SpringfieldNewsSun.com

FAIRBORN — Toward the end of any baseball season, Wright State coach Rob Cooper tries to find reserve players who might be able to help the Raiders' cause.

He found one Wednesday night, April 30, in freshman catcher Kyle Mossbarger.

Little-used so far and expecting to be a utility infielder mostly at second and third, Mossbarger has been pressed into catching duty. Wednesday night, he helped dismantle the Flyers in the first inning of a 10-3 WSU victory at Nischwitz Stadium.

After UD leadoff batter Kevin Miller walked, Mossbarger threw him out on a steal attempt. It was a key out. The next UD batter singled, and the next drew another walk. Then the first of WSU's three double plays in the game saved the inning for the Raiders.

In the bottom of the inning, after the Raiders had already scored two runs, Mossbarger doubled in two more. Wright State took a 5-0 lead in that inning, and it was 8-0 after four.

The victory helped the Raiders erase the memory of last week's 12-10 loss in 10 innings at UD, the last game Mossbarger started.

"I had some trouble swinging it (the bat) early," Mossbarger said. "Then we had a backup catcher leave, and I had to do some of that. I had caught in high school (Urbana), so this was not what I expected. It's been tough."

It was tougher on the Flyers, who entered the game as the winners of two straight and six of their last seven with the best record of any Division I team in Ohio at 26-17. WSU is close behind, now at 22-17.

"The middle of their (Raiders) lineup is as good as you get in a small, cold-weather, Division I school," UD coach Tony Vittorio said. "It's very tough to pitch to. I wish we could have competed better than that."

By the time Mossbarger batted, in the No. 7 slot, the Raiders already had three hits. One of them was by star first baseman Jeremy Hamilton, who was more than splendid with four hits — three of them doubles. He scored four times and knocked in one run.

Hamilton bats third in the order, followed by shortstop Justin Parker, who had two hits, two RBIs and a run. Both expect to be drafted by major league teams in June.

Outfielders Ross Vagedes and John Kopilchack also contributed two hits apiece. Vagedes ran his hitting streak to 18 games.

Raiders roundup

• Former WSU pitcher Andrew Burns, a recent inductee into the Army, threw out the first pitch on Military Appreciation Night. Burns last pitched for the Raiders in 2006.

• For the second straight week, the Raiders swept Horizon League honors with Hamilton and pitcher Jon Durket named player and pitcher of the week. During the previous week, Kopilchack and pitcher Alex Kaminsky won the awards.

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