FAIRBORN, Ohio – The first of a three-game series, the Wright State Raiders defeated the Oakland Golden Grizzlies, 10-8, on Saturday, March 25 at Nischwitz Stadium.

Snapping a season-long three-game win streak, the Golden Grizzlies are now 8-11 (2-2 Horizon League), while Wright State improves to 11-10 (3-1).

On a day where the two teams combined for 28 hits, including five home runs and 10 doubles, it was junior catcher Sammy Sass who walked it off for the Raiders with a two-run home run to left, his second of the season.

Working the final 2.1 innings and allowing three runs on five hits with a pair of strikeouts, graduate student left-hander Christian Stelling took the loss for Oakland, dropping him to 1-2.

Redshirt senior right-hander Bryce Kontizer made his fifth start of the year and settled in a bit after giving up five runs in the first two innings, finishing his afternoon with a line of seven runs (six earned) on eight hits with just a lone walk and three strikeouts over 6.1 innings, throwing 61 of his 97 pitches for strikes.

Beginning the game in right field and finishing 3-5 with a home run, three runs scored and two RBI, left-handed junior Jay Luikart moved to the mound in the ninth and picked up the win for Wright State, his first of the year.

Senior right fielder Ian Cleary put the Golden Grizzlies on the scoreboard just four batters into the game with an opposite field two-run home run, his first of the season, and sophomore third baseman Brandon Nigh, who returned after an eight-game absence, scored on an infield single by redshirt senior designated hitter Luke Malmanger three batters later to give Oakland a 3-0 lead after the top of the first.

Recording a two-run home run and an RBI single of their own, the Raiders matched the Golden Grizzlies' three-spot in the bottom of the first and Oakland went back ahead, 5-3, on a two-run single by graduate student first baseman Gabe Lux in the second.

After Luikart tied the game back up at five with a two-run home run in the second, there was not another run scored until the seventh when redshirt senior shortstop Thomas Green hit his team-leading fourth home run of the season to give the Golden Grizzlies another two-run lead, 7-5.

Once again, Wright State evened the score up with two runs in their half of the seventh and the Raiders took their first lead of the day, 8-7, on a double off the bat of freshman third baseman Patrick Fultz in the eighth.

Forcing a bottom of the inning, graduate student Jared Miller pinch-hit for Oakland with two outs in the ninth and plated Nigh with a double to right center, making the score eight apiece.

His third double of 2023, this was Miller's 11^th RBI, second-most on the team behind only Green's 16.

With two outs in the bottom of the frame and Luikart on first after reaching on an infield hit, Sass swung at the first offering from Stelling and hit it out to give Wright State the first game in this weekend set.

STATISTICAL NOTES

• Finishing 2-4 Saturday, Lux is now on a five-game hit streak and is hitting .333 (21-63) this season
• The fourth Golden Grizzly with a home run in 2023, Cleary is 8-11 (.727) over the last three games with five extra-base hits over this span
• Redshirt sophomore left fielder Drew Collins went 3-5 Saturday, his second-straight game with multiple hits and his fourth multiple-hit performance of the year
• Konitzer's 6.1 innings were a season-high, his previous longest was the five shutout innings he threw against the Michigan Wolverines in Ann Arbor on March 8

UP NEXT
Completing this series, these two teams will play a doubleheader on Sunday, March 26 beginning at 12 p.m.

The first game will be broadcast live on ESPN+ (subscription required) and can be accessed here.