BLACKSBURG, Va. — The Wright State baseball program could not hold on to an early lead, falling to Virginia Tech 9-3 on Saturday afternoon.
WSU (1-7) will conclude the three-game set on Sunday, with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. at English Field. A win will give the Raiders their first series victory of the 2022 campaign.
WSU finished with seven hits and one walk in the loss. Julian Greenwell led the offense by reaching base three times on a single, double, and hit by pitch. Justin McConnell and Jay Luikart both went 2-for-4 with a double. Sammy Sass added an RBI single in his first at-bat of the game.
Starting pitcher Jake Shirk (0-2) kept WSU within reach by lasting a season-high five innings on the mound. The sophomore right-hander was tagged for five runs on seven hits and one walk while striking out four batters. Alex Theis, Bradley Deboutte, and Justin Hornschemeier made appearances in relief.
Tech’s 2-3-4-5-6 hitters paced the comeback, going a combined 11-for-24 with four doubles, two homers, and eight RBI. Lefty starting pitcher Ryan Okuda (2-0) limited the Raiders to one earned run on three hits in five innings.
Greenwell opened the game with a leadoff double, and Sass brought him home on an RBI single. Sass scored on a wild pitch later in the inning, pushing WSU’s lead to 2-0.
The Hokies (8-1) answered back in the bottom of the second inning with three runs, which included a two-run homer off the bat of Cade Swisher. Virginia Tech turned in one run in the third and fifth inning, extending its edge to 5-2.
Trailing 5-2 in the top of the seventh, Alec Sayre tied the game at 5-all in what appeared to be a three-run homer directly over the left field foul pole. However, the game-changing play was overturned to a foul ball after review.
The Hokies cushioned their advantage to 9-2 after one run in the seventh and three more in the eighth. McConnell drilled an RBI double for WSU in the top of the ninth inning before Tech induced two-straight outs to seal the home victory.
