Wright State ousted from NCAA tourney

FORT WORTH, Texas – It took extra innings in the first elimination game of the Fort Worth Regional as the Wright State Baseball team dropped a 6-4 decision to Texas A&M at Lupton Stadium on the TCU campus on Saturday (May 30) afternoon. The Raiders led 4-3 heading to the ninth, but the Aggies scored one in the frame and a two-run, two out home run to deep center field in the 11th gave them the lead for good.

The Raiders started the scoring with two runs in the first inning as Jeff Mercer and Quentin Cate each collected RBI singles in the frame off of TAMU starting pitcher Ross Hales. After A&M tallied a run in the two runs in the third, the Raiders responded with a run in the third and one in the fourth to claim a 4-2 lead.

In the third inning, R.J. Gundolff singled and moved to second on an error, before scoring on a McGrew single up the middle. The fourth run of the contest came when Ryan Ashe singled to start the fourth and came around to score in an RBI single from Gerald Ogrinc.

Wright State starting pitcher Alex Kaminsky would have another solid outing, tossing 6.2 innings with three strikeouts. The junior walked one and allowed seven hits in the start, surrendering three runs – only one earned.

The Raiders would have their chances to put the Aggies away, but WSU left the bases loaded in the fifth and stranded a runner in scoring position in four of the final five innings.

A&M would score a run in the sixth on a Caleb Shofner solo home run and tie the game at 4-4 when Joe Patterson singled up the middle in the ninth against WSU reliever Michael Schum.

In the 11th, Texas A&M put a runner aboard with one out and after a pop up to Aaron Fields, Patterson struck with a 415-foot home run to center field to give the Aggies their first lead of the contest. The blast was only the second of the season allowed by Schum – the other coming on opening day versus the Aggies – as the redshirt freshman dropped to 5-7 on the season.

WSU would have runners on the corners with two outs in the bottom of the 11th, but Kyle Thebeau struck out Fields to end the contest and the season for the Raiders.

Eight of the nine WSU starters collected his and four different WSU players drove in RBI’s on the day. Mercer tied the school record for RBI’s in a season with his 74th in the first inning, while Cate, McGrew and Ogrinc each tallied RBI’s in the game. Gundolff was three-for-five on the day with a pair of runs scored and Kory Twede doubled for the only extra base hit of the day for WSU in the 11th.

The Green and Gold finish the season with a 33-30 record and will say farewell to Griffin Knapp, Jeff Mercer, Rylan Ostrosky and Kory Twede, the four seniors on the 2009 squad. The 63 games set a new school record for game played in a season.