DAYTON, Ohio – Playing its final regular season game of the year in anticipation of this weekend's Mid-South Conference Tournament, baseball was downed by Division I Wright State, 12-1. The Bears (29-26) held the Raiders (18-18) off the board in the first two innings before the hosts exploded for all 12 of their runs over the next three innings.
Cody Spires got the start for the Bears on the mound and worked around singles in each his first two innings of work. However, Wright State would lead off the third inning with a walk and single before Garrett Gray homered over the left field fence to make it 3-0 after three innings.
The Bears would get their lone of the game in the top of the fourth. Tyler Bice led off that inning with a hit-by-pitch while Colin Keim singled to put runners on first and second. A Spires groundout would move the runners to second and third with one out. After a strikeout, a passed ball would score Bice and make it 3-1 Wright State.
The Bears went to the bullpen in the bottom of the fourth but they would allow a walk, single and hit-by-pitch to the next three batters. An RBI groundout and single after a caught stealing brought home the first two runs while a double drove home the third before a walk, hit-by-pitch and the fifth free base of the inning forced home the fourth run of the fourth inning. The fifth inning would not go much better for the Bears as an error and double put two runners on base before four straight hits scored five runs in the fifth inning.
Brandon Bonar would get the Bears out of the fifth by getting all three outs after allowing the final hit of the inning. He would then work a perfect sixth inning while Andrew Kidd allowed just one hit in the seventh inning to slow down the Wright State offense. Jordan Williams would also work a scoreless inning of relief in the eighth to close the book on the Bears' pitching for the game.
The Raiders would end up using six different pitchers in the non-conference game with nobody going more than two innings. Off of that constant fluctuation of pitching, the Bears managed six hits for the night. Todd Queener and Keim each finished with two hits while Ryan Queener and Spires each finished with one.
The Bears will now turn their full attention to the MSC Tournament this weekend. SSU is seeded eighth and will open the tournament Thursday morning at 10 a.m. vs. MSC Regular Season Champ Cumberland in Kingsport, Tenn.
