Wright State Captures 2022 #HLBASE Championship Behind Record Setting Offense
DAYTON, OHIO – Top-seeded Wright State defeated No. 2 seed Oakland 24-0 on Saturday to capture its ninth overall #HLBASE title, earning the trophy for the fifth time in the last seven championships.
No. 1 Wright State 24, No. 2 Oakland 0
The Raiders dominated the championship game on both sides of the ball as their offense exploded for a Horizon League Tournament record of 24 runs scored in a single game. Their pitching staff held the Golden Grizzlies to two total hits across the nine frames played.
The offense got on the board early as Sammy Sass went to the plate in the bottom of the first with bases loaded and two outs. Sass worked the count full, then hit a grand slam over the left field wall to make it 4-0.
In Sass’s second at-bat, he goes deep to left field to drive in three more runs, which brought his RBI total to seven on the day through three innings to make the score 7-0.
Andrew Patrick hits a solo shot of his own in the bottom of the fourth to give the Raiders another tally on the scoreboard. Avery Fisher hit a RBI double off the wall in the bottom of the fifth to make it a 9-0 ball game.
The offense then blew the game open in the bottom of the sixth, as eight Raiders crossed the plate. Tournament MVP Zane Harris drove in three of the runs with a double to the gap in left.
The Raiders didn’t slow down as they scored seven more runs in the bottom of the seventh. Zane Harris his another double to drive in two more runners, making his tournament RBI count 17 across three games. Harris set the Horizon League individual single game RBI record in yesterday’s game tallying nine RBI then. His teammate Sammy Sass let that record stand alone for one day before he tied it with a two run shot to right. One more runner crossed the plate later that inning before Alec Sayre, the #HLBASE Player of the Year, drove in two more RBI with a double that capped off Wright State’s record setting game as they set the #HLBASE Championship single game scoring record for a team with 24 runs scored.
Harris was the Tournament MVP as he went 10-for-13, with 17 RBIs, two home runs, four doubles, and nine runs scored.
Wright State starter Alex Theis went 5.2 innings, giving up one hit and eight walks while he struck out seven. Oakland was held hitless by Theis until the sixth inning, and after recording their first hit of the day, they were held hitless again until the top of the ninth when they recorded their only other hit on the day.
Wright State will learn its NCAA Baseball Regional draw during the Selection Show at noon ET on Monday, May 30 on ESPN2. Regional play begins on Friday, June. 3. 2022
2022 #HLBASE All-Tournament Team
Zane Harris, Wright State (MVP)
Sammy Sass, Wright State
Alec Sayre, Wright State
Justin Reimer, Wright State
Jay Luikart, Wright State
Andrew Patrick, Wright State
Gehrig Anglin, Wright State
Cam Post, Oakland
Quinton Kujawa, Oakland
Matt Brosky, Youngstown State
Ryan Glass, Northern Kentucky