WSU Baseball | Photo by Stephen Hopkins | The Wright State Guardian
This is an updated version of “Raiders Head to Hawaii to Open 2023 Campaign.”
Raiders Drop Opening Series in Hawaii
The team played the season-opening series against Hawaii University in a four-game set. The Raiders defeated the Rainbow Warriors 8-3 on opening night. Julian Greenwell recorded three runs batted in with a homerun.
Pitcher Jake Shirk threw six scoreless innings while recording six strikeouts and only giving up one walk; Shirk’s performance secured the Horizon League Pitcher of the Week award.
During the trip, the team hiked at Diamond Head State Monument in Honolulu, HI.
The Raiders would go on to fall in the final three games of the series, starting its season with a record of 1-3. WSU has a quick turnaround and will travel to Lexington, KY for a three-game series beginning on Friday night.
The Wright State University men’s baseball team is getting set to kick off the 2023 season by making a debut in Hawaii.
Aloha, Raiders
The Raiders opened the 2023 campaign Friday night at 11:35 p.m. and will also play a double-header on Saturday followed by one game on Sunday before returning home Monday. One junior player commented on the experience.
“The whole team is super excited. We’re excited to play in some warm weather and excited to show off all the hard work we have put in the last six months,” Julian Greenwell mentioned.
The trip will feature many experiences for the team, including a luau dinner, beach workouts, a trip to Pearl Harbor and a hike in nature.
The Raiders have a difficult non-conference slate as the team eagerly looks for top-tier competition right off the bat. Head coach Alex Sogard described the experience of Friday’s game before moving into the rest of the season.
“Every year, we try and have a gauntlet. We try to get battle tested early,” Sogard explained. “This one is unique because of the Hawaii trip. A lot of these kids have never flown, and it will be a once in a lifetime experience.”
The Raiders finished last season with a 30-27 overall record and won the Horizon League championship. The Raiders fell to Virginia Tech and Gonzaga in the Blacksburg Regional, ending the 2022 Raider campaign.
“We felt like we underperformed, even though the guys showed up in the tournament,” Sogard added. “We have won our league the last two years, and now the target is more on our back.”
Familiar faces
The RaiderGang return 11 starting players from last season and eight All-Horizon League recipients.
Greenwell is among one of the returning starters. Greenwell, who was All-League First Team last season, is looking to accomplish even more this season.
“Our goal this year is to win the Regional and advance to the Super Regional,” Greenwell stated. “I think the most important thing for us is to take it one game at a time until we ultimately win the league and a regional.”
Gehrig Anglin is also a returning starter that made the All-HL First Team last season. The sixth-year senior led the HL with 16 home runs, a .598 slugging percentage and 14 hit-by-pitches all while stealing 11 bases on 13 attempts. Anglin had a positive outlook on the upcoming season.
“We’re just going to go out there and act like the savage beasts that we are,” Anglin said. “My goal is to get that fourth ring and to do something that has never been done before.”
The Raiders will also return all of its weekend starters on the mound, including Sebastian Gongora, who was the preseason HL pitcher of the year.
The team has more depth than it did last season, along with players who have been more familiarized with the program.
“I think there is more in-game experience,” Sogard said. “A lot of our guys in the program were not everyday starters yet, it was a younger team, so I think there is more maturity there.”
The Raiders will return home Tuesday before hitting the road on Thursday to Kentucky followed by a trip to Arkansas.
WSU will open its first homestand on March 7 at 3 p.m. against Miami University.
