The Raiders scored 60 runs and took two of three games at Purdue Fort Wayne, winning all 10 league series this year (the first time they swept the HL since 2018). And it probably wouldn’t have happened without those newbies grabbing prominent roles.
They have the top three batting averages on the team — Warren .363, Blomquist .331 and Gilkerson .326.
“I think we have three freshmen, you could argue, who should be freshman of the year in our league,” Sogard said.
He thinks Warren, his leadoff hitter, will get the nod. But he added: “Cam Gilkerson has really been on a tear. He’s down in the eighth hole, and he hit another home run today (giving him 13 with 51 RBIs in 49 games).
“He’s got the power and average, and he could be a freshman All-American with the numbers he’s putting up. It’s good to see those guys blossom late.”
They’re not alone. The Raiders are going into the HL tourney this week with a headwind, posting a 25-5 HL record to tie for the second-most wins in league history and register the third-best winning percentage since 1989 (the conference played 20 games for the first time that year).
Catcher Boston Smith, a senior from Vandalia Butler, broke the career home run record with his 45th Friday and the single-season homer record with his 21st Saturday.
“He had a special weekend. Doing it in three years, I think, is pretty incredible,” Sogard said of the career mark.
Smith, who spent his freshman year at Cincinnati, has had 12 home runs and 29 RBIs in the last 10 games. He goes into the tourney with a .324 average and 21 homers with 61 RBIs.
Gabe Snyder had 44 career homers from 2015-18, and Andrew Patrick had the previous season-best total with 20 in 2023.
Smith will be in the mix for HL player of the year with Northern Kentucky’s Logen Devenport, who has a .429 average, and Youngstown State’s Kyle Fossum, who is hitting .382 with a league-high 22 homers.
The Raiders won the last two games in the series at PFW by 23-11 and 20-9 scores.
They dropped the first game, 21-17, giving up 11 runs in the bottom of the ninth and losing on a walk-off grand slam.
But in Sogard’s mind, that loss shouldn’t be pinned on the bullpen.
“We actually had some guys who threw the ball well. … It was a weird one. They got a couple hits, but we also made four errors that, in the box score, were (scored as) hits. That was more the issue,” he said.
The Raiders will go into the tourney at Nischwitz Stadium as the No. 1 seed and will play Thursday at 11 a.m. against an opponent to be determined.
They lead the league in average (.304), runs per game (8.7), home runs (81), ERA (6.59) and fielding percentage (.972).
Northern Kentucky (18-12) is the 2 seed and also gets a first-round bye.
The double-elimination tourney starts Wednesday with games at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.
“I feel good going in. Obviously, historically and this season, we’ve done well playing at our place,” Sogard said.
They’re 17-3 at home this year and 135-31 in Sogard’s seven seasons.
But while they’ve hosted the event each year since 2018, they didn’t win it in 2019 or last year.
“You have to show up. You have to execute. But we’re excited for the opportunity,” Sogard said.
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