YSU Baseball

[Penquin68]

The Horizon League tournament finished up today and Wright State beat Oakland in the championship game 24 -0! Unbelievable score. Wright State is above the rest of the league in baseball for sure. And the championship format demands many good pitchers for the 4 or more games most would need to play in the bracket. Wright State only played 3 games and won them all, getting the benefit of winning the regular season title. Oakland was 2nd. Oakland had played 3 and were in their 4th game so their pitching was thin. Oakland beat YSU twice by 2 -0 and 4 - 2. YSU beat Purdue Fort Wayne 6 - 0 and Northern Kentucky  11 - 7.  Our pitching was remarkably good in the tournament but our offense was lacking. One thing I noticed is that many of the teams had players from all over the map and we only had mostly somewhat local players. The transfer portal hurt us losing 5 players. Not sure what we got in return, but it did not measure up to our losses of talent. Need to work the portal better this coming season much like football, MBB, and WBB who did well in the portal. A new world in college sports these days. And probably our recruiting budget and overall budget is less than the other schools. All in all not a bad showing in the tournament. And Matt Brosky, our great starting pitcher, made the all-tournament team with a 3 hit complete game shutout in less than 100 pitches. He may get drafted as scouts were at the games.

[Wick250]

The Horizon League tournament finished up today and Wright State beat Oakland in the championship game 24 -0! Unbelievable score. Wright State is above the rest of the league in baseball for sure. And the championship format demands many good pitchers for the 4 or more games most would need to play in the bracket. Wright State only played 3 games and won them all, getting the benefit of winning the regular season title. Oakland was 2nd. Oakland had played 3 and were in their 4th game so their pitching was thin. Oakland beat YSU twice by 2 -0 and 4 - 2. YSU beat Purdue Fort Wayne 6 - 0 and Northern Kentucky  11 - 7.  Our pitching was remarkably good in the tournament but our offense was lacking. One thing I noticed is that many of the teams had players from all over the map and we only had mostly somewhat local players. The transfer portal hurt us losing 5 players. Not sure what we got in return, but it did not measure up to our losses of talent. Need to work the portal better this coming season much like football, MBB, and WBB who did well in the portal. A new world in college sports these days. And probably our recruiting budget and overall budget is less than the other schools. All in all not a bad showing in the tournament. And Matt Brosky, our great starting pitcher, made the all-tournament team with a 3 hit complete game shutout in less than 100 pitches. He may get drafted as scouts were at the games.

Finishing third was a nice accomplishment for this team. As you pointed out, we were torched by the transfer portal and left with a very weak offense. It would indeed be interesting to learn what other Horizon League schools spend on baseball. I suspect that baseball is an afterthought at every league school except for Wright State.

[Penquin68]

I doubt that we will get an on campus baseball facility any time soon. I remember reading a campus master plan that included a baseball facility in Smokey Hollow in 1975, but that sure hasn't happened. Too much cost for a facility that would still be lesser than Eastwood field and a large donor doesn't seem to be there to cover much of the cost. Unfortunately baseball is an expensive sport and could be cut if YSU gets into financial problems. Look at Cleveland State and Akron as of late; I understand Akron brought baseball back but had cut it for a few years just before that. I hope baseball stays but am concerned with our tough spring weather and the required expensive travel down south for a month or so at the beginning of the season.  Even during the season the away trips would seem to me to be extremely expensive with the number of players and the 3 games over 3 days the league is scheduling.

On another note I see that Matt Brosky had to sit out a year when he transferred from Ohio U. Yet we lost our top softball pitcher a few years ago to Illinois and she played the next year. This was before the portal and NIL etc., but don't understand how those two situations are different. I had thought that maybe only the major sports had the sit our rule, but not sure. Any thoughts?

[goodnews]

Wright State is experiencing a serious decline in enrollment.  However, I believe they support less sports then YSU and don't have Football.  You would figure their programs would be safe but you never know?

[Wick250]

We have endured enrollment decline, but Akron and Wright State lost 39% and 40% of their students during the past 5-7 years (don't remember which is which.)  Wright State was operating this year with just 11 sports and received a waiver to stay in D1.  They will have the required 14 sports next year by adding women's bowling and men's indoor and outdoor track.  In comparison, I believe we now offer 21 sports.

The Horizon League designates three men's sports as primary (soccer, basketball, and baseball.)  You must participate in two of those. So YSU baseball is safe unless we started a men's soccer program. And the interest in that in the community is nonexistent (thank god.)

[ytownchief22]

They talked about buying up the houses on the block and building a baseball stadium on Harrison Field across the street from MVR but that never happened and I think it will be Eastwood or nothing forever.

[guinpen]

The best spot for baseball would be the M70 lot, but no way to justify the loss of parking for FB and BB M+W games just to play 20 some baseball games.

Harrison would be second best but away from all the other sport venues on campus.

Eastwood is a nice venue and better that nothing but on campus would be so much better.

Maybe Baseball is just not in the cards.

[Wick250]

Unfortunately, the university was unable to acquire all the property between Fifth and Belmont and between Lincoln and the service road. We could have constructed an awesome sports complex that served baseball, track, soccer, softball, lacrosse, and tennis. The opportunity for an on-campus baseball facility is now gone. The facilities that have been squeezed into the available space are fantastic.

There is one other possibility, not on campus but on the edge of downtown. There is one more large tract of former steel mill property just east of the South Avenue bridge, opposite side of the Covelli Center. That land could house an all-turf baseball field that could accommodate YSU, high schools, and amateur baseball during the summer. I wonder if anybody ever gave that some consideration.

[Penquin68]

Saw where Wright State lost their first two games in the NCAA Tournament. First Game against Virginia Tech 15-9 and the elimination game 11-9 against Gonzaga. Scored enough runs to win, but the pitching was not up to those team’s hitters. Gives an idea of where we are as a D1 baseball team against the big schools.  We were fortunate this year to have some success against some of the big schools. But our games against the big schools were mostly against the other teams non weekend pitching. To be fair we used mostly non weekend pitching also. We did ok fielding a somewhat competitive team with a limited budget except for our losses in the portal. Will need to see how we do in the portal this coming year.

As for a new field on or near campus, that seems like a long shot at best these days of declining enrollment. Need to hope we can maintain where we are in all sports under difficult financial times.

[IAA Fan]

Unfortunately, the university was unable to acquire all the property between Fifth and Belmont and between Lincoln and the service road. We could have constructed an awesome sports complex that served baseball, track, soccer, softball, lacrosse, and tennis. The opportunity for an on-campus baseball facility is now gone. The facilities that have been squeezed into the available space are fantastic.

There is one other possibility, not on campus but on the edge of downtown. There is one more large tract of former steel mill property just east of the South Avenue bridge, opposite side of the Covelli Center. That land could house an all-turf baseball field that could accommodate YSU, high schools, and amateur baseball during the summer. I wonder if anybody ever gave that some consideration.

I thought that I saw where the Women's Sports Complex was still planned in that area. As you said, space is tight again.

[guinpen]

Unfortunately, the university was unable to acquire all the property between Fifth and Belmont and between Lincoln and the service road. We could have constructed an awesome sports complex that served baseball, track, soccer, softball, lacrosse, and tennis. The opportunity for an on-campus baseball facility is now gone. The facilities that have been squeezed into the available space are fantastic.

There is one other possibility, not on campus but on the edge of downtown. There is one more large tract of former steel mill property just east of the South Avenue bridge, opposite side of the Covelli Center. That land could house an all-turf baseball field that could accommodate YSU, high schools, and amateur baseball during the summer. I wonder if anybody ever gave that some consideration.

I thought that I saw where the Women's Sports Complex was still planned in that area. As you said, space is tight again.

What area do you mean?