Raiders headed to Blacksburg Regional, will open NCAA tournament against Virginia Tech

The Raiders will play No. 1 seed Virginia Tech on Friday, June 3, at 7 p.m. in their opening game of the Blacksburg Regional. (Photo by Joseph Craven)

Fresh off its fifth Horizon League Championship in the last seven seasons, the Wright State baseball program is headed to the Blacksburg Regional as the No. 4 seed from June 3-6.

The Raiders learned their postseason site during ESPN’s live Selection Show on May 30.

The Raiders will take on No. 1 seed Virginia Tech on Friday, June 3, at 7 p.m. in their opening game of the regional. Joining Wright State and Virginia Tech in the four-team regional bracket is No. 2 seed Gonzaga and No. 3 seed Columbia.

View the NCAA Baseball Tournament bracket (PDF).

Wright State clinched its 10th NCAA Division I appearance with a 24-0 victory over No. 2 seed Oakland in the 2022 Horizon League Championship at Nischwitz Stadium.
The Raiders set single-game tournament records in runs scored, largest shutout margin (24), doubles (8) and RBI (23) in the blowout victory. Wright State outscored its opponents 56-7 in its three Horizon League Championship wins and hit a tournament-record 11 home runs.

Zane Harris earned tournament MVP honors after batting 10-for-13 (.769) on the week with four doubles, two homers, 17 RBI and nine runs scored. Harris, Gehrig Anglin, Jay Luikart, Andrew Patrick, Justin Riemer, Sammy Sass and Alec Sayre were selected to the Horizon League All-Tournament Team.

Last season, Wright State lost to regional-host Tennessee (8-9) and Duke (6-14) at the Knoxville Regional. The Raiders have also made recent NCAA appearances in the 2018 Stanford Regional, 2016 Louisville Regional and 2015 Champaign Regional.

Entering the regional, Wright State possesses top-100 national marks in shutouts (13th, 5), walks (27th, 278), triples (44th, 16), home runs (63rd, 68), scoring (66th, 7.3), runs (79th, 381), slugging percentage (79th, .463), stolen bases (80th, 70), strikeouts per inning innings (81st, 9.1) and on-base percentage (84th, .386).
The Raiders also boast Horizon League Player of the Year Alec Sayre, who is batting .361 with 17 doubles, one triple, 10 homers, 52 RBI and 60 runs.

Wright State enters the NCAA Championship with a 30-25 record, including a five-game win streak.
Virginia Tech is 41-12 as the No. 4 overall seed in the NCAA Championship. Gonzaga is 36-17 overall, while Columbia is 30-16 on the season.

The Raiders and Hokies met for the first-ever time in March 2022. Wright State took the opener over previously unbeaten Virginia Tech 11-5 before dropping the next two games of the series. Wright State has never faced Columbia and Gonzaga in regular season or postseason play.