Kentucky-Wright State Baseball Series Preview

Kentucky baseball welcomes the Wright State Raiders to Kentucky Proud Park for a three-game series that starts Friday at 4:00 p.m. EST. Wright State, the preseason #1 team in the Horizon League, currently sits at 1-3 after losing three of four in their opening series at Hawaii.

Wright State is coached by Alex Sogard, who is currently in his fifth season as head coach. Sogard has had a decorated career in Fairborn, winning three regular-season Horizon League championships and two Horizon League Tournament championships. He has been named Conference Coach of the Year twice and Regional Coach of the Year once. The Raiders were 30-27 last season, good enough for their third consecutive regular season championship. Following their second consecutive Horizon League Tournament title, they were named to the Blacksburg Super Regional where they fell to Virginia in a Regional matchup.

Silver Slugger Carlos Peña, World Series Champion Brian Anderson, and Atlanta Braves catcher Sean Murphy are a few notable Wright State alumni.

Wright State Impact Players

The Raiders racked up many preseason honors, as junior catcher Sammy Sass was listed as Preseason Horizon League Player of the Year by D1Baseball.com and redshirt senior 2B Gehrig Anglin was selected as Preseason Horizon League Player of the Year by Perfect Game. Although these two were looked at highly before the season, they have both gotten off to rough starts. Sass has struggled early, batting .182 in 11 at-bats, garnering just two hits and one RBI. Anglin hasn’t fared any better, batting a lowly .083 in 12 at-bats, coming away with just one hit (a go-ahead three-run home run). Look for these two to shake off some early-season rust this weekend.

In addition to Sass and Anglin, Wright State returns 2022 All-Horizon League First Team 1B Julian Greenwell, 2022 All-Horizon Second Teamers OF Jay Luikart, RHP Jake Shirk, and LHP Alex Theis, and 2022 All-Freshman Team members LHP Sebastian Gongora, OF Andrew Patrick, and SS Justin Riemer. Plenty of talent on this roster.

Patrick has been the Raiders’ most consistent offensive player through their first four games, batting .400 with hits in four of his 10 at-bats. He is also a weapon on the basepaths, going 3-3 on stolen bases against the Rainbow Warriors. Junior Jake Shirk was by far Wright State’s most impressive pitcher in their opening series, pitching six innings and allowing only two hits and no runs in their season opener. For his efforts, Shirk was named Horizon League Pitcher of the Week. He is scheduled to start for the Raiders in Friday’s series opener.

Never a doubt. Jake Shirk is your #HLBASE Pitcher of the Week‼️

📝: https://t.co/N1mtsGoUCZ#Raidergang | #BuildtheMonster pic.twitter.com/gvLfXlG0p3

— Wright State Baseball (@WSURaidergang) February 21, 2023

Kentucky Impact Players

Kentucky sophomore 2B Émilien Pitre is off to a blazing start this season, batting .412 through the first four games of the season. After starting the season 0-7, Pitre has a base hit in seven of his last 10 at-bats. Good luck cooling him off. Redshirt freshman OF James McCoy enjoyed the best game of his young career in Tuesday’s victory over Evansville, where he hit the first two XBH of his young career (a double and a triple). Redshirt sophomore C Devin Burkes has taken a leadership role on this team and anchors the Wildcat lineup. The starting backstop busted last Saturday’s matchup against Elon open after a fifth-inning, two-run Big Blue Bomb — still the lone Kentucky home run this season.

Kentucky’s pitching has been phenomenal through the first four games of the season, posting a cumulative 1.54 ERA with more strikeouts (39) than hits (35) in 35.0 innings of action. Graduate student Tyler Bosma and seventh-year slinger Darren Williams were more than impressive in their season debuts. Bosma hurled six shutout innings, giving up just two hits while striking out four to lead Kentucky to their first victory of the season. He is currently scheduled to start on Saturday. Williams entered the Wildcats’ season opener fresh off Tommy John Surgery, striking out seven of the 11 batters he faced. There’s a reason D-Will is fourth in the NCAA in total career strikeouts.

Kentucky pitchers had an ERA of 1.04 with 32 strikeouts and only five walks on opening weekend. pic.twitter.com/NZBW2LM0On

— Kentucky Baseball (@UKBaseball) February 19, 2023

Kentucky is 13-7 all-time against Wright State and has won its last eight matchups against the Raiders. This three-game series kicks off Friday afternoon at 4:00 p.m. EST at Kentucky Proud Park.

Game 1: Friday, February 24th, 2023 (Kentucky Proud Park – 4:00 PM)
UK: RHP Logan Martin (0-1, 3.60 ERA, 5.0 IP) vs WSU: RHP Jake Shirk (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 6.0. IP)
Game 2: Saturday, February 25th, 2023 (Kentucky Proud Park – 1:00 PM)
UK: LHP Tyler Bosma (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 6.0 IP) vs WSU: LHP Sebastian Gongora (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 5.0 IP)
Game 3: Sunday, February 26th, 2023 (Kentucky Proud Park – 1:00 PM)
UK: RHP Zack Lee (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 5.0 IP) vs WSU: LHP Alex Theis (0-1, 47.25 ERA, 1.1 IP)