Kentucky will host the Wright State Raiders (who for some reason have a wolf as a mascot?) for a three game set starting this afternoon at 4:00pm. Wright State is a public University in Fairborn, Ohio and has a student population of just over 10,000.
The Raiders were 30-27 a year ago and had an RPI of 143. They went 20-9 in the Horizon League, which led the league and sent them to the NCAA tournament where they played in the Blacksburg Regional, losing to Virginia Tech and Gonzaga in consecutive games to get sent home. In 2022 they hit .283 as a team, which helped to keep them in many games, but their team ERA was a bloated 6.37. Of the 16 players that took at bats a year ago, 9 of them return, but they did lose their top hitter who went .358 last year with 10 home runs. They also returned a core chunk of their pitching staff from a year ago, including all three weekend starters.
Wright State comes to UK in 2023 with a record of 1-3 after playing a four game set against Hawaii in Hawaii. The last two games of that series were not particular competitive at all as WSU went down 2-12 and 7-16. However, the Raiders are not a team to shy away from competition. Last year they started their season against Georgia Tech, then played #17 Oklahoma State, then #11 Virginia Tech, grabbing just 1 win in their first 9 games. So, they could certainly bounce back from a tough start to have a decent season. It doesn't get easier for the Raiders as they will head to Fayetteville to take on Arkansas next weekend.
We will start with pitching as it is a big struggle bus for Wright State. This season they have a bloated 9.49 ERAs through 30.1 innings of work. However, there are some bright spots. Jake Shirk is a 6'2 right handed Junior from Fort Wayne, Indiana that started for the Raiders on Friday. I expect we will see him again tonight, and he was dazzling in 6 innings of work he gave up just 2 hits and had 1 walk to go with 6 strikeouts. Hawaii hit just .105 against him, and he gave up 0 runs. So he definitely had a really strong day. Sebastian Gongora a 6'5 lefty from Dayton, Ohio got the start in one of the Saturday games and he also had himself a solid game going 5 innings while giving up 4 hits and 3 unearned runs. Hawaii hit just .211 against him in those 5 innings. He had no walks (did hit 3 guys though) and also had no strikeouts, so he seems like he wants the defense to do the work. Those two pitched games 1 and 2 and we are very likely to see them again this weekend as starters. After that it gets a bit more dicey. I am guessing that we see Alex Theis. Theis is a 6 foot redshirt senior lefty from Ohio and a year ago he had 3.36 ERA with 59 innings pitched and 9 starts. He had 87 strikeouts in those 59 innings and opponents hit .259 against him. So, he has shown the ability at this level. However, his 2023 started off rough as he got the start in the final game of the Hawaii series and he went just 1.1 innings while giving up 7 earned runs on 3 hits. He was extremely wild as he walked 1 and hit 3. So, he is definitely capable. The other starter this past weekend for WSU was righty senior Tristan Haught who went 3.2 innings and gave up 6 earned runs on 4 hits with 3 walks and 4 strikeouts. Haught was a reliever a year ago who threw 45 innings, so he was called upon for some pretty long outings. He wasn't exactly great a year ago either with a 6.80 ERA. Out of the pen we're likely to see Jay Luikart, a lefty who also starts in the outfield for Wright State. He was a closer a year ago and had 7 saves. This season he threw 2 innings in one game and gave up a run off one hit. Garrett Peters and Chris Gallagher will also be two arms that we see this weekend both gave up a combined 0 hits and 0 runs over the weekend. Peters, a lefty, threw 1.1 innings of work and had 2 walks and a K and Gallgher had 0.2 innings and got a K. After that, things begin to get more and more dicey for Wright State pitching, so UK needs to to get to that bullpen early and if they can they can put up a whole lot of runs.
Offensively. Wright State struggled this past weekend with a combined team batting average of an abysmal .207. Despite the poor batting average, Wright State still put up a whole lot of runs, 21 of them (UK has 15 so far) in those 4 games. So, they took advantage of a Hawaii team that walked a lot of hitters (23 walks). OF redshirt freshman Thomas Dane led the Raiders this past weekend hitting .600. Hoewver, he largely played as a sub and only had 5 at bats. So, we will see if they put him into the starting lineup more he, he did start one game. Parker Harrison, their DH, was their most effective starter who had 4 official at bats this weekend and hit to the tune of .400 with a couple of doubles and 4 walks. SS Justin Reimer will lead off for them. He's hitting just .111 on the year, but he has an OBP of .429 after he drew 4 walks. He hit .329 last year, so I expect that he will find his stride. Andrew Patrick is hitting .400 and playing center, he also had 3 of the 5 steals for Wright State. Julian Greenwell also hit .318 in 2022 and had 8 home runs. He struggled this past weekend but he did get a home run and only struck out one time. He will be starting at first and hitting at the top of the lineup. 2B Gehrig Anglin let Wright State a year ago with 16 home runs, a big number. He too struggled this past weekend with just 1 hit, but it was a big 3 run home run, so he is dangerous at any time. Last guy I will mention is Jack Luikart who, as mentioned previously, is also a pitcher and will start as a right fielder. He too has power as he had 10 home runs a year ago, as well as 3 triples. This Wright State team should be able to hit the ball and a lot of the guys can hit with some good power. That being said, I think that most of their success really comes against a weaker conference and that is where they largely get their stat boost. For instance, their team batting average jumped 12 points in conference play compared to overall, and a lot of the games where they played P5 opponents, they weren't overly impressive (i.e. losing 26-3 to Oklahoma State in 2022).
I think this should be a series where the UK bats have to shine, especially against an extremely weak bullpen. We might see some of their starters do a decent job for the first 5 or 6 innings, but after that UK should thrive. I'll be looking for the bats to really wake up. I am not sure how to feel about the Wright State hitting versus our pitching. Clearly, Wright State can hit as evidenced from a year ago, but this past weekend they really struggled against a Hawaii team that isn't exactly known for playing top tier baseball. I expect our pitching to do a much better job at limiting walks and free passes so, I think it becomes imperative that Wright State hit if they don't want to get blown out. I'm expecting us to have a fairly dominant weekend, but I could also see the Wright State bats waking up a bit.
The Raiders were 30-27 a year ago and had an RPI of 143. They went 20-9 in the Horizon League, which led the league and sent them to the NCAA tournament where they played in the Blacksburg Regional, losing to Virginia Tech and Gonzaga in consecutive games to get sent home. In 2022 they hit .283 as a team, which helped to keep them in many games, but their team ERA was a bloated 6.37. Of the 16 players that took at bats a year ago, 9 of them return, but they did lose their top hitter who went .358 last year with 10 home runs. They also returned a core chunk of their pitching staff from a year ago, including all three weekend starters.
Wright State comes to UK in 2023 with a record of 1-3 after playing a four game set against Hawaii in Hawaii. The last two games of that series were not particular competitive at all as WSU went down 2-12 and 7-16. However, the Raiders are not a team to shy away from competition. Last year they started their season against Georgia Tech, then played #17 Oklahoma State, then #11 Virginia Tech, grabbing just 1 win in their first 9 games. So, they could certainly bounce back from a tough start to have a decent season. It doesn't get easier for the Raiders as they will head to Fayetteville to take on Arkansas next weekend.
We will start with pitching as it is a big struggle bus for Wright State. This season they have a bloated 9.49 ERAs through 30.1 innings of work. However, there are some bright spots. Jake Shirk is a 6'2 right handed Junior from Fort Wayne, Indiana that started for the Raiders on Friday. I expect we will see him again tonight, and he was dazzling in 6 innings of work he gave up just 2 hits and had 1 walk to go with 6 strikeouts. Hawaii hit just .105 against him, and he gave up 0 runs. So he definitely had a really strong day. Sebastian Gongora a 6'5 lefty from Dayton, Ohio got the start in one of the Saturday games and he also had himself a solid game going 5 innings while giving up 4 hits and 3 unearned runs. Hawaii hit just .211 against him in those 5 innings. He had no walks (did hit 3 guys though) and also had no strikeouts, so he seems like he wants the defense to do the work. Those two pitched games 1 and 2 and we are very likely to see them again this weekend as starters. After that it gets a bit more dicey. I am guessing that we see Alex Theis. Theis is a 6 foot redshirt senior lefty from Ohio and a year ago he had 3.36 ERA with 59 innings pitched and 9 starts. He had 87 strikeouts in those 59 innings and opponents hit .259 against him. So, he has shown the ability at this level. However, his 2023 started off rough as he got the start in the final game of the Hawaii series and he went just 1.1 innings while giving up 7 earned runs on 3 hits. He was extremely wild as he walked 1 and hit 3. So, he is definitely capable. The other starter this past weekend for WSU was righty senior Tristan Haught who went 3.2 innings and gave up 6 earned runs on 4 hits with 3 walks and 4 strikeouts. Haught was a reliever a year ago who threw 45 innings, so he was called upon for some pretty long outings. He wasn't exactly great a year ago either with a 6.80 ERA. Out of the pen we're likely to see Jay Luikart, a lefty who also starts in the outfield for Wright State. He was a closer a year ago and had 7 saves. This season he threw 2 innings in one game and gave up a run off one hit. Garrett Peters and Chris Gallagher will also be two arms that we see this weekend both gave up a combined 0 hits and 0 runs over the weekend. Peters, a lefty, threw 1.1 innings of work and had 2 walks and a K and Gallgher had 0.2 innings and got a K. After that, things begin to get more and more dicey for Wright State pitching, so UK needs to to get to that bullpen early and if they can they can put up a whole lot of runs.
Offensively. Wright State struggled this past weekend with a combined team batting average of an abysmal .207. Despite the poor batting average, Wright State still put up a whole lot of runs, 21 of them (UK has 15 so far) in those 4 games. So, they took advantage of a Hawaii team that walked a lot of hitters (23 walks). OF redshirt freshman Thomas Dane led the Raiders this past weekend hitting .600. Hoewver, he largely played as a sub and only had 5 at bats. So, we will see if they put him into the starting lineup more he, he did start one game. Parker Harrison, their DH, was their most effective starter who had 4 official at bats this weekend and hit to the tune of .400 with a couple of doubles and 4 walks. SS Justin Reimer will lead off for them. He's hitting just .111 on the year, but he has an OBP of .429 after he drew 4 walks. He hit .329 last year, so I expect that he will find his stride. Andrew Patrick is hitting .400 and playing center, he also had 3 of the 5 steals for Wright State. Julian Greenwell also hit .318 in 2022 and had 8 home runs. He struggled this past weekend but he did get a home run and only struck out one time. He will be starting at first and hitting at the top of the lineup. 2B Gehrig Anglin let Wright State a year ago with 16 home runs, a big number. He too struggled this past weekend with just 1 hit, but it was a big 3 run home run, so he is dangerous at any time. Last guy I will mention is Jack Luikart who, as mentioned previously, is also a pitcher and will start as a right fielder. He too has power as he had 10 home runs a year ago, as well as 3 triples. This Wright State team should be able to hit the ball and a lot of the guys can hit with some good power. That being said, I think that most of their success really comes against a weaker conference and that is where they largely get their stat boost. For instance, their team batting average jumped 12 points in conference play compared to overall, and a lot of the games where they played P5 opponents, they weren't overly impressive (i.e. losing 26-3 to Oklahoma State in 2022).
I think this should be a series where the UK bats have to shine, especially against an extremely weak bullpen. We might see some of their starters do a decent job for the first 5 or 6 innings, but after that UK should thrive. I'll be looking for the bats to really wake up. I am not sure how to feel about the Wright State hitting versus our pitching. Clearly, Wright State can hit as evidenced from a year ago, but this past weekend they really struggled against a Hawaii team that isn't exactly known for playing top tier baseball. I expect our pitching to do a much better job at limiting walks and free passes so, I think it becomes imperative that Wright State hit if they don't want to get blown out. I'm expecting us to have a fairly dominant weekend, but I could also see the Wright State bats waking up a bit.
