Bowling Green State University Athletics
Flashes Down Falcons, 11-3, In Game One At Steller Field
April 18, 2008 | Baseball
April 18, 2008
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Five runs in the first three innings and four more runs in the sixth, helped the Kent State Golden Flashes to an 11-3 victory on Friday over the Bowling Green State University baseball team in game one of their three-game Mid-American Conference series at Warren E. Steller Field. The win was the ninth-straight for KSU, as they improved to 19-15 overall and 5-5 in the MAC, while the Falcons fell to 17-14 and 6-4, respectively.
The Flashes scored two first inning runs, a single in the second and two more in the third to jump out to an early 5-2 lead heading to the top half of the fourth. They then increased the lead to seven in the top half of the sixth, platting four runs to take a commanding lead at 9-2. BG's bullpen finally settled things down in the final few innings, but the Falcons could only muster a run in the eighth to KSU's two, falling for the first time in three games for just the second time in the last seven.
Getting saddled with his first loss of the season for the Falcons was right-handed starter Frank Berry. The Virginia Beach, Va. native surrendered eight runs (seven earned) on seven hits to drop to 4-1 on the season. He was replaced in the sixth by freshman Charles Wooten, who gave up a run on two hits in 2/3 of an inning, before Brennan Smith and Phil Hettlinger combined to surrender just two runs on two hits in the final three innings.
The Falcons collected most of their offense on the day in the home half of the second inning after the Golden Flashes collected three runs in their first two at bats. Derek Spencer ledoff the frame with a single to left field just two batters before Logan Meisler, who came up with Spencer on first and one out. The second baseman from Port Clinton would answer though in a big way, taking the first offering he saw and belting it over the fence in left for a two-run shot to get BG back with a run at 3-2. It was Meisler's second homer of the season.
That would be as close as BG got though as KSU collected two more runs in the third thanks to a two-run homer of their own from Greg Rohan to push the lead back up to 5-2.
Doug Sanders later added another two-run homer for KSU as a part of a four-run sixth, that chased Berry from the game. That would later add two more runs in the top half of the eighth to increase their lead to 11-2.
BG's final run came in the home half of the eighth when freshman Clay Duncan picked up an RBI single through the left side, bringing home Chris Gacom from second to make it 11-3.
That would be all BG got however, as earning the victory on the mound for KSU was right-handed starter Brad Stillings. Stillings, who improved to 2-5, went seven innings, allowing just two runs on seven hits with seven strikeouts.
Pacing the Flashes at the plate was shortstop Chris Tremblay, who went 3-for-5 with three runs scored and had a game-high three RBI. Ben Klafczynski, Jared Bartholomew and Sanders each then added two hits apiece with Bartholomew and Sanders recording two RBI.
Leading the way for the Falcons was Meisler, who finished a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate with a run scored and two RBI. Also collecting multiple hits were Mark Galvin and Spencer, while Duncan added the third Falcon RBI, going 1-for-1 at the dish.
Both squads turned three double plays in the contest as BG left eight runners on base, while KSU left four.
The two squads will return to the diamond for game two of three-game series on Saturday with first pitch scheduled to be thrown at 1 p.m. Live statistics for the game will be available at www.bgsufalcons.com, via gametracker, which can be found on the team's schedule page.
