Bowling Green State University
OHIO
Falcons Take Series Opener Over Ohio, 12-9
May 01, 2009 | Baseball
May 1, 2009
BOWLING GREEN, OHIO - The Bowling Green State University baseball team scored eight runs in the middle innings to give themselves a cushion and then held on Friday afternoon at Steller Field for a 12-9 victory over Ohio. BG increased a 4-3 lead after three innings to 12-3 after seven frames before OU scored two runs in the eighth and four in the ninth and had the tying run at the plate.
BG, which has now won seven of the last nine series games with the Bobcats, improved to 21-18 overall and 11-7 in Mid-American Conference play while Ohio dropped to 22-17 and 13-6 in league play. Ohio missed a chance to move into first place in the MAC East Division as Kent State (13-5) was beaten 15-14 at Buffalo. With the win, BG is now 2.0 games behind Kent State, 1.5 games behind Ohio, and still .5 games behind third-place Miami (12-7), who was an 8-2 winner at Akron.
Bowling Green, who came into the game 17th in the country and leading the MAC hitting .336 as team, got the early jump in the second inning scoring four runs on four hits against OU starter Chris Rigo, a right-hander. Designated hitter Dennis Vaughn opened the inning with a single to center field and left fielder Jon Berti was hit by a pitch. Right fielder Mark Galvin then hit a ball to second base that was thrown away trying to get Berti at second and before the dust had cleared Vaughn had scored the first run of the game and Berti and Galvin were on second and third, respectively.
A wild pitch plated Berti before center fielder T.J. Blanton tripled to center field, his third three-bagger of the season, to drive in Galvin. Shortstop Ryan Shay then followed with a single up the middle to drive in Blanton.
Ohio came right back in their half of the third against BG starter Brennan Smith when, with one out, Gauntlett Eldemire homered to center field on a 1-1 pitch. After left fielder Marc Krauss walked, second baseman Hayden Johnston hit a home run to center field on the first pitch of his at-bat and it was a game again.
But, the Falcon offense kept things going in the middle innings while Smith was finding his groove to shut down the Bobcats, who came into the game hitting .315 as a team. Smith retired 12 of the last 16 batters he faced, two batters reached on errors and two on hits, in his final four innings of work before senior Dusty Hawk came in to start the eighth for the Falcons.
BG scored twice in the fourth. One run on a Tyler Elkins double and the on the other on one of four errors in the game by the Bobcats. BG scored three more in the fifth with one run scoring on an error while Elkins had a sacrifice fly and third baseman Derek Spencer had an RBI single.
The Falcons added one run in the sixth as they got an extra out when with two outs, Galvin walked and Blanton struck out, but reached safely when the OU catcher could not block the wild pitch and it went to the backstop with Galvin moving all the way to third. Galvin then scored on a Bobcat error.
BG increased their edge to 12-3, and would need every bit of it, in the seventh, scoring a pair of runs, one on a Vaughn sacrifice fly and the other on an infield single by Galvin.
But, the Falcons bullpen made it interesting as they surrendered two runs in the eighth and four more in the ninth before retiring the Bobcats, but not before the tying run came to the plate in the final inning.
Right fielder Jeremie Rekak hit a one-out, two-run homer to account for the runs in the eighth before OU sent nine players to the plate in the ninth inning scoring four runs on four hits. Second baseman Brandon Besl hit the fourth home run for the Bobcats, a three-run shot, after the first two batters in the inning had reached safely. A BG error and two OU singles loaded the bases with one out and the score 12-8. Eldemire drove in the ninth run on a fielder's choice before BG freshman lefty Kacy Dwornik was brought in to face Krauss, a left-handed hitter who came into the game hitting .412 with 19 home runs. Dowrnik struck out Krauss, the tying run, looking to end the game.
Smith earned the win going 7.0 innings and allowing five hits and three earned runs while striking out 10. Dwornik earned his first save by getting the final out. Rigo dropped to 5-3 on the season yielding 10 hits and 10 runs, five earned, in 5.2 innings of work for the Bobcats.
Eight of the nine runs for Ohio University scored on the their four home runs.
Elkins, who came into the game with an 11-game hitting streak and a .412 batting average, led the Falcons with three hits and a pair or RBI while collecting his 15th and 16th doubles of the season. Shay, Spencer and Vaughn each has two hits and an RBI.
Besl, Rehak and designated hitter Robert Maddox had two hits apiece for the Bobcats, who now have 67 home runs this season to lead the league.
The two teams will play the middle game of the three-game series Saturday afternoon with the first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. BG lefty Matt Malewitz (3-1) is scheduled to start against Bobcat right-hander Rex Ingham.
