Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
BUFFALO
BG Opens Series At Buffalo With A 21-6 Win
May 08, 2009 | Baseball
May 8, 2009
BUFFALO, NEW YORK - The Bowling Green State University baseball team won its 11th Mid-American Conference game in its last 14 contests Friday afternoon at Buffalo and in the process grabbed a share of first place in the East Division. BG's 21-6 victory combined with Akron's 8-4 win over Kent State in 11 innings moved the Falcons into a first place tie with the Golden Flashes. Both now have 14-7 records in league play.
The season-high 21 runs was the most scored by a BG team since they beat Albion, 21-1, last season and the most against an MAC opponent since they beat Akron, 28-4, on May 18, 2002. The Falcons had 20 hits in a game for the second time this season, but fell two hits shy of their season high.
Bowling Green wasted little time getting to Buffalo starter Pierre Miville-Deschenes scoring four runs on five hits in the opening inning as shortstop Ryan Shay led off with a single and moved to second on a ground out. Second baseman Logan Meisler then singled in Shay with third baseman Derek Spencer following with a single. Designated hitter Dennis Vaughn then singled through the left side scoring Meisler. After Spencer and Vaughn moved up one base on a balk, a ground out by left fielder Jon Berti plated Spencer. A single by left fielder Mark Galvin drove home Vaughn with the final run of the inning.
The Falcons made it 10-0 in the second inning tacking on six runs on a couple of home runs with a Bull error also playing a big role. BG also ended Miville-Deschenes' day before he could get an out in the second inning. Shay hit a two-run home run, his team-best 12th of the season, after center fielder T. J. Blanton led off with a single. First baseman Brian Hangbers followed Shay with his seventh round-tripper of the season. After Meisler walked and Spencer singled, Vaughn bunted to move the runners up and they both came in to score when Bull pitcher Jesse Reinstein, who came in to relieve Miville-Deschene, threw the ball away at first with Vaughn advancing to second. Catcher Ryan Schlater then singled Vaughn home.
Hangbers home run was the 30th of his career, and fourth in his last seven games, becoming only the seventh player in school history to hit 30 or more round-trippers in a career.
Buffalo (20-29, 6-15 MAC) came back against BG starter Brennan Smith scoring six runs in the third and fourth innings, five of those runs crossing on three home runs.
UB scored four runs in the third inning on a one-out home run by shortstop Brad Agustin, and two batters later, first baseman Rob Lawler homered to center field after designated hitter Chris Ciesla, who was 3-for-5 in the game, had doubled down the left field line. The final run in the inning was walked in. Smith struck out UB leadoff hitting Adam Skonieczki get out of the inning without further damage.
In the fourth, Buffalo closed to within 10-6 as Lawler followed another Ciesla hit with his second home run in as many innings. It was Lawler's fifth home run of the season.
But, it was all BG the rest of the way as Smith settled down to retire the Bulls in order in the fifth and sixth innings, the first two outs in the sixth came on diving catches in the outfield by Blanton and Galvin, and sophomore Charles Wooten went the final three innings to get his fourth save yielding only a ninth inning single.
The Falcons scored a pair of runs in the fifth for some breathing room as Blanton reached with two outs when UB right fielder Charlie Karstedt dropped his fly ball after a short run allowing Blanton to reach and advance to second. Shay followed with an RBI single and advanced to second on the throw to the plate in an attempt to get Blanton trying to score. Hangbers followed with a single that scored Shay.
BG added on runs in each of the final three frames starting with a Hangbers two-out RBI single in the seventh to drive in Schlater who had led off with a single. BG scored a pair of runs in the eighth inning with two outs as Berti doubled to extend his hitting streak to 11 games and Galvin followed with his second triple of the season to right center chasing Berti home. Schlater then followed with a double down the left field line to plate Galvin and make the score 15-6.
BG (24-18 overall) scored six runs in the ninth inning as left fielder Patrick Martin drew a walk to force in the first run. Galvin followed with a sacrifice fly before Blanton singled to center field to drive in two runs. BG's final two runs of the game scored on a wild pitch and the other on a Buffalo error.
Every player in the BG order had at least one hit with Shay (3-for-7), Hangbers (3-for-7), Meisler (3-for-6) and Schlater (3-for-5) each collecting three hits. Schlater's three-hit day equalled a career high while seven at-bats for Shay and Hangbers tied the school record that is owned by 16 different players and last achieved in 2008 by three different players (Andrew Foster, Spencer and Galvin). Hangbers drove in a season-best four runs while Shay, Vaughn and Galvin all had three RBI. Shay, Meisler, Spencer and Blanton all scored three runs.
Smith earned his eighth win of the season for BG going six innings allowing nine hits and five earned runs with four strike outs. Smith has now won eight of his last 10 starts with his eight wins tying him with five other players for eighth place on the all-time BGSU single-season list. His 68 strike outs this season is 10th on the BG single-season ladder.
BG played the game without leading hitter Tyler Elkins (.413 battting average, second in the MAC) who is day-to-day with a pulled left hamstring suffered in the final game of the Ohio series last weekend.
The two teams are scheduled to play a 1 p.m. game Saturday in the middle contest of the three-game series with left-hander Matt Malewitz expected to start for the Falcons.
