Baseball Falls to Valparaiso in Series Finale

WRIGHT STATE MEDIA RELATIONS

The Wright State baseball team could not overcome Valparaiso scoring single runs in each of the first four innings in dropping a 4-3 decision to the Crusaders in the rubber game of the series Sunday at Nischwitz Stadium.

Valpo built the 4-0 lead on an Elliott Martin double in the first, a Billy Cribbs home run in the second, a Will Hagel double in the third and a Chris Manning sacrifice fly in the fourth.  After WSU scored a run in the fifth on a Tristan Moore sacrifice fly, it stayed 4-1 until the bottom of the eighth.

In the eighth, the Raiders tallied a pair of run to cut the deficit to one.  Ryan Ashe led off with a hit and a Garrett Gray double put two runners in scoring position.  Justin Kopale singled in Ashe with the first run and a Michael Timm sacrifice fly plated Gray to make it 4-3.

WSU, however, would get no closer as Jarad Miller recorded his seventh save of the season by retiring the side in order in the ninth.

Gray led the Raider offense by going three for four with a run scored, giving him nine hits in the three-game series in 11 at bats with four RBI and three runs scored.  On the mound, the bullpen duo of Joey Hoelzel and Travis Hissong combined for 6.1 innings of one-run, two-hit relief.

Wright State (32-16, 17-7 Horizon) now hits the road for seven of its final eight games of the regular season, starting with a Tuesday matchup at Bowling Green starting at 3:00.