The Wright State baseball team won another series this past weekend, winning two of the three games versus the Northern Kentucky Norse.
The Raiders cruised through the first game of the series in route to a 12-1 victory on Friday evening.
“I told the guys we’re not as good as we need to be and we’re not as good as you guys think we are,” Wright State head coach Greg Lovelady said. “We need to get back to basics and work on some things this week.”
WSU got on the board first with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second as freshman JD Orr's infield single drove in a run and an error on the play plated another.
Junior Daniel Arthur hit a three-run homerun in the bottom of the fifth inning, for his fourth of the season to increase the lead to 9-1. Seniors Jason Defevers, Ryan Fucci and Orr each had two RBI’s on the day. Senior Jesse Scholtens pitched seven innings of three-hit baseball, giving up one earned run and improving his record to 4-0.
Saturday morning the series continued with the Raiders getting out to the early lead with two runs in the second inning. Junior Robby Sexton gave up 12 hits and five runs in five innings and the four runs the Raiders put on the board just weren’t enough as the Norse took the second game of the series 6-4.
“It was brutal, we didn’t play very well at all,” Lovelady said. “Luckily we stole one on Sunday.”
Sunday afternoon, in the rubber match, WSU found themselves down early and for the majority of the game. NKU scored two runs in the top of the first and held a two-run lead into the bottom of the eighth inning.
With hits from junior Mitch Roman, freshman Zach Weatherford, Fucci and Arthur the Raiders were able to rally and jump out ahead to a 4-2 lead. The Norse attempted a comeback in the ninth with three hits and a run but came up just shy as WSU emerged victorious 4-3 to take the series. Freshman Caleb Sampen improved his record to 4-0.
“Caleb pitched extremely well and we played much better defense than we did on Saturday,” Lovelady said.
“It’s exciting, every time you get a chance to go out there and play against a team that’s good, it’s a good test for us,” Lovelady said. “Milwaukee’s been one of the better teams in the league since we’ve been here.”
Wright State (18-9; Horizon 7-2) travels to Milwaukee (11-12; Horizon 4-1) this weekend for a series with first place implications on the line. First pitch is Friday, April 8 at 4:00 p.m.
