CINCINNATI — The Wright State baseball program fell to Cincinnati 7-4 on Wednesday evening in the Joe Nuxhall Classic at UC Baseball Stadium.
The Raiders dropped to 12-14 on the season, while UC improved to 11-16 overall.
Offensively, WSU was quiet for the majority of the game, tallying five hits and seven free passes on the day.
Zane Harris batted 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI, while
Julian Greenwell reached base three times on a double and two walks.
Alec Sayre had an RBI single in his second at-bat and
Drew Baker added a triple in the ninth inning.
Wright State's defense committed two uncharacteristic errors, resulting in an unearned run in the third inning.
On the mound, starting pitcher
Sam Wirsing (1-2) was charged with the loss after allowing five runs on four hits and two walks in 2.1 innings.
Chris Gallagher kept the Raiders within reach by holding the Bearcats to one run, no earned, on just one hit and no walks in the following 2.2 innings. He matched his career-high in strikeouts with four.
Garret Simpson and
Bradley Deboutte were also impressive by tossing back-to-back scoreless frames in the eighth and ninth frames. In total, the WSU bullpen limited UC to two runs, one earned, on four hits in the last 5.2 innings.
The Raiders reached the scoreboard first, with
Julian Greenwell leading off the game with a double and coming around to score on a failed pickoff attempt. The lead did not last for long, as Cincinnati responded with a two-run homer in the bottom of the opening inning.
Sayre tied the matchup 2-2 with an RBI single in the top of the third, but the Bearcats scored four runs of their own on four hits, two walks, and an error by the Raider defense in the bottom half of the frame, gaining a 6-2 advantage.
The score remained 6-2 in favor of UC until the bottom of the sixth inning, as Cincinnati loaded the bases and plated one run on a sac fly.
Following a pair of scoreless innings by both sides, WSU made one final push in the top of the ninth with two runs. Harris plated
Gehrig Anglin on a double and later scored in the frame on a wild pitch, reducing the Raider deficit to 7-4. With two outs, Baker kept the inning alive with a triple, but UC retired the next batter on a groundout to end the ballgame.
The Raiders will return to action on Saturday, April 9, with a 1 p.m. ET doubleheader at Bradley in Peoria, Illinois.