Wright State got solid performances from four pitchers and scored the final six runs of the game to beat the Youngstown State baseball team 8-1 on Thursday afternoon at Eastwood Field.
The Raiders improved to 35-18 overall and 22-6 in Horizon League play, while the Penguins dropped to 17-35 and 11-16. YSU remained a game ahead of Milwaukee for fourth place in the conference standings.
Wright State starter Sebastian Gongora did not allow a hit before handing the ball to the bullpen in the fourth inning. He was awarded the victory as both teams went to the bullpen early with the Horizon League Baseball Championship looming next week. Gongora improved to 9-1 with the victory.
YSU starter Travis Perry pitched well but was charged with the loss. He surrendered one run on four hits while striking out four batters in five innings. Wright State's final six runs came off of reliever Nick Perez in four innings of work.
The Penguins finished with four hits, and they came from four different players. Trey Law extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a one-out single in the seventh.
Perry worked around a leadoff double in the second inning and had four strikeouts through the first two innings. He retired the Raiders in order in the first and third innings, but a leadoff double in the fourth led to Wright State scoring the game's first run. Jay Luikart doubled to left to start the inning, and he scored two batters later on an RBI single by Sammy Sass.
The Raiders scored a run on a pair of two-out hits in the top of the sixth inning to take a 2-0 lead. Patrick Fultz hit a two-out double and Boston Smith followed with an RBI single.
The Penguins were held without a hit until there were two outs in the sixth, and they were able to string extra-base hits together to get a run across. Steven D'Eusanio doubled to deep right center, and Turner Grau followed with an RBI triple to left center. For D'Eusanio, it was his 21st double of the season, which is the most in a season by a Penguin since Todd Santore in 2001. Grau's triple was his seventh of the campaign, which tied his own school record set in 2021.
Wright State answered YSU's run by scoring three times in the top of the seventh to up its advantage to 5-1. Ben Vore reached on an error to lead off the inning, and Andrew Patrick was hit by a pitch with one to put runners at the corners. Luikart then hit a two-run single to right to make the score 4-1, and Gehrig Anglin's double to follow plated Luikart with the third run of the inning.
Smith hit a ground-rule double to lead off the eighth, and he scored on Drew Baker's pinch-hit single to make the score 6-1. The Raiders added two more runs in the ninth on an RBI double by Anglin and an RBI single by Sass.
The Penguins and Raiders will continue their three-game series on Friday morning at Eastwood Field. First pitch will be at 11 a.m., and approximately 4,000 students are expected to attend the annual School Day Game, which is presented by Akron Children's Hospital of the Mahoning Valley.
