwaukee added a home run in the fourth, and another in the sixth, lowering the Wright State lead to two, 5-3. Luikart put up a sacrifice fly in the seventh, sending Thomas to score, 6-3. The Raider lead grew to four with a Smith home run in the eighth, 7-3.
The final inning was eventful, as Milwaukee took a one run advantage on a two RBI double, an RBI single, and a two RBI triple, ending the inning with the 8-7 lead. Two Raiders, Vore and Luikart, reached base on walks in the bottom of the ninth. The walk-off win came with a bunt single from Baker, followed by a throwing error allowing Luikart and Vore to score, ending the game 9-8.
Mychal Grogan (2-0) earned the win after pitching the final two thirds innings of, striking out one batter and preventing the Panthers from scoring a run with one on base. Starting pitcher
Jake Shirk put in six innings of work, allowing three runs on six hits with six strikeouts and one walk.
Rice Owen (1-1) took the loss for Milwaukee, pitching for the ninth inning to walk two batters, allowing two runs with one hit. Starting pitcher for the Panthers, Luke Hansel, put in seven innings of work, allowing six runs on seven hits with two walks and six strikeouts. Milwaukee finished the day with eight runs on 11 hits with three walks. They were led by Sean Tillmon and Camden Kuhnke with two hits and two RBI each.
