DAYTON – The Wright State baseball team closed its regular season home schedule with a doubleheader split against visiting Milwaukee on Sunday, falling in the opener 1-0 before a 12-2 win in game two behind 12 hits and a career-high nine strikeouts in 5.1 innings of relief from Tristan Haught.
 
The Raiders (25-24, 18-8 Horizon) now go on the road to face the same Milwaukee squad Thursday-Saturday to close the regular season before Wright State plays host to the 2022 Horizon League Championship May 25-28 at Nischwitz Stadium.
 
Game 1 – Milwaukee 1, Wright State 0
Sunday's opener featured just eight combined hits as Milwaukee starter Jack Mahoney and the Raiders' Alex Theis matched each other on the bump, with the lone run coming in the fourth inning. A leadoff double by Aaron Chapman got the action going, but he was later gunned down trying to score by Wright State's Alec Sayre to keep the game scoreless for the moment. Milwaukee's Nate DeYoung doubled in Zach Nogalski moments later for the 1-0 advantage that proved to hold up.
 
Wright State left five men on base over the course of the opener but tallied only two hits – one each from Sammy Sass and Justin McConnell. Sass tripled with two outs in the second before he was stranded, while a pair of Raiders were left on the basepaths in the fourth as Gehrig Anglin walked and Zane Harris was hit by a pitch, both coming with two outs, before Sass struck out swinging. Wright State left two more on in the fifth as McConnell beat out an infield hit and Andrew Patrick walked, but Mahoney stranded the pair in what was the Raiders' last threat.
 
Mahoney (3-1) struck out seven for Milwaukee while allowing the two hits, three walks and the hit batter before AJ Blubaugh picked up the save with a scoreless seventh frame. Theis was saddled with his first loss of the season after allowing five hits and four walks to go along with the one run while striking out nine Panthers.
 
Game 2 – Wright State 12, Milwaukee 2
The Raider offense didn't wait around to get going in the second game. After Milwaukee jumped ahead with two quick runs in the top of the first, Wright State notched four runs in the bottom of the first to take a lead it wouldn't surrender thanks to a Sass grand slam down the right field line. The Raiders added a single run in the second on Jay Luikart's RBI single before a three-run third frame thanks to an Avery Fisher sacrifice fly and RBI singles from Andrew Patrick and Julian Greenwell. Greenwell drove in another run with his double in the fifth before scoring moments later on Alec Sayre's RBI double, while Sayre added another RBI in the sixth via his bases loaded walk. The afternoon's scoring was capped in the seventh thanks to Anglin's solo homer that hit the top of the left field foul pole.
 
Haught came on to a bases loaded situation in the second, getting Chapman to line into a double play to get out of the jam. Haught went on to retire 13 of the final 16 batters he faced, finishing the afternoon with 5.1 innings of work and three hits allowed while striking out a career-best nine Milwaukee batters. Seniors Bradley Deboutte (1.1 innings, three strikeouts) and Henry Von Hollen (1.0 inning, no hits, one strikeout) closed out the afternoon and the win for the Raiders.
 
Greenwell, Sayre and Justin Riemer all finished with two hits in the second game for the Raider offense as all three notched a double, while Greenwell and Sayre each added the two RBI.