Excerpt from the Dayton Daily News
The Wright State Raiders have such a proven group of position players that they’d probably fare just fine no matter where the Horizon League baseball tournament was being staged.
But given how young the pitching staff is — six of the nine players to surpass 25 innings this year are freshmen — first-year coach Alex Sogard is glad to be hosting the event as the No. 1 seed. Nothing soothes nerves better than playing in familiar surroundings with a supportive crowd.
“We have a veteran group that knows how to prepare. They know what it takes to win a tournament. They know it doesn’t come easy. If we don’t play our best baseball, we don’t get a chance to go to the (NCAA) regionals,” Sogard said.
“They’re able to help our younger guys because they’ve been through it multiple times. It’s just a good mix of guys.”
The tourney opens with fourth-seeded Northern Kentucky facing fifth-seeded Oakland at noon Wednesday. No. 3 Milwaukee plays No. 6 Youngstown State at 4 p.m.
The losing teams are eliminated, and the winners advance. Wright State plays at 11 a.m. Thursday against the lower-seeded team left, while UIC plays the higher seed at 3 p.m.
