Bowling Green State University
BUFFALO
MALEWITZ PITCHES BG PAST BUFFALO, 13-3
May 09, 2009 | Baseball
May 9, 2009
BUFFALO, N.Y. - The Bowling Green State University baseball team won their fifth consecutive Mid-American Conference game Saturday afternoon to maintain their share of first place in the East Division as the Falcons defeated Buffalo, 13-3, behind the pitching of sophomore Matt Malewitz. BG is tied with Kent State, who was a 12-9 winner over Akron on Saturday, for the top spot in the East with 15-7 records.
Malewitz went 7.2 innings throwing 121 pitches while allowing five hits and two earned runs while striking out eight. With the victory, Malewitz improved to 5-1 on the season. Malewitz retired 12 of the last 18 batters he faced, striking out five, with two Buffalo players reaching safely during that time on errors. Freshman Ross Gerdeman got the last four outs allowing only a single while also recording one strike out.
The game was played in steady winds around 35 miles per hour and gusts even higher. The wind was blowing straight out to center field at the beginning of the game and it was blowing out to right field by the end of the contest.
The Falcons put seven runs on the board before Buffalo could get to Malewitz as every player in the BG starting lineup had at least one hit and seven of those players had at least one RBI.
BG opened the scoring in the second inning with a single run that scored on a wild pitch. Freshman left fielder Jon Berti walked with two outs and advanced to third on a single by junior right fielder Mark Galvin before scoring on the wild pitch by Buffalo starter Mike Stangroom.
BG had its biggest inning in the next frame scoring five runs on four hits with Berti again in the middle of the action. Junior center fielder T.J. Blanton led off the third inning with a triple to right center. After a ground out and a strike out, junior second baseman Logan Meisler drove in Blanton with an infield single. Junior third baseman Derek Spencer then doubled in Meisler and junior designated hitter Dennis Vaughn drew a walk. Berti then followed with a home run to right field to make the score 6-0. It was Berti's fourth home run of the season and extended his hitting streak to 12 games. Berti has hit three of his four home runs against MAC teams. It as his third three-run home run of the season with his other round-tripper a two-run shot.
The Falcons added a run in the fourth as Shay tripled with two outs and senior first baseman Brian Hangbers followed with an RBI single.
Buffalo got on the board in the bottom of the fourth on a single, a double and a ground out, but the Falcons go that run back in the top of the fifth as Vaughn led off with a double, and after two outs, sophomore catcher Ryan Schlater singled to left field to drive in Vaughn.
Buffalo added single runs in the seventh and eighth innings as Eric Flynn homered in seventh and in the eighth a BG error followed by a triple by Charlie Karstedt completed the scoring for the Bulls.
BG was not done adding to its advantage as they scored four runs in the eighth and added a single run in the ninth.
In the eighth, Meisler had an RBI single, Vaughn an RBI double, Berti a sacrifice fly and Galvin an RBI single. Meisler doubled in Hangbers in the ninth, after Hangbers had doubled with two outs.
Meisler was 4-for-6 to lead the Falcon attack, equalling his career high for hits in a game, while driving in three runs. Vaughn had three hits, all doubles to tie the BGSU single-game record, and scored three runs while driving in one run. Four other players had a pair of hits while Berti equalled his career high with four RBI.
Karstedt (2-for-4) was the only Bull player with multiple hits as Malewitz and Gerdeman limited UB to six hits. Stangroom (3-3) went the first five innings suffering the loss allowing 10 hits and eight earned runs.
With the victory, BG improved to 25-18 overall while clinching a spot in the MAC Tournament, May 20-24 in Chillicothe, Ohio. It is the ninth time the Falcons have qualified for the league tournament since 1994. Buffalo is now 20-30 overall and 6-16 in league play.
In the first two games of the series against Buffalo, the Falcons have scored 34 runs on 38 hits and are hitting .413 as a team. BG came into the weekend series 18th in the country hitting .339. BG will take a team batting average of .365 in MAC play into the final game of the series against Buffalo on Sunday with the first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m.
