HONOLULU — The Wright State baseball program opened its 2023 season in winning fashion, defeating Hawaii 8-3 on Thursday night at Les Murakami Stadium.
The Raiders (1-0) jumped out to a 4-0 advantage after two innings of play and added four runs of insurance in the eighth frame to seal their first season-opening victory since 2017.
Parker Harrison reached base four times on four plate appearances in his Wright State debut, batting 2-for-2 with two doubles, two runs batted in, and two walks. Julian Greenwell drove in a team-leading three runs on a homer and sacrifice fly, while Justin Riemer finished with two RBI, two walks, and a hit by pitch. Andrew Patrick contributed offensively with a pair of singles, two runs scored, and the team’s lone stolen base
WSU wasted no time against the Rainbow Warriors (0-1), as Riemer led off the game with a walk and Greenwell followed with a two-run blast over the center field wall.
Harrison doubled home Patrick in his first collegiate at-bat and crossed home plate off an RBI groundout by Riemer to push the Raider lead to 4-0 in the second inning.
Starting pitcher Jake Shirk (1-0) preserved the early edge by firing six scoreless innings. The junior right-hander allowed a mere two hits while punching out six batters. Hawaii could only reach scoring position on Shirk once, occurring in the first inning.
The Raiders added four runs in the top of the eighth on five walks, one hit, and an error by the Rainbow Warrior defense. Luke Arnold, Harrison, Riemer, and Greenwell pushed across runs in the scoring spurt, leading to an 8-0 edge for Wright State.
Hawaii plated three runs over the last two frames, including two in the ninth. However, Chris Gallagher induced two consecutive outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to halt the late rally.
Wright State and Hawaii will continue its four-game series Satuday with a 6:05 p.m. ET doubleheader.
