Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
Kent State
Falcons Upset Kent State to Pick Up First Win
March 28, 2008 | Softball
March 28, 2008
Kent State Box Score - Game 2 in PDF Format 
KENT, Ohio - Head Coach Shannon Salsburg and the Falcons opened BG's 26th season of Mid-American Conference play with a decisive 8-5 win over East division rival Kent State in game one of the double-header and falling to the Golden Flashes in game two in a one run battle that was decided in the bottom of the seventh, 3-2. Kent State was picked as the favorite to win the MAC East division, finishing ahead of the Falcons, and to win the MAC Tournament.
The win for Salsburg and company marks the first win of the season and the first victory for Salsburg against her former team. The Falcons are now, 1-1, in the MAC.
BG was firing on all cylinders with six Falcons recording at least one or more hits in the double-header. Freshman Missy Bowman led the way for the Falcon sticks going three-for-seven on the day hitting .429 with one RBI. Bowman recorded her first multiple hit game and is now on a three game hitting streak. Junior Hayley Wiemer went two-for-five hitting .400 and 1.000 slugging percentage, including her third homer of the season and fifteenth career homer, with two RBIs. Senior Emily Gouge went two-for-six hitting .333 with one RBI, recording her second multiple hit game of the season. Freshman Haleigh Bielstein stroked .800 slugging percentage in her MAC double-header debut crushing her first collegiate homer.
In the circle Wiemer earned her first win of the season pitching a complete game retiring a season high eight batters in game one Gouge struck out six batters in game two of the double-header.
"Today was a great start to the MAC season," said Head Coach Shannon Salsburg. "It was great to come out and get our first victory in a MAC game with the kids really putting everything together. While the outcome wasn't what we were looking for in the second game, it's a big building block that we were looking for, which will help us to continue to build throughout the rest of the season in the MAC."
Due to poor field conditions the Falcons' two game series against Buffalo schedule for Saturday (Mar. 29) and Sunday (Mar. 30) has been cancelled. The Orange and Brown will return to action to play the last five games of their 27 game road series as they take on Big Ten regional opponent #6 Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan on Wednesday, April 2 at 4:00 p.m.
Game One Against Kent State
The first inning was a scoreless three-up, three-down inning for both teams. The Falcons were kept scoreless again in the top of the second but Kent was able to score first in the bottom of the second inning off of a one-run homer by Jamie Fitzpatrick.
The Orange and Brown answered back with a two out rally in the top of the third started by a rocket two-run homer to centerfield by Hayley Wiemer, her third homer of the season and 15th of her career (second most homers in BGSU history), giving the Falcons a 2-1 lead over the Golden Flashes. Allison Vallas was given a free ticket to first, bringing Missy Bowman to the plate who singled moving Vallas to third base. Emily Gouge kept the rally going with a single down the third base line to score Vallas extending the Falcons lead over the Golden Flashes, 3-1.
Falcon defense kept the Golden Flashes scoreless in the bottom of the third, fourth and fifth with a one, two, three inning in the third and fifth. The Golden Flashes were able to record a hit in the fourth inning but the Falcons turned a double play from Dawnjene DeLong to Vallas to keep Kent from scoring.
Emily Gouge started off the top of the sixth with a lead off single through the left side for the Falcons. Lindsay Arney stepped in to pinch run for Gouge. Haleigh Bielstein laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Arney to second followed by Katelynn Boso who grounded out to the pitcher moving Arney to third base. Rachel Delp hit a line drive off the right field wall to score Arney giving the Falcons a three run lead over the Golden Flashes, 4-1.
The Golden Flashes battled back to score three runs on four hits to tie up the game in the bottom of the sixth inning, 4-4.
Going into the seventh inning with the game all tied up the Falcon bats came alive once again for another multiple run inning. Zada Lines lead-off for the Falcons with a base-on-balls and then advanced to second base on a passed ball. Wiemer singled to right center moving Lines to third on the hit but on a throwing error by Kent's centerfielder that hit the first base umpire Lines scored and Wiemer advanced to second base. With the seventh inning looking as though it was over for the Falcons after the Golden Flashes were able to get two outs freshman Haleigh Bielstein blasted a three-run homer over the center field wall extending the Falcons lead to 8-4 over the Golden Flashes. Bielstein record her first collegiate homer and a career high three RBIs.
The Golden Flashes were able to rally and score one run off of two hits in the bottom of the seventh but didn't have enough to over come the Falcons, 8-5.
The Falcon offense was led by Wiemer going two-for-three in game one hitting .667 and 1.667 slugging percentage, including a homer and two RBIs. Gouge also went two-for-three hitting .667 batting average recording one RBI. Bielstein went one-for-two with .500 batting average and 2.000 slugging percentage, smashing her first collegiate homer and knock home a career high three RBIs.
Game Two Against Kent State
Game two started much like the first game of the double-header with both teams scoreless in the first two innings. The Falcon defense got out of the first two innings with three straight outs. However, in the bottom of the third the Golden Flashes were able to rally with two outs and scored one run off of back-to-back hits giving Kent an early 1-0 lead.
The Falcons were kept scoreless in the top of the fourth despite two Golden Flash errors that put Lines and Wiemer on base. In the bottom of the fourth Kent scored another run taking a 2-0 lead over the Falcons. Both teams were kept scoreless in the fifth inning.
With the Falcons down by two in late innings a two out rally in the top of the sixth tied the game up 2-2. The rallied started with Wiemer getting a free ticket to first on a base-on-balls, which brought Vallas up to the plate. Vallas smashed a double to center field to score Wiemer bringing the Falcons with in one, 1-2. Bowman kept the Orange and Brown rally going with a single to left field to score Vallas tying the game up 2-2 going into the bottom of the sixth.
Falcon defense once again held strong with the outfield making all three putouts in the bottom of the sixth. Lines made a diving catch to get the second out of the inning and then robbed Kent State's Amy Hair as she tracked down a long foul ball over the left field fence out of play to make a great catch to end the inning.
Just like game one of the day, going into the seventh inning the game was tied up, 2-2. The Golden Flashes were able to keep the Falcons scoreless in the top of the inning. However, the Golden Flashes scored in the bottom of the seventh with two outs and runners on first and second a miscommunication in the outfield allowed the Golden Flashes to score the winning run to edge out the Falcons, 3-2.
The Falcon bats were led by Bowman going two-for-three in game two hitting .667 with one RBI. Bowman recorded her first multiple hit game and is now on a three game hitting streak. Vallas went one-for-two in the second game of the day hitting .500 batting average and 1.000 slugging percentage, including her fifth double of the season and one RBI.
