2023 Raider Baseball season

[hokieraider]

Disappointing end to the season, and a little unlucky. Yesterday Haught throws the same pitch for strike one, strike two, and then doesn't get the call on three. Next pitch he jams the guy, who fights it off and it barely clears the infield to drive in the tying and winning runs. Today, they run into buzz saw pitching and only get one hit. Plus in a 1-0 game, UNC gets two infield hits, the second with two outs, and the next guy parks one when Stofel is above his career high pitch count. Both UNC and ISU had a few seeing eye singles too. But that's baseball. Overall, great season by the Raidergang.

[Raider Southpaw]

Lets get this thread back on track discussing Wright State baseball.

[Big D]

[Big D]

[raiderrunt]

The RPI formula that I post on here quite a bit, that is used as a major tool in filling out the NCAA baseball tournament will be reassessed in the offseason.

Jim Cohen, the Auburn athletic director who serves as the chairman of the NCAA Division I Baseball Committee said they will be assessing the RPI formula this off season.. The Committee follow a field that began with the top 16 national seeds featuring 15 inside the top 16 for RPI. He said' Everything evolves, and so should the formula that puts perhaps too heavy a weight on opponents’ win percentage. The NCAA Div I Baseball Committee seemed to forget about RPI when two years ago, RaiderGang had an RPI in the low 30s, yet still got assigned a four seed.

Cohen said he thought there's a need for some adjustment. Cohen said. “I think the RPI at its most basic form is a good thing. I think it's something that is useful to the committee. I think it's useful to baseball coaches for scheduling and things of that nature, but I would like to see it tweaked. … Not huge, gargantuan changes, but changes that would help things like geography.”


Late-season midweek cancellations have become more rampant as teams chose not to risk their RPI standing against lesser foes. There needs to be a change to dis-incentivize that practice, Cohen said.

The national seeds aligning with RPI numbers might be a sign that RPI is in agreement with a variety of other factors considered by the selection committee. But he’s also open to tweaks that help get the best teams in the field.

We will see what happens, but for a mid-major like Wright State, the RPI is critical in trying to schedule.



NCAA Baseball power spike

NCAA officials generally consider power in the game to be in a good spot as the season winds down with an average of 1.13 homers per game that will rank as the highest in NCAA history.

The theories for the surge are familiar, including MLB’s draft reduction to 20 rounds, more mature players in college as a result of the pandemic and NIL money and performance gains through strength training and nutrition.

“It’s really changed,” Cohen said. “So it stands to reason that when you increase velocity and you increase the strength and the size of the student-athletes who are receiving that velocity with a barrel in their hand, some dramatic things are going to continue to happen.”


#1 Florida Gulf Coast University led NCAA Div with 141 home runs. #2 LSU hit 135 and #80 Wright State hit a very respectable 78 home runs.


Now, let's take a look at Oral Roberts. I think it is very important for Raider fans to understand how close ORU aligns with Wright State's baseball situation. IMHO Wright State is really just a hot streak away from getting to the CWS. I think the recruiting is slowly creeping up and Wright State is a known baseball program. I am amazed at how well known Wright State is among baseball guys. I can mention RaiderGang to a junior college baseball player from Kansas and he will know about Wright State's baseball program.

Both WSU and ORU play in crappy baseball conferences. Both the Summit League and Horizon League have six baseball schools. Both Wright State and ORU generally dominate their league. I would say RaiderGang has been dominate a little longer. The budgets and resources of both programs are similar. ORU does have a much bigger, nicer stadium than Wright State does.

Summit League conference RPI 28
Horizon League conference RPI 23

ORU hit 97 dingers.

Here is an article from the Omaha World Herald with the title: Fighting the Power Five leagues: How fourth seeded Oral Roberts reached the CWS.

omaha.com/sports/college/baseball/fighting-the-power-five-leagues-how-fourth-seeded-oral-roberts-reached-the-cws/article_fcce76d8-095a-11ee-b39b-03c169d99436.html

[kingnebwsu]

Appreciate the post. This isn't like college basketball where Cinderella runs and upsets frequently happen. This is only the 3rd/4th time a 4 seed has made it to the CWS so it's worth discussion...especially when it's a mid-major school that is similar to the school we cheer for.

I appreciate the info and write-up.

Semi-related every time I would search WSU baseball highlights and the walk off Grand Slam from Tennessee would come up I get really sad.

[raiderrunt]

RaiderGang may have dodged a bullet when UC hires Central Michigan's Jordan Bischel as new baseball coach to lead Bearcats into Big 12. I didn't hear that UC was talking with Alex Sogard about the position, but I get nervous when a Power Five job opens up. UC has a lot of money to throw around. RaiderGang has coach Nate Metzger on deck for that day when Coach Sogard leaves.


www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/college/university-of-cincinnati/2023/06/18/uc-ad-cunningham-hires-new-baseball-skipper-for-big-12-bearcats/70333039007/?fbclid=IwAR36HNgFO0-W_laD1JPXZG8cr1BGLfqatfsBH70pDgd0RdIbdPlQ5ph2rv8

[raiderrunt]

Marshall is building a new $14 million baseball stadium. They were playing off campus, so they really needed one. Greg Beals left the University of Akron to become Marshall University’s baseball coach in part because of the new stadium and commitment to compete at a higher level. Marshall competes in the Sun Belt Conference which is the 5th ranked conference. Marshall finished last in the Sun Belt with a 5-25 record. They still finished with a 225 RPI which would put them about forth in the HL. Even thought RaiderGang doesn't played them very often, they are a peer institution and would be a nice series as they start to rebuild their program. The two schools played one series in 2010 with Marshall winning all three games.

UNO built a nice stadium four years ago and it hasn't made a huge difference in their record.

A bigger, nicer stadium is not at the top of the list of needed improvements for Wright State. At the top would probably be an indoor practice facility. It is important to recognize there is an arms race going on and RaiderGang needs to have the facilities to compete.

www.herald-dispatch.com/sports/new-baseball-stadium-will-help-team-culture-more-than-performance/article_fdbc2874-e720-5723-9b11-7a362f5321c7.html?fbclid=IwAR1aYJfK04K5WKmkD3FPsW7Q_LD1GHUP7_b5ACfvdk1_HIRpqtbzetM4rv4

[raiderrunt]

Sebastian Gongora has officially entered the transfer portal ahead of the upcoming MLB draft. I am not sure what this means, other than he will not be pitching for RaiderGang. This is a huge loss for the Raiders, but not totally unexpected. I guess if he doesn't get drafted high enough, he would transfer to a bigger program, although he could come back to the Raiders.

[raiderrunt]

Jun 30, 2023 23:08:23 GMT -5 raiderrunt said:

Sebastian Gongora has officially entered the transfer portal ahead of the upcoming MLB draft. I am not sure what this means, other than he will not be pitching for RaiderGang. This is a huge loss for the Raiders, but not totally unexpected. I guess if he doesn't get drafted high enough, he would transfer to a bigger program, although he could come back to the Raiders.

I think I figured this out. There used to be a rule that a player could not sign a pro contract until he completes his junior year of college. Assuming that rule is still in affect, it would make sense to enter the transfer portal so that he is not a player on a team at the time of the draft.

[Big D]

Jul 1, 2023 17:12:51 GMT -5 raiderrunt said:

I think I figured this out. There used to be a rule that a player could not sign a pro contract until he completes his junior year of college. Assuming that rule is still in affect, it would make sense to enter the transfer portal so that he is not a player on a team at the time of the draft.

That is not how that rule works. You have to be 3 years removed from high school to be eligible for the draft if you are not drafted and signed out of high school. If he was only 2 years removed from high school and not enrolled at any university like you are speculating, he still wouldn’t be eligible for the draft for another year. Being enrolled has no bearing on that. Irregardless, he is eligible this year because he is already 3 years removed from high school. He redshirted his first year at Wright State and just finished his redshirt sophomore season with the team.

[raiderrunt]

Thanks Big D for clearing that up.

[Big D]

[raiderrunt]

Sebastian Gongora has landed at the University of Louisville. He wanted a bigger stage to set himself up for next year's draft. There is probably some NIL money involved too. This one will hurt. Maybe Joey Valentine steps up to be the stud of the pitching staff. He made the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League All-Start game this summer.

Unfortunately, like basketball the Power 5 schools will continue to poach players from Mid-Major schools.

[raiderrunt]

Congrats to #Raidergang alum Alex Theis on signing a professional contract with the Florence Y'alls of the Frontier League! Let's see if it leads bigger and better things.