Life in the Valley

When Indiana State stares across the diamond on Friday and sees the 4th seed in the Terre Haute Regional and its first opponent, the Wright State Raiders, they might feel as if they’re looking in a mirror in terms of the road each team took to get here.

Like the Sycamores, Wright State got off to a tough start in terms of record, while facing some strong opponents. On March 5, the Raiders came home from Fayetteville, Ark., having just been swept by the Arkansas Razorbacks – the #3 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament and the regional matched up with the Terre Haute Regional for Super Regionals.

Earlier, Wright State had dropped 2 of 3 at Kentucky. The Raiders claimed a 12-9 win in the middle game when Jay Luikart went 4-for-4 4the plate with 2 homers, 11 total bases, a stolen base – oh, and he got the save! Wright State’s season started with a trip to Hawaii (not a bad gig if you can get it), where the Raiders dropped 3 of 4. Like Indiana State, Wright State was 2-8 after 10 games. And like the Sycamores, the Raiders went on a run to right the ship. A 23-7 rout of Miami-Ohio started a stretch where Wright State won 13 of 15, including a 7-game winning streak over Purdue-Fort Wayne, Ohio State, Miami-Ohio (again), and Oakland that saw the Raiders score 63 runs.

After a 4-game losing streak in early April, Wright State (39-21, 22-8 Horizon League) turned on the jets again, winning 19 of 21 games through mid-May. That run included a 10-game winning streak where the Raiders’ offense was again on blast, scoring 85 runs. The streak included mid-week victories over Ohio State, Dayton, and UCF.

Oakland upended Wright State in the latter’s 2nd game of the Horizon Tournament, but the Raiders bounced back to edge Milwaukee, 2-1, then defeat Oakland 9-8 and 14-0 to win the tournament. Luke Stofel pitched a complete game in the Milwaukee win, allowing just 1 run on 6 hits with 2 walks and 4 strikeouts, on 106 pitches (a stellar 3.93 pitches per out).

In terms of RPI, Wright State currently sits at 78 according to D1Baseball, making the Raiders most comparable to Evansville (72) and Missouri State (84) in terms of Valley opponents Indiana State fans would be familiar with. But 28 Raider wins came against teams ranked 201 or worse this season. Wright State’s best trait won’t help them this weekend – the Raiders went 24-4 at home (14-16 away).

Let’s take a closer look at the Raiders.

Offense: Andrew Patrick is Wright State’s top threat and team Triple Crown winner, leading the club with a .333 average, 19 homers, and 58 RBIs. One more homer this weekend will put him in the vaunted 20/20 club of which Evansville’s Eric Roberts is already a member. Patrick has 29 stolen bases in 2023 and has been caught just 4 times. Patrick is tied for 29th in the country in steals. He also has 21 doubles and 4 triples for a gaudy .711 slugging percentage and 1.150 OPS. In 60 games, Patrick has scored a jaw-dropping 70 runs. Gehrig Anglin (.306, great name) and Luikart (.304) are also over .300, and Luikart (11) and Julian Greenwell (10) join Patrick in double figures for homers. Five Raiders have at least 40 RBIs, and 2 others – Luke Arnold (39) and Boston Smith (37) aren’t far off. The Raiders average 7.27 runs per game (55th in the nation in total runs – 436) and have hit 76 homers. They’ve also stolen 108 bases, with 5 hitters carrying double-figure steals. The 108 steals rank the Raiders 26th in the nation.

Pitching: Wright State’s 3 key starters include Sebastian Gongora (10-1, 2.92, 82 K, 86 1/3 IP); Jake Shirk (5-5, 4.72, 1 CG SHO, 71 K, 82 IP); and Stofel (5-5, 3.68, 1 CG SHO, 60 K in 73 1/3 IP). Gongora, a 6-foot-5 lefty from Dayton (Chaminade Julienne), is 15-2 through 29 starts in 2 years at Wright State. The redshirt sophomore has fanned 155 batters in 164 career innings, and year-to-year has cut his ERA in half from 2022 (5.88 to 2.99). Opponents are hitting just .218 against him this season and should make an excellent matchup against either Matt Jachec or Connor Fenlong of Indiana State in the opener. Luikart is the Raiders’ save leader with 6, but it’s a bit of bullpen by committee as Wright State has 17 saves as a team. The Raiders sport a 4.85 team ERA. But that doesn’t tell the whole story as Wright State has allowed 59 unearned runs this season. Overall, Wright State allows 5.68 runs per game.

Defense: Wright State has committed 59 errors in 60 games. Patrick patrols center field and has just 1 error all season. The team fielding percentage of .973 ranks tied for 93rd in the country, making the Raiders a top-third fielding team in the country.

The Sycamores and Raiders will get the Terre Haute Regional underway at 1 p.m. Eastern on Friday. All games are live and archived on ESPN+. Iowa and North Carolina will meet in the other regional opener in Friday’s second game. I’ll have previews of both UNC and Iowa this week.

Happy Baseball!