Raiders Fall in NCAA Tournament Opener

The Wright State baseball team jumped out to an early 3-0 lead and regained the advantage at 6-5 in the seventh, only to see Notre Dame score eight of the game's final nine runs for a 13-7 decision Friday at the NCAA Regionals in Champaign, Illinois.

WSU opened the scoring with two runs in the first .  Mitch Roman singled through the right side of the infield and after Ryan Fucci walked, runners were on first and third as Matt Morrow had a hit that made contact with Fucci as he headed to second.  John Brodner then triple off the fence in center to drive in Roman and Morrow.

The Raiders added another run in the third as Mark Fowler singled to left center with one out, went to third on a grounder and a stolen base and scored as Roman reached on a slow roller along the third base line.

Notre Dame took the lead for the first time with four runs in its half of the third and it stayed that way until the sixth when Fucci lined a solo home run to left, his 14th of the season.

The Irish went back in front 5-4 with a run in their half of the sixth, only to see Wright State regain the advantage with two in the seventh.  Brodner led off with a walk and came in to score on a double down the right field line by Sean Murphy.  Murphy later scored on a Michael Timm double to left center with two outs.

Notre Dame, however, went back in front to stay with two runs in the bottom of the seventh and then broke the game open with six runs in the eighth, the big blow being a three-run home run by Cavan Biggio.

Andrew McCafferty accounted for WSU's final run in the ninth with a solo home run to right, his second of the year.

Roman and Snyder each had two hits to lead the Raider offense as all nine players in the starting lineup had at least one hit.

Wright State (41-16) will face the loser of Friday night's Illinois/Ohio contest in an elimination game Saturday at 1:00 Eastern.