Facing elimination twice Sunday, Wright State ended the season of two squads en route to the Raiders’ first ever appearance in an NCAA Tournament regional final. In the second of two elimination games, Wright State got help from an unlikely source in a stunning upset.
In Sunday’s nightcap, the Raiders were powered by junior Jack Van Horn who tossed eight shutout innings in the Raiders’ 4-0 win over No. 2 seed Notre Dame, ending the Irish’s season and continuing WSU's season for another day.
“I started this journey 11 years ago (as a WSU assistance coach), and we've done some really exciting things here in that time,” second-year WSU head coach Greg Lovelady said. “Beating No.1 teams in the country, this is our fourth regional. We've had some close calls and lost to an eventual National Champion, extra‑inning loss and been right there.
“To see this group set out an a mission to do something special to elevate the tradition and to finally see the reward through the process of 11 years has been unbelievable to be a part of.”
Earlier on Sunday, Wright State, the No. 3 seed in the Champaign regional, beat Ohio University earlier on Sunday, 8-3 to stave off elimination.
The Raiders take on the No. 1 seed of the region Illinois Monday at 2 p.m. If the Raiders win, WSU will take on Illinois again later on Monday with the winner of that game advancing to the super regionals. If WSU loses either game tomorrow, the Raiders’ season comes to a close.
In just his second start of the year, Van Horn said out of his five pitches he throws, only his cutter was working for him.
And it worked pretty well.
“That's really the only pitch that I had confidence in, though,” Van Horn said. “Just kept sticking to it and they couldn't touch it.”
Lovelady said he thought about taking Van Horn out earlier in the game, but opted to stick with his veteran arm.
“It's hard to take somebody out‑‑ when they put that on the line and when they are able to do those types of things, it's really hard to say, okay, like we are going to go to somebody else now,” Lovelady said. “He deserved to get the ball and keep the ball.”
In Sunday’s win over Notre Dame, WSU shortstop Mitch Roman led the offense with three hits and two RBIs.
The Raiders took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second when John Brodner singled home Roman. WSU doubled its lead in the bottom of the fourth when Roman scored on an error.
The Raiders took a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth when Roman doubled home Gabe Snyder and Sean Murphy.
With Wright State starting the day with a 5-2 lead after play was halted yesterday after a rainstorm, WSU brought staff ace Jesse Scholtens back to the mound who went eight innings versus Ohio University, allowing two runs and eight hits.
Mark Fowler had three hits and three RBIs versus Ohio. Fowler and Ryan Fucci had home runs in the win over Ohio.
The win over Ohio marked Wright State’s first win in an NCAA Tournament game since 1994, and just its second overall in a regional.
The Raiders are 3-0 when facing elimination this season and will look to stave off elimination once again.
"It confirmed that they are probably the best team in the Big Ten," Lovelady said."It confirmed that they got an unbelievable coaching staff, great players. The guy that threw today, that's a big time performance. But I also look at them and they are human. We'll go out there tomorrow and do our thing."
