Bowling Green State University
Wright State
Baseball Drops Second-Straight, Falling 11-10 Wednesday To Wright State
April 02, 2008 | Baseball
April 2, 2008
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - A five-run eighth inning helped the Wright State Raiders come-from-behind to defeat the Bowling Green State University baseball team by a score of 11-10 on Wednesday in non-conference action at Warren E. Steller Field. With the Falcons leading 8-6 heading into the top half of the eighth inning, WSU erupted for five runs to take an 11-8 lead and never looked back as the Falcons came up a single run short, dropping their second-straight game in as many days.
BG fell to 11-9 with the loss, while the Raiders improved to 9-13.
WSU started the scoring on the afternoon, plating single runs in both the second and third to take a 2-0 lead to the bottom half of the third inning. The Falcons then countered with three runs to jump out to a 3-2 lead and re-took the lead in the bottom half of fourth with three more tallies after the Raiders tied the game up in the top of the fourth.
WSU came back once again then in the fifth with three runs to tie the game up at 6-6, but the Falcons again re-gained their edge with two runs in their half of the inning, taking an 8-6 lead, which they held all the way up to the eighth, before WSU out-scored them 5-2 to finish things off.
Taking the loss for the Falcons on the day was senior right-hander Nick Cantrell (2-3), who surrendered five eighth-inning runs (three earned) on four hits in 0.2 innings.
Cantrell replaced Brett Browning, who tossed 2.2 innings, giving up just four hits in relief of starter Dusty Hawk. Hawk, making his first start of the season, threw 4.1 innings giving up six runs (five earned) on six hits.
Getting the rally started for the Raiders in the eighth was Justin Mercer and Gerald Ogrinc who led-off the inning with back-to-back base knocks. Ross Vagedes followed with a base hit of his own to plate Mercer from third, while Aaron Fields tied the game three batters later on an RBI-single back up the middle.
A passed ball and a throwing error scored two more Raiders in the inning, while Casey McGrew added an RBI-single as WSU batted around the order.
Charles Wooten picked up the inning's final out and pitched the top of the ninth to finish the game for BG, allowing just three hits.
BG tried to get a rally of their own started in the bottom half of the eighth off Raider reliever Michael Meintel, scoring two runs in their half of the frame to cut the WSU lead to one entering the ninth.
Following a leadoff fly out to center by T. J. Blanton, Ryan Shay hit 1-1 pitch to right center for a base hit. Andrew Foster then drew a four-pitch walk to put runners at first and second with one out. Two batters later, both runners would be sent home on a two-RBI double by Derek Spencer to right field to bring the score to 11-10.
Wooten allowed a single WSU hit in the top of the ninth to give his team a chance for some late-inning heroics, but a single by David Borchedt would be all the Falcons could get.
Earning the win on the mound for the Raiders was Scott Ruven (2-0), who went 2.2 innings, giving up a single Falcon hit out of the bullpen. He was the second Raider to come out the pen in relief of starter Chris Walden. Walden threw a total of three innings as he allowed three runs on three hits.
Pacing the Raiders on the day were Fields and McGrew, who finished with four and three runs driven in respectively. Justin Parker added a game-high four hits.
For the Falcons, leading the way was Spencer. The Oregon, Ohio native finished 2-for-4 with a run scored and team-best four RBI. He was 1-of-3 Falcons with multiple-hits on the day as Shay went 3-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI, while Dennis Vaughn was 2-for-5, also accounting for two runs scored and a Falcon RBI.
BG picked up 12 hits on the day to finish with 28 total in their two mid-week contests. Unfortunately, like Tuesday's game at Youngstown State, they surrendered 18 hits for a two-game total of 39 hits against.
The Falcons will return to Mid-American Conference play this weekend when they host the Central Michigan Chippewas in a three-game weekend series starting on Friday (Apr. 4) at 3 p.m. All the action can be heard on WFAL 1610 AM and can also be seen by tuning into BCSN.
