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Nine Raiders earn HL honors

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Greene County News

INDIANAPOLIS — Nine members of the Wright State baseball team were recognized as the Horizon League announced its postseason honors on Tuesday.

Two Raiders received individual awards as head coach Greg Lovelady was selected as the Coach of the Year while pitcher Caleb Sampen was chosen as the Freshman of the Year.

Senior pitcher Jesse Scholtens and senior outfielder Ryan Fucci were named to the First Team while Sampen, junior pitcher Trevor Swaney, junior catcher Sean Murphy, junior shortstop Mitch Roman and freshman outfielder Peyton Burdick were named to the Second Team. Selected to the All-Freshman Team were Sampen and Burdick along with outfielder JD Orr.

Lovelady, who previously won the Coach of the Year award in 2014, has directed WSU to back-to-back seasons of 40 or more wins after the program had reached the 40-win plateau just three times in its first 44 years. In just his third season at the helm, Lovelady recorded his 100th win on April 13 at Miami and has an overall record of 119-54.

Sampen (Brownsburg, Ind.) is second in the league with a 2.62 earned run average, third in opposing batting average at .209 and tied for fourth in wins with seven. In league play, he went 6-2 with a 2.52 ERA in 60.2 innings while holding the opposition to a .210 batting average.

Sampen struck out a season-high seven in a win over Northern Kentucky on April 3 and had five strikeouts in picking his first collegiate win against Eastern Michigan on March 12.

This is the third straight year that a WSU player has earned Freshman of the Year honors as Murphy won the award in 2014 and Gabe Snyder last season. The Raiders have now had six Freshman/Newcomer of the Year honorees in their history (Trent Matthews 2001, Quentin Cate 2009, Corey Davis 2011).

Scholtens (Fairfield, Calif. Rodriguez) is tied for the league lead in wins with nine and in starts with 14, is second in strikeouts with 87, innings pitched at 95.2 and in opposing batting average at .205 and is third in ERA at 2.63. In league play, he went 6-1 with a 2.17 ERA and 55 strikeouts in 62.1 innings.

Fucci (Lexington, Ky. Tates Creek), who was selected as the Horizon League Batter of the Week on Monday, is currently hitting .325 with a team-best 11 home runs, 58 RBI and 25 stolen bases. He is first in the Horizon League in home runs, RBI and stolen bases, second in total bases (113), third in slugging percentage (.541), seventh in hits (68), runs scored (45) and on-base percentage (.414) and eighth in batting average.

Swaney (Wheaton Ill. Academy) is tied for the league lead with nine runs and is four in ERA at 2.82 and seventh in opposing batting average at .238. In league play, he was a perfect 4-0 with a 2.74 ERA.

Murphy (Centerville) hit .270 with six home runs, 29 RBI and 33 runs scored despite missing six weeks due to an hand injury. In league play, he knocked in 17 in 17 games and scored 18 runs.

Roman (Fishers, Ind. Hamilton Southeastern) is tied for the league lead with 51 runs scored, second with 76 hits and five triples, tied for second with 24 stolen bases and is seventh with a .342 batting average. In league play, he hit .336 with 24 RBI and 27 runs scored.

Burdick (Batavia Glen Este) is ninth in the league with a .413 on-base percentage. He currently has a .296 batting average, is tied for the team lead with 13 doubles and has scored 36 runs. In league play, Burdick hit .326 with nine doubles, 18 RBI and 22 runs scored.

Orr (Mount Vernon) is ninth in the league with a .324 batting average. In league play, he hit a team-best .404 with 17 runs scored.

Wright State (41-15, 23-6 Horizon) will be the no. 1 seed and host of this week’s Horizon League Tournament, which begins on Wednesday with two games. The Raiders will face the lower seeded winner of Wednesday’s games, which will be either no. 4-seed Illinois Chicago, no.5-seed Oakland or no. 6-seed Northern Kentucky, at 11 a.m. Thursday. The tournament continues through Saturday, May 28, with the winner receiving an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Greene County News

Story courtesy of Wright State University Athletics