Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
EASTERN MICHIGAN
Eagles Down Falcons, 11-4, Thursday In MAC Tournament Play
May 22, 2008 | Baseball
May 22, 2008
Final Stats | Notes
CHILLICOTHE, Ohio - Eastern Michigan's Matt Shoemaker allowed just four runs (three earned) on seven hits in six and 2/3 innings of work on Thursday, as the Eagles ended the Bowling Green State University baseball team's 12-game winning-streak with an 11-4 victory in the Falcons' second game of the 2008 Mid-American Conference Tournament at VA Memorial Stadium. The Eagles' ace got help from an EMU lineup that saw four players finish the game with multiple-hits, as the Eagles out-hit the Falcons 12-9 for the day, bringing a close to what was the nation's second-longest winning-streak entering the day's play.
With the victory, the Eagles improved to 23-32, while the Falcons fell to 32-19.
BG now faces a 9 a.m. Friday morning re-match with Ohio University, who was a 5-4 winner over Western Michigan earlier in the day. The winner of tomorrow morning's game will take on EMU at 4 p.m., needing to beat the Eagles twice (once on Friday and again on Saturday afternoon) in order to advance to Saturday's Championship game.
That long road to the Saturday's title game however, looked far from the Falcons' minds in the first inning of Thursday's contest. BG attacked Shoemaker right from the first pitch and put the pressure on the right-handed hurler early on, as they were able to plate two runners to jump out to a 2-0 lead.
Ryan Shay drew a full-count walk to leadoff the game and later advanced to second on a wild pitch. He was moved to third then on a groundout by Brian Hangbers, before being brought home on an RBI-double to right center by Derek Spencer. Mark Galvin followed and continued the scoring with an RBI-double of his own, this time to left center, as the Falcon offense appeared to be firing on all cylinders.
The two-run lead didn't last long though, as the Eagles countered with a run in the home half of the first to cut BG's lead to 2-1, before tying things up with a single run in the third.
Unfortunately for the Falcons, their offense wasn't answering back as it started to cool off in the second and was held without a run till the sixth inning. Their lack of production was mostly due to Shoemaker, who began to settle in on the mound, holding BG's offense to just three hits through five innings.
With the game still tied at two all in the bottom of the fifth, EMU used back-to-back home runs to grab a 5-2 lead. The first of the long balls came from Steve Bradshaw, who belted a two-run homer to right off BG starter Kevin Light for his fifth home run of the season. Jeff Davis followed with another homer to right on a 2-2 offering from Light just one hitter later then, to bring Light's day to a close.
Light (4-4), who took the loss, went four and 1/3 innings, surrendering five runs on eight hits with two strikeouts. He was replaced by right-handed freshman Brennan Smith who went two innings, before giving way to Charles Wooten and Phil Hettlinger to finish it up.
Down 5-2, the Falcons attempted a rally in the sixth as they platted a run to get the score to 5-3. Galvin hit a one-out double to get things rolling, just in front of Logan Meisler, who singled to short to put runners at second and third. After a fly-out, Brandon McFarland brought home Galvin from third with a hard single to left center that pushed Meisler to third, but that would be all BG would get.
EMU went on to score a run in the bottom half of the sixth to move their advantage to 6-3. Then after the Falcons closed with a run again in the seventh, the Eagles broke the game wide-open with a four-run seventh to push the lead to six, adding a run in the eighth for insurance.
Shoemaker (5-3) gave way to Dan Puls in the seventh, who continued to hold BG at bay, going the final two and 1/3 innings to record his third save of the season.
Leading the way for EMU on the day was Bradshaw, who finished 3-for-4 with a homer, three runs scored and two RBI. Adding two hits a piece were Davis, Josh Ivan and Andrew Marshall.
Pacing the Falcons in defeat would be Galvin, who finished 3-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI. He was the lone Falcon with multiple-hits on the day, as just seven players recorded hits.
For more information, statistics, audio and video of the 2008 MAC Baseball Tournament, you can visit www.mac-sports.com. Live statistics for Friday morning's game and any other BG games can be found by visiting www.bgsufalcons.com, as all Falcon tournament games will be available on gametracker, which can be found by visiting the team's schedule page.
NOTES: BG has won all four meetings with Ohio University this season, sweeping a three-game series in Athens and winning Wednesday's morning opening game of the tournament against the Bobcats by a 5-4 score ... the Falcons will throw right-hander Kevin Leady in Friday morning's elimination tilt ... BG is now 11-13 all-time in MAC Tournament play ... with his three hits on Thursday, Mark Galvin is now hitting 571 in MAC Tournament play ... Derek Spencer's first inning RBI moved his season total to 54, which ties for eighth-place on the all-time BGSU single-season list.
