Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
TOLEDO
Falcons End Season with Victory Over Toledo, 14-4
May 18, 2003 | Baseball
May 18, 2003
Toledo, Ohio - Bowling Green ended its 2003 season with a victory over rival Toledo at Fifth Third Field, 14-4, in front of 1,722 people. The Falcons used a seven-run fourth inning to break the game open and finish with a series split against the Rockets.
With the win, the Falcons avoided finishing last in the Mid-American Conference West Division and finished one game ahead of Toledo. The Falcons scored one run in each of the first three innings and added a seven-spot in the fourth frame to build up a 10-1 lead.
In the first inning Falcon fans almost witnessed history. With freshman Dash Yost on first base after singling to left field and one out, Kelly Hunt made his first at-bat a good one. The first baseman drilled a 3-2 pitch off of Toledo hurler Ian Baltzer to left-center field, one of the deepest parts of Fifth Third Field. The ball hit off of the wall and came within a couple of feet of making Hunt the all-time home run leader at BGSU. Instead, he settled for his first of two doubles on the day and gave the Falcons the early 1-0 lead.
David Barkholz extended his hitting streak to nine games and gave BGSU a 2-0 lead in the second inning with an RBI-single up the middle, plating Kevin Longstreth from third base.
In the third inning freshman Nolan Reimold led off with a single to left field, stole second base, and then scored off of a RBI-single via Jimmy Lipari for a 3-0 Falcon lead.
The floodgates opened for BGSU in the fourth inning, though. Spencer Schmitz led off with a strikeout and then Barkholz reached on a dropped fly ball to left field by J.D. Foust. Yost followed with a groundout to second base, which should have been the third out of the inning. That's when the Falcon bats came alive. BGSU finished with five hits in the inning, including two infield hits, along with three base on balls. Both Barkholz and Tyler Wasserman had two-RBI hits in the inning, while Lipari, Reimold and Longstreth all drove in one run.
BGSU added to its lead in the sixth inning with four runs. Bobby Majer drove in Longstreth with a single to left field and then Hunt cleared the bases with his second double of the game, fifth double of the series, and 18th double of the season for the final three BGSU runs.
Ironically, despite Hunt failing to break the all-time home run record at BGSU, settling for a first-place tie with Andy Tracy (45 home runs), the senior almost broke another record. Hunt's 18 doubles this season were the second-most ever by a Falcon, falling one short of 19 by Len Elias (1999) and Tim Newell (2002).
Sophomore Tyler Saneholtz (4-3) picked up the win for the Falcons, lasting six innings with 135 pitches thrown. He gave up 11 hits, four runs (one earned), with four walks and four strikeouts. Three different Falcons pitched in relief, including senior Doug Flere who was making his final appearance in the Brown and Orange. Flere pitched one and two-third innings, giving up three hits and no runs with one walk and two strikeouts. It was his 51st career appearance for the Falcons.
Wasserman finished with a team-high three hits (3-for-4) while Barkholz, Hunt, Reimold, Lipari and Longstreth all had two hits each. Hunt had a game-high four RBI.
Toledo out-hit the Falcons, 16-15, and scored in the second, fourth and sixth innings.
BGSU ends the season 17-28 overall and 9-18 in the MAC. Toledo ends their season 22-29 overall and 8-19 in the league.
BGSU Notes....
* The Falcons are now 3-0 at Fifth Third Field, home of the Toledo Mud Hens. BGSU swept a doubleheader from Toledo last season. BGSU has outscored the Rockets at Fifth Third Field 28-9 in those three contests.
* David Barkholz ended his junior campaign with a season-high nine-game hitting streak. Eight of those nine games were multiple-hit games while he raised his batting average 36 points to .348. The center fielder ended the 2002 season on a 12-game hitting streak.
* Kelly Hunt ended his career on a six-game hitting streak. He hit safely in 39 of his 45 games this year, ending with a .439 batting average in 171 at-bats (75 hits). Hunt tied the BGSU single-season record last year with 86 hits in 54 games for a .402 avg.
* Kelly Hunt drove in four runs in his final game, finishing as the all-time leader at BGSU with 197 RBI. That mark makes him second all-time in MAC history, behind only Matt Wood of Ball State with 221 RBI.
* Kelly Hunt ends his career with a school-record .399 batting average in 609 at-bats (243 hits). That puts him in a tie for sixth place all-time in MAC history.
* Kelly Hunt ends his career with 434 total bases, a new school record. That puts him sixth all-time in MAC history.
