Baseball heads south for a ranked matchup against No. 19 Tennessee

Friday, March 6

Knoxville, TN

6:30 PM

Wright State University

Tennessee

Photo by: Alexis Sherman

Baseball heads south for a ranked matchup against No. 19 Tennessee

3/5/2026 7:00:00 PM | Baseball

DAYTON- The Wright State baseball team (4-6) will head down to Tennessee this weekend for a matchup with the No. 19-ranked Volunteers. The two teams will meet at 6:30 p.m. Friday, 6 p.m. Saturday, and 1 p.m. on Sunday. All three games will be available to stream on SECN+, with live stats also provided.

GAME INFORMATION
Friday, Mar. 6 – WATCH (SECN+) | LIVE STATS
Saturday, Mar. 7 - WATCH (SECN+) | LIVE STATS
Sunday, Mar. 8 - WATCH (SECN+) | LIVE STATS

PROJECTED STARTER
Friday- Cam Allen, RHP
Saturday- Griffen Paige, LHP
Sunday- TBD

HISTORY VS. TENNESSEE
Wright State and Tennessee have met five prior times heading into this weekend, with the Raiders trailing the all-time series 2-3. The first meeting came in 2007 with Wright State falling 4-16. The next meeting would come 13 years later when the Raiders took the series over then-ranked Tennessee, winning Friday night 5-4 and Sunday's finale 6-3. The Volunteers got the best of the Raiders when they last met in the opening round of the regional, winning 9-8 on a walk-off.

SCOUTING THE VOLUNTEERS
Tennessee enters the weekend at 10-3 on the season and is currently riding a four-game win streak. The Volunteers are coming off an 11-2 win over fellow Horizon League member Oakland on Wednesday afternoon. Two of the three Tennessee losses came at the hands of Kent State, who the Raiders defeated 8-1 at Nischwitz Stadium earlier this season, with the other loss coming to No. 1 UCLA last Friday.
The Vols' pitching staff ranks ninth nationally in strikeouts per nine innings (12.1). Tennessee's 153 total strikeouts also rank ninth in the country, while its 4.14 strikeout-to-walk ratio ranks fifth nationally.

LAST TIME OUT
Wright State picked up its first series win of the season last weekend at Campbell, taking Friday's series opener 6-4 and Sunday's rubber match 3-1.

On Friday night, the Raiders would strike first, thanks to an RBI double off the bat of Cy Turner in the top of the second. Campbell would answer back and take the lead with single tallies in the bottom of the third, fourth, and sixth to take a two-run advantage going into the final three innings. Wright State would tie the game up in the top of the seventh inning thanks to a Cam Gilkerson solo shot and a sacrifice off the bat of Peltier. Campbell would regain the lead with an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh to lead the Raiders 4-3. Hunter Warren would regain the lead for the Raiders in the eighth inning with a two-run double. The redshirt sophomore roped a double into the gap in left-center. JP Peltier would give the Raiders a run of insurance in the top of the ninth, blasting his second home run of the season over the wall in left-center.

The Wright State pitching staff got it done for the Raiders in Sunday's win. Warren Hartzell got the start on the mound for the Raiders and turned in his best outing of the season so far, pitching four scoreless frames with a career-high seven strikeouts. The Raiders struck first again in the top of the first inning when Cy Turner sliced a two-run triple off the wall in left-center. Chet Lax got the win for the Raiders, pitching 2.2 innings while allowing one run on four hits. Braylen Blomquist gave the Raiders a run of insurance with a solo shot in the top of the seventh. Campbell would answer back in the bottom half of the inning with a solo shot of their own to cut the deficit back to two. Cooper Gilkerson got the ball from Lax and pitched 1.1 innings of scoreless baseball before turning the ball over to Malachi Paplanus, who got his second save of the weekend.

SCOUTING THE 2026 SQUAD
The Raidergang returns 20 players from a season ago while adding 19 newcomers (10 transfers and nine true freshmen). The squad consists of five seniors, nine juniors, nine sophomores, and 16 freshmen.

The roster features a strong in-state contingent with 54% (21 players) coming from the state of Ohio. But the Raiders also recruit well nationally, with 13 other states being represented in the roster. The other 13 states include California, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia.

IRON SHARPENS IRON
Wright State will challenge itself in its non-conference schedule, with eight of its 12 opponents winning 30-plus games a season ago. The Raiders will also face off against four teams that made the NCAA Tournament in 2025, with Georgia and Tennessee each hosting a regional.

PRESEASON HYPE
D1Baseball placed four Raiders in its annual preseason positional rankings. Patrick Fultz led the bunch coming in as the 17^th-ranked third baseman. JP Peltier joined Fultz in the top 50, coming in as the 39^th-ranked first baseman. Cam Allen enters his junior campaign as the 115^th-ranked starting pitcher, and Cam Gilkerson rounds out the bunch as the #149^th-ranked outfielder.

BUY STOCK NOW
In its conference preview, D1Baseball selected a pair of Raiders to take home specialty awards in the Horizon League. JP Peltier was selected as the preseason Player of the Year, while Cam Allen was selected as the preseason Pitcher of the Year.

D1Baseball also identified 10 Raiders as top draft prospects out of the Horizon League for the 2025 and 2026 MLB Draft. Cam Allen was selected as the top prospect for the 2026 draft, along with Andrew Duncan, Griffen Paige, JP Peltier, Warren Hartzell, and Cam Gilkerson. Sophomores JJ Thompson, Abe Crall, and Malachi Paplanus were identified as top prospects for the 2027 draft.

RAIDERS RUNNING IT BACK
In the era of the transfer portal, where many teams lose so much talent year-to-year, Wright State has recruited talent and kept them in Dayton. The Raiders returned 65% of their total production from a season ago, when factored by total points (fantasy baseball points calculation done by D1Baseball), the Raiders rank ninth in total returning production. The Raidergang return 56% of their roster from a season ago, 64% of their plate appearances, and 55% of their innings pitched. Wright State has brought back six lineup mainstays from a season ago, as well as two of its three weekend starters.

HORIZON LEAGUE PRESEASON POLL
Wright State was picked atop the Horizon League preseason poll for the sixth consecutive year, receiving 24 points and four first-place votes. Milwaukee followed, voted to finish second with 18 points. Coming in third was Northern Kentucky with 12 points, closely trailed by Youngstown State with 11 points. Rounding out the poll is Oakland with 10 points and one first-place vote.

LAST SEASON REWIND
Wright State is coming off a very successful 2025 campaign. The Raiders went 40-21 en route to capturing their seventh consecutive Horizon League regular season title and fourth trip to an NCAA regional in the last five seasons. Wright State made some noise on the national stage, knocking off #1 Vanderbilt on its way to a regional final appearance before falling to Louisville.

The Raiders set a new program record in 2025, earning 16 honors in last season's Horizon League All-League Awards, headlined by Freshman of the Year Hunter Warren and Coach of the Year Alex Sogard. Warren was also named to the All-League first team and the All-Freshman team. Wright State returns four Raiders selected to the All-League first team, two selected to the second team, and all four selected to the All-Freshman team.

UP NEXT
Wright State will take a short trip over to Indiana on Tuesday, March 20, for a midweek matchup with the Hoosiers. First pitch in Bloomington is slated for 5 p.m.