Wright State stunned by walk-off grand slam in NCAA regional

The Raiders’ mission to win their first NCAA baseball regional almost took a huge first step at Tennessee, the third overall seed. The Raiders hit five home runs and had a three-run lead and needed three outs, but Tennessee’s Drew Gilbert hit a walk-off grand slam to lift the Volunteers to a 9-8 victory in the four-team double-elimination tournament.

“That was obviously a tough one to swallow,” Sogard said. “We played the better game for the majority of that game. We just didn’t finish it.”

The Raiders (35-12) face Duke (32-21) at noon Saturday in an elimination game. Tennessee (46-16) faces Liberty (40-14), an 11-6 winner over Duke, at 6 in a winner’s bracket game.

“We never thought it was going to be easy,” Hamilton said. “Now the road’s going to be a little bit tougher, but what else can you really expect.”

Tristan Haught started the ninth for the Raiders and allowed two hits. Austin Cline, normally a starter, relieved with one out and walked the first batter he faced to load the bases for Gilbert. Cline hung a curveball and Gilbert crushed it over the right-field fence.

“He understands he made a pitch and hung it, and they took advantage of it,” Sogard said. “It’s a cruel game at times.”

The Volunteers have won several times this season in walk-off fashion, so Gilbert knew how to approach his at-bat.

“In a big situation like that, you can let your mind race to a bunch of different places,” he said. “But I just tried to let my mind shut off and just react.”

The Raiders hit that way all night against the statistically best pitching staff in the SEC. Tyler Black, who went 4-for-5, and Alex Alders hit two home runs apiece. Hamilton hit a three-run homer in the seventh inning to give the Raiders a 7-5 lead. Alders added his second homer in the eighth. All the Raiders’ runs came on home runs. Tennessee hit four home runs.

The Raiders showed that their offensive numbers that led them to average a nation-leading 10.6 runs a game was not just a product of playing in the Horizon League.

Tennessee coach Tony Vitello knew what to expect from the Raiders after losing two of three to them last year. And he understood the talk this week about how the Vols got a tough draw as the No. 3 overall seed. Wright State was expected to do better than fourth seed at a regional site.

“You got a one seed and a proper two seed going at it Friday night with their aces, and that’s what you get,” he said. “That’s what you get in our league every Friday night. That’s what you should expect in the postseason.”

The Raiders’ 12-game winning steak is over, but Sogard isn’t worried about how his team will respond Saturday with Bradley Brehmer on the mound.

“They’ve a bunch of relentless guys,” Sogard said. “I have no worry that we’ve going to show up tomorrow ready to play.”