Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
NORTHERN ILLINOIS
Wild Game Won by Falcons in Bottom of the Ninth, 11-10
April 18, 2004 | Baseball
April 18, 2004
Bowling Green, Ohio - A pitcher struck out a career-high 10 while surrendering five home runs, one team hit seven home runs and lost, one player hit three homers, and one player made an acrobatic catch in the top of the ninth followed by a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth. Sunday's Bowling Green-Northern Illinois baseball game had it all.
In the end, senior David Barkholz hit a solo home run, his first of the season, to left field to give BGSU an amazing 11-10 come-from-behind victory over NIU at Warren Steller Field.
The centerfielder made an amazing circus catch in the top of the ninth in which he fell against the fence, juggled the ball for several seconds, and came up with the ball. The second-base umpire, though, ruled no catch saying the ball fell up against the wall. BGSU was still able to force out a runner at second base because he had returned to first thinking that the catch had just been made.
NIU proceeded to hit two home runs in the inning off of BGSU reliever Neil Schmitz, a two-run blast by Rob Marconi that brought the Huskies to within one and then a solo shot by Scott Simon to knot the game at 10-10. Sophomore Tyler Johnson entered the game following a Schmitz walk to Jake Blair and didn't have to throw a pitch to finish the inning. His pickoff attempt to first base went behind Andy Hudak, who chased the ball down and threw to Eric Lawson at second base to retire Blair who had slid past the base.
That set up Barkholz' lead-off, walk-off, game-winner in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Junior Burke Badenhop pitched 6.2 innings for the Falcons and struck out a career-high 10 batters with no walks. The bad news was that 30 mph winds and trigger-happy Huskie batters sent seven balls out of the ball park, three off the bat of Marconi alone. Luckily five of the home runs were solo blasts.
The Falcons overcame a 7-3 deficit, beginning with two runs in the seventh inning and five runs in the eighth inning. A solo home run by Nolan Reimold and an RBI-single by Jimmy Lipari scored the two runs in the seventh while six Falcon hits and one NIU error plated five runs in the eighth. The two big hits in the eighth inning were a two-run double by Reimold and a two-run single by Lipari.
Hudak finished 4-for-5 with three runs scored, Reimold finished 2-for-5 with three RBIs, Steve Raszka was 3-for-5, and Barkholz was 3-for-6 with two runs scored and two RBIs, including the walk-off homer.
The Falcons pounded out a season-high 21 hits in the game while NIU had 12 hits, seven of them home runs. NIU stranded five base runners while the Falcons left 11. Johnson (4-0) picked up his fourth win of the year without even throwing a pitch. Nathan Stillwell (1-3) suffered the loss.
BGSU is now 19-9 overall and 6-6 in the MAC, while NIU drops to 18-17 overall and 5-4 in the league. The Falcons host Dayton on Tuesday, April 20 (3 p.m.) and IPFW on Wednesday, April 21 (3 p.m.) at Warren Steller Field.
