{"id":68138,"date":"2019-05-10T10:51:44","date_gmt":"2019-05-10T14:51:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=68138"},"modified":"2019-05-10T10:51:44","modified_gmt":"2019-05-10T14:51:44","slug":"wright-state-lakers-returning-to-small-college-world-series-for-fourth-straight-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2019\/05\/10\/wright-state-lakers-returning-to-small-college-world-series-for-fourth-straight-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Wright State Lakers returning to Small College World Series for fourth straight year"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Wright State University-Lake Campus Lakers<\/a> will play in the United States Collegiate Athletic Association Small College World Series for the fourth consecutive year, capturing a No. 4 seed.<\/p>\n

The Lakers (20-11) will meet the men\u2019s team from No. 5-seed Mississippi University for Women on the campus of Penn State DuBois on May 13.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnytime we hear our name selected to compete in the USCAA World Series it is a great feeling,\u201d said Lakers coach Chad Geier.<\/p>\n

Mississippi University for Women, also known as “The W,” has a female-to-male enrollment ratio of 81%-to-19%. The Owls (16-11) return to the series for a second straight season.<\/p>\n

The winner will play either top-seeded The Apprentice School, eighth-seeded Penn State Mont Alto or ninth-seeded Selma University.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlaying on the national stage is a tribute to the hard work and excellence of this team and its student-athletes,\u201d said Wright State President Cheryl B. Schrader. \u201cWe are all excited to see the Lakers showcase their talents at the world series again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Geier said experience makes this year\u2019s Lakers team special.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a lot of guys that have world series experience with us and know what it takes to win a national championship,\u201d he said. \u201cThe younger guys have really bought into the system here and we have seen some big strides from a few of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Solid performers for the Lakers this year include seniors Isaac Fitzgerald, who bats .328 and has 19 RBIs; Connor Burr, who bats .337 and has 13 RBIs; and Tyler Venters. The team also has numerous other .300-plus hitters, including Dustin Lewis, Stephen Hoendorf, Noah Greathouse, Conor Schmitt and Lawrence Hines, who is batting .396.<\/p>\n

Greathouse will defend his USCAA Home Run Derby title this year at the series.<\/p>\n

Lakers pitchers expected to see action in the series include Lucas Sheriff, who is 5-2 with a 3.19 ERA and 14 strikeouts in 41 2\/3 innings; and Cross Youtsler, who is 5-1 with a 1.94 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 32 1\/3 innings.<\/p>\n

Geier said the Lakers have been a great defensive team this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just need to pitch to contact, fill up the zone and let our defense work,\u201d he said. \u201cIf we can do that, I think we will win games.\u201d<\/p>\n

Geier believes the players will feel less pressure of playing in this year\u2019s world series because they have been there before.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn years past, you could tell some guys were pressing a little too much,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have played fun, loose baseball as of late and when things click you can feel it. It’s a feeling like no other. Winning is contagious and right now there is no better time.\u201d<\/p>\n

View the tournament bracket<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

No. 4-seed Lakers will play the men\u2019s team from No. 5-seed Mississippi University for Women on the campus of Penn State DuBois on May 13. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":68074,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2798,725,731,715],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-athletics","category-home-news-sidebar","category-lake-campus","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68138"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68154,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68138\/revisions\/68154"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}