Bowling Green State University Athletics
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Falcons Out-Slug Cardinals, 18-16, To Earn Second MAC Series Win
April 13, 2008 | Baseball
April 13, 2008
MUNCIE, Ind. - Just like the previous day, high winds aided in high scoring once again on Saturday afternoon, as the Bowling Green State University baseball team once again out-slugged the Ball State University Cardinals, winning 18-16 in game two of their three-game weekend Mid-American Conference series at BSU's Ball Diamond. The win guaranteed the Falcons their second MAC series win of the season, after they won an 18-12 slugfest against the Cardinals on Friday as they collected 19 total hits on the day and had six players finish with two hits or more.
With the win, the Falcons improved to 15-12 overall and 6-2 in the MAC, while the Cardinals fell to 18-11 and 6-2, respectively.
BG collected four more homers on Saturday to move their total up to 12 on the weekend, as four different players went yard in the game. Picking up the first Falcon long ball was first baseman Brian Hangbers, who collected a three-run homer in the second inning for his third homer of the weekend. His homer was 1-of-4 for BG in a second inning that saw the Falcons collect nine runs on seven hits. Hangbers went on to finish his day 4-for-5 at the plate with three RBI, while also accounting for four BG runs scored.
Also collecting homers in the Falcon second were Mark Galvin who hit a two-run shot, while Logan Meisler and Ryan Schlater both added solo home runs. The three were three of the six players to finish with multiple-hits as Galvin had a game-high four RBI on a 2-for-5 effort. Meisler finished 4-for-6 with three RBI, while Schlater was 2-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored.
After falling behind 3-2 after one, BG struck in the second with their season-best nine-run inning to storm out to an 11-3 lead heading into the bottom half of the inning. After surrendering three runs in the Cardinal half of the second, BG countered with four runs in the third to improve its' lead to 15-6.
BSU kept the Falcons at bay in the middle innings, out-scoring BG 2-0 in the fourth, fifth and sixth to pull to within seven runs. However, despite out-scoring BG 8-3 in the game's final three innings, the Cardinals came up two runs short as the Falcons' earned their third-straight victory.
Earning the win on the mound for BG was left-handed starter Kevin Light, who went five innings, surrendering seven runs on nine Cardinal hits to improve to 2-2. He was replaced in the sixth by junior right-hander Dusty Hawk who went one and 1/3 innings before giving way to freshman right-hander Brennan Smith in the seventh.
Coming on to earn his first save of the season then with one out in the ninth was junior right-hander Kevin Leady, who gave up one hit and struck out one Cardinal batter to record the game's last two outs.
Getting saddled with the loss for BSU was starter Brenden Stines who tossed just two innings, falling to 1-2 on the season. He allowed 14 BG runs (10 earned) on 11 hits.
With the Falcons leading 18-11 heading into the bottom of the ninth, BSU platted five runs in their half of the inning to pull the score within two. They then brought the potential go-ahead run to the plate, but Leady shut the door on them, getting the final Cardinal batter to go down swinging to preserve the Falcon win.
BG got to that point, due in most part, to their nine-run second inning that allowed them to enjoy a comfortable lead the rest of the afternoon. It was Dennis Vaughn getting that inning started when he reached base on an error, prior to Schlater picking up a double to left that moved him over to third. Marty Baird was then hit by pitch to load the bases. Two batters later, Andrew Foster singled through the left side to plate two runs, before Hangbers hit his three-run shot to right center for his sixth of the year to give the Falcons a 7-3 lead.
Derek Spencer followed Hangbers with a double to center field to put a runner on for Galvin, who went yard for the third time this season on a 1-0 pitch to center that brought the scored to 9-3. It was the first of back-to-back homers as Meisler followed with a solo shot to right center also on a 1-0 pitch to make it 10-3, before Schlater hit a solo homer two batters later to finish the inning's scoring.
That inning's scoring helped the Falcons go on to 18 runs for the second-straight day as the 36 combined runs in the first two games of the series are the most scored by the Falcons in back-to-back games since they scored 43 total runs in back-to-back games against Akron in 2002 (15-11, 28-4). The 34 total runs scored by both teams are the most combined for the Falcons and an opponent since BG combined to score 38 total runs in a 20-18 win at Detroit on May 13th of 2003.
Leading the way at the plate for the Cardinals in defeat was left fielder Kory Benbow, who went a perfect 5-for-5 at the dish. He belted two doubles, and a homer, finishing the game a triple shy of hitting for the cycle. Right fielder Justin Rogers added four hits, while outfielder Ryan Chenoweth had a team-best three RBI.
The two squads will conclude their three-game series with game three on Sunday. First pitch is scheduled to be tossed at 1 p.m. as live statistics and audio can be found at www.ballstatesports.com.
