Raiders baseball set to open play at Terre Haute Regional

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FAIRBORN — The Wright State baseball program will open the Terre Haute NCAA Regional against No. 14 Indiana State on Friday at 1 p.m. The tournament matchup at Bob Warn Field will air on ESPN+, while live stats will also be available.

Joining Wright State and Indiana State in the four-team regional bracket is No. 2 seed Iowa and No. 3 seed North Carolina. The Terre Haute Regional winner will face the Fayetteville Regional winner in the Super Regionals from June 9-12.

Wright State will send LHP Sebastian Gongora, the Horizon League Pitcher of the Year, to the mound as its game one starter. He has a 10-1 record to go with a 2.92 ERA in 86.1 innings this season. ISU will counter with RHP Matt Jachec (7-3, 3.90 ERA, 92.1 IP).

The two winners of Friday games will play in the regional semifinal at 6 p.m. on Saturday, while the losers play an elimination game at noon on Saturday.

The elimination game winner will play another one at noon on Sunday against the loser of the semifinal. The last two teams remaining will play at 6 p.m. on Sunday, and would again at a to be determined time on Monday if necessary.

Scouting Indiana State

The Sycamores earned the No. 14 national seed after rattling off 42 wins, including a 24-3 record in conference play and a 19-4 mark at Bob Warn Field. ISU enters the tournament as the NCAA leader in fielding percentage (0.984) while ranking third in WHIP (1.23), fifth in ERA (3.80), fifth in shutouts (7), eighth in hit by pitch (114), and seventh in walks allowed per nine innings (3.15).

Keegan Watson (.308) and Adam Pottinger (.300) are batting above .300 for Indiana State, while Mike Sears leads the team in home runs (19), RBI (59), slugging (.636), and OPS (.970). ISU’s weekend rotation of Matt Jachec, Connor Fenlong, and Lane Miller has combined for a 23-5 overall record and a 3.33 ERA on the mound.

Scouting Iowa

The Hawkeyes come into the regional with a 42-14 overall record and a 15-8 mark against Big Ten opponents. Iowa has outscored opponents 466-241, averaging 8.3 runs per game. The pitching staff ranks 11th in the country with a 4.04 ERA, while the defense sits 14th nationally in fielding percentage (.981).

Anthony Keaton is batting a blistering .389 with 22 doubles, nine home runs, 38 RBI, and 51 runs. Brennen Dorighi and Sam Petersen both possess a 1.076 OPS. Starting pitchers Brody Brecht, Marcus Morgan, and Ty Langenberg have combined to go 15-7 with a sub-four ERA on the mound.

Scouting North Carolina

The Tar Heels received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament after going 35-22 in 2023 with a 14-14 mark in ACC play. North Carolina is making its 35th all-time NCAA appearance, sixth consecutive and third straight under head third-year coach Scott Forbes. UNC ranks top-50 nationally and third in the ACC in walks (21st, 321) and doubles (27th, 125). The pitching staff enters the tournament with a 4.73 ERA.

Mac Horvath leads the offense in several categories, including triples (2), homers (20), RBI (62), slugging (.704), OPS (1.123), and stolen bases (24). Jake Knapp has been UNC’s top starting pitcher, as he is 5-3 on the season with a 4.79 ERA and 60 strikeouts in 62.0 innings pitched. Vance Honeycutt was recently named the ACC Defensive Player of the Year.

Goecke, Mathiesen Earn PING All-Midwest Region Team Honors

NORMAN, Okla. — Wright State golfers Tyler Goecke and Mikkel Mathiesen have been named to the NCAA Division I PING All-Midwest Region Team, the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) announced this weekend. The pair were two of 25 individuals recognized from the states of Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota and Ohio and the only representative from the Horizon League.

Both players recently played in the NCAA Regional as individual qualifiers, with Mathiesen finishing in a tie for fifth individually and Goecke coming in 39th.

Goecke captured the 2023 Horizon League Championship individual title at the end of April, his second individual victory of the season, joining his win at the Xavier Invitational, while he added four second place finishes and finished inside the top 10 in 10 of 11 tournaments spanning the fall and spring slates. Mathiesen had three individual wins this season (Earl Yestingmeier Invitational, Sea Palms Invitational, Wright State Invitational) and added four other top 10 finishes to his season resume. The pair are Nos. 1 and 2 in the Wright State career scoring average leaderboard, with Goecke having a 71.29 career scoring average and Mathiesen just behind with a 71.49 career average. Goecke and Mathiesen have combined for five individual titles this season (Mathiesen three – Earl Yestingmeier Invitational, Sea Palms Invitational, Wright State Invitational // Goecke two – Xavier Invitational, Horizon League Championship).

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