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Bowling Green State University
OHIO
Baseball Pushes Win-Streak To 12 With 5-4 Opening Round Win Over Ohio
May 21, 2008 | Baseball
May 21, 2008
CHILLICOTHE, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University baseball team continued the nation's second-longest winning-streak on Wednesday morning, as they got a stellar pitching performance from starter Frank Berry and some timely hitting en rout to a 5-4 win over Ohio University in game one of the 2008 Mid-American Conference Tournament at VA Memorial Stadium. Berry, who tossed seven and 1/3 innings, gave up just two runs on six hits on way to his seventh victory, while his teammates supported him with five runs and 14 hits, as BG moved its' winning-streak to 12.
With the victory, the Falcons improved to 32-18 overall, while the Bobcats fell to 27-29.
BG will now face second-seeded Eastern Michigan in a 4 p.m. winners' bracket game on Thursday.
"I thought it was a great college baseball game today," said BG coach Danny Schmitz, who won his 11th career MAC Tournament contest with the victory. "We did a great job of getting Frank [Berry] a lead early, which allowed him to relax. We knew both teams would come out fired up, being that it was the first game of the tournament and Frank did a great job. This time of year, you're looking for seven or eight quality innings out of your starter and that's what he gave us."
Berry's win moved the sophomore right-hander to 7-1, as he is now a single win shy of tying Nick Cantrell for the team lead. That win total is also a single win shy of tying for eighth-place on the all-time BGSU single-season wins list.
After Berry sat down the Bobcats in order in the top half of the first, BG drew the game's first-blood in home half of the inning. Getting the offense started for the Falcons was junior shortstop Ryan Shay. The Garden City, Mich. native led-off the Falcon first with a double down the left field line, before being advanced to third on a groundout. He would be brought home then on a sacrifice fly to left by Brian Hangbers to give BG a 1-0 lead.
A single, a walk and sacrifice bunt put the Falcons in position to add onto their once again in the second. Marty Baird would pick up an RBI-groundout in the inning, as the Falcons continued to manufacture runs.
With Berry sitting down the Bobcats in order in each of their first three at bats in the field, BG got another run in the third to take an early 3-0 lead. Derek Spencer tallied the first of a team-high two RBI on the day with an RBI-single to right in the frame that brought home catcher Ryan Schlater from third, as the timely hits continued.
Spencer would go on to finish the day 2-for-3 with two runs scored and two RBI, adding a solo home run in the bottom half of the seventh.
OU was finally able to muster an attack on Berry in the fourth, as it platted its' first run when a groundout by Marc Krauss scored leadoff hitter Matt Stiffler from third. Stiffler led-off the frame with a double to left center and was advanced to third on a single by Brandon Besl, as the Bobcats cut the Falcons' advantage to 3-1.
A key double play in the top half of the fifth would keep the score the same through five. With runners at first and second and a single out, Berry induced a groundball right to Shay at short, who was able to scoop it and get it to Logan Meisler on the bag at second, who whistled it over to Hangbers at first to complete the 6-4-3 turn.
Shay would then transfer that same big-play ability to the plate in the sixth, as he lined an RBI-base hit to center to stretch the Falcon lead to 4-1 on his 36th RBI of the season. The First Team All-MAC selection would record his 30th multiple-hit game in the contest, finishing 3-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI.
Spencer then smacked his 10th homer in the seventh to open up a 5-1 lead, before things got interesting in the game's final two innings.
With Berry starting to show signs of fatigue, OU got two one-out singles and a walk to bring his day to a close. Brett Browning relieved the Virginia Beach, Va. native and got Krauss to groundout to second, but a run would score to cut the lead to 5-2. Kevin Leady then replaced Browning a batter later and got Robert Maddox III to strike out swinging for the inning's final out after giving up a full-count walk to Besl that loaded the bases.
The Falcons would get two runners on in the bottom half of the eighth, but were unable to get a run across, setting the stage for the game's final inning. Leady would stay on the mound to try and close the deal on BG's first opening round victory since 2002, however OU had different plans. Chris Klimko singled to leadoff the inning just in front of Gauntlett Eldemire, who homered to deep left center to cut the deficit to one.
BG stayed with Leady though, who was greeted at the mound by Schmitz, following the Eldemire's two-run homer.
"I went right out to the mound and asked him [Leady] if he was going to be able to finish things off," said Schmitz. "He looked me right in the eye and told he could and I asked him if he was sure and he said `yes sir!'.
Leady would back up his response, getting three-srraight outs to pick up his third save of the season. The first out came thanks to a great diving catch in left field by Mark Galvin that saved extra-bases. His second would come via a strikeout that caught Zach Keen looking, before he fielded a game-inning groundout where he took the ball to the bag himself to secure the win.
The victory gave the Falcons their fourth win against the Bobcats in the month, as they swept a three-game set in Athens during the first week of May that started their current streak.
Getting saddled with the loss in the Bobcats losing effort was left-hander Zach Elmer, who fell to 4-4 on the season. Elmer gave up four runs on 10 hits in five innings, before being replaced by Matt Smith in the sixth inning.
Pacing OU at the plate on the day was Klimko who went 2-for-4 with a run scored, while Krauss and Eldemire each had a team-high two RBI.
For more information on BG's game and for results from the rest of the tournament, you can visit the official MAC Tournament website, which can be accessed at www.bgsufalcons.com
NOTES: Ryan Shay's first inning double tied him with the single-season school record of 19, which was also accomplished by Len Elias (1999), Tim Newell (2002) and Eric Lawson (2005) ... with his three hits, Ryan Shay now has 84 base knocks on the season, placing him two shy of the school record of 86 set by Aric Christman in 2001 ... Frank Berry's 7.1 innings marked the fifth time this season that the right-hander has gone seven or more innings ... BG is now 12-0 in the month of May ... BG's 12-game winning-streak is one shy of the all-time school record of 13 consecutive wins set during the 1976 seasons ... BG is 11-12 all-time in MAC Tournament play and 4-4 in opening round games.
