Bowling Green State University
DAYTON
Falcons Come Up Short in 12-Inning Affair
April 17, 2007 | Baseball
April 17, 2007
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University baseball team rallied from seven runs down to force extra innings at 8-8. However, the Dayton Flyers eventually pulled out a 9-8 win in 12 innings. The Falcons banged out 16 hits in the losing effort.
Things did not go as expected earlier on for BGSU as the Flyers put a seven-spot on the scoreboard in the top of the first inning. Freshman Matt Walters relieved the starting pitcher and stopped the bleeding in the first.
A young Falcon lineup that consisted of just one upperclassman (Junior Andrew Foster) showed great poise in the home-half of the first, responding with four runs of their own. Freshman Logan Meisler began the scoring surge with a double into right-center field as the lead-off hitter. Fellow freshman Mark Galvin followed with a run-scoring single. Foster kept it going to batters later with an RBI-double into the left-center field gap. Freshman Dennis Vaughn did it again for the Class of 2010 as he laced a two-run single through the right side of the infield, trimming the deficit to 7-4.
UD notched another in the second inning, but was then shut down by a very impressive relief appearance by Junior Brett Browning. Browning did not allow a run in 5.0 innings of work, striking out three Flyers in the process.
It was déjà vu for the Falcons in the bottom of the second. Back at the top of the batting order, Meisler and Galvin each provided base hits to open the frame. Sophomore Brandon McFarland highlighted the inning with a shot off the wall in right-center, scoring, cutting the Dayton lead to just two runs at 8-6.
BGSU continued to chip at the lead as the game rolled on, posting a lone run in the sixth and eight innings to create an 8-8 stalemate that lasted until the 12th inning.
Each squad managed to place a runner on base in the 10th, but both failed to advance the runner home. An infield single, sacrifice bunt and single up the middle combined for to break the tie in favor of the Flyers in the top of the 12th inning at 9-8.
The drama was far from over, however. Bowling Green's first batter was plunked and then pushed into scoring position by a Jeff Telmanik SAC bunt. Unfortunately, a Ryan Shay line drive that was snagged by the third baseman and a strikeout followed for the 9-8 final score.
Bowling Green continues their five-game homestand with a 3 PM game against arch-rival Toledo Wednesday afternoon. The contest is a non-conference affair.
