Horizon League Baseball Championship Game Seven: Wright State holds off Cleveland State 7-4

May 23, 2008

Box Score

Championship Central

NILES, Ohio - Wright State University (30-22) took down Cleveland State University (22-31) 7-4 to eliminate the Vikings from the Horizon League Baseball Championship presented by the U.S. Army. Wright State advances to the next round of the League championship and will face off against Valparaiso University at 3:00 p.m.

Wright State starter Jon Durket collected the win and improved to 7-2 on the year. The WSU junior worked 8.1 innings, struck out six and allowed four earned runs. Sophomore right-hander Greg Robinson came on in the ninth to pick up his third save of the year.

Cleveland State junior Dylan Henry suffered the loss to finish the season 0-5. Henry lasted 4.1 innings and allowed three earned runs, but did not walk a batter.

The Raiders three, four and five hitters combined to go 6-for-10 and drove in five runs. Juniors Jeff Mercer and Justin Parker each collected a pair of RBIs. Parker also hit his first triple on the year.

As a team, Wright State out hit Cleveland State 12-10. In two tournament games, the Raiders have a team batting average of .357.

Wright State fell behind 1-0 in the top half of the first inning, but the Raiders responded with a run in the bottom half of the frame. WSU then scored two in the third and four in the fifth to increase its lead to 7-1.

Cleveland State closed the gap to five as it plated a run in the top half of the seventh. CSU tacked on two more runs in the ninth and then brought the tying run to the plate with two outs, but Robinson struck out freshman Adam Heideman to end the game.

Wright State improved to 26-0 when leading after eight innings and 8-2 when scoring six or more runs in a game.

In the Raiders' four-run fifth inning, Mercer, sophomore Gerald Ogrinc and senior Ross Vagedes each drove in runs as WSU had three hits and left just one runner on base in the frame.

The 2008 Horizon League Baseball Championship is being held at Eastwood Field in Niles, Ohio. Single-day tickets are $6 for adults and $4 for senior citizens and youth, while all-tournament passes are $20 and $14, respectively. Students from all Horizon League institutions are free with a valid student identification card. Gates will open one hour prior to the first game each day.

For additional Horizon League baseball information, including the championship bracket, directions to Eastwood Field, GameTracker live statistics and game recaps, check out the official web site at www.horizonleague.org. For free, live video web casts of all games of the Horizon League Baseball Championship, log onto the Horizon League Network at www.horizonleaguenetwork.tv.