Bowling Green State University Athletics
Errors Plague Falcons in 6-5 Loss to NIU
March 27, 2010 | Baseball
Box score
Gameday Central
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -- On a brisk but sunny afternoon, the Falcons hosted the Northern Illinois Huskies for the 2010 Mid-American Conference lid lifter. The Falcon defense gave little support to BGSU starter Brennan Smith after the Falcons allowed five unearned runs following four Falcon errors in a 6-5 defeat on Friday evening.
Bowling Green ace, Brennan Smith, got the nod to begin conference play. Smith struggled with his control early walking the first two NIU batters of the game. After a ground out picked up by first baseman Dennis Vaughn moved both NIU runners two second and third base, a throwing error by BGSU second baseman Logan Meisler scored both runs, giving NIU a 2-0 lead after one at-bat. Smith struck out Jake Hermsen looking to end the inning, his second after seven NIU batters.
Bowling Green returned the favor with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second inning. With two out, Derek Spencer started the rally with a double that carried into deep center field. After a walk to Mark Galvin, Clay Duncan hit an infield single deep into the hole between short and third base to load the bases. Huskie starting pitcher Zach Oates then grazed T.J. Blanton with a high and tight pitch that sent the reigning MAC Player of the Week to first base and gave the senior an RBI as Spencer crossed the plate. Oates then tossed a fastball into the dirt that NIU catcher, Brett Fratini, could not handle and as the pitch skid away, Galvin tied the game, 2-2.
Bowling Green temporarily took the lead in their next at-bat in the third inning. After freshman Matthew Pitzulo drilled a single deep in the hole to short, cleanup hitter Dennis Vaughn raked a double that scored Pitzulo from first giving the Falcons a 3-2 lead.
The lead was relinquished in the top of the fourth after a Falcon error led to three unearned runs. After Smith retired the NIU leadoff man with his fourth strike out of the day, a routine ground ball fielded by Logan Meisler turned into free base for NIU catcher Brett Frantini when BGSU first baseman Dennis Vaughn dropped the toss over. Following that play, a second ground ball to Meisler looked to be a routine double play, but short stop Jon Berti's throw sailed errantly out of play, sending Krupp to second base. Three consecutive hits off of Brennan Smith scored Krupp and two other Huskies, making the score 5-3 in Northern Illinois's favor.
Bowling Green took advantage of some of their opponent's errors in the bottom of the inning to tie the game at five after their trip to the plate. Clay Duncan led the inning off reaching on an error by NIU shortstop Alex Jones bobbled a ground ball hit to him near second base. After Berti singled to put Falcons on the corners, Matthew Pitzulo put a ball in play to the right side of the infield. Hustling down the line, Pitzulo and NIU pitcher Zach Oates nearly met at the bag, but throw to Oates covering first was dropped, allowing Duncan to score on the play.
The next Falcon batter also reached on an error to extend the BGSU inning. Logan Meisler slammed ground ball down to the hot corner that NIU third baseman Troy White could not handle as it skipped off of his left foot and into the middle of the infield, loading the bases. Ryan Schlater then handled a 2-2 pitch from Oakes into centerfield for the game-tying RBI single.
Falcon reliever Ross Gerdeman (1-1, 1.64) took the tie game into the eighth inning after entering for Smith in the seventh before allowing what would be the winning run. Frantini singled to right field and was advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt before teammate Alex Beckmann brought him home on a RBI single that gave the Huskies the lead for good. The run given up by Gerdeman was the only earned run that the Huskies plated the entire game.
The Falcons gave one last heroic attempt and nearly pulled off the comeback in the ninth inning. Northern Illinois closer Andy Deain made many hearts thump after giving up a leadoff single to Jon Berti and watching him move to second base after Matthew Pitzulo sacrificed him to second. With the potential game-tying run in scoring position, the Falcons etched closer to yet another come-from-behind victory.
On a 3-1 pitched that sailed wide of the strike zone, Berti stole third on Schlater's walk putting runners at the corners. Andrew Kuns was due up, but a call was made to the bench to give David Borcherdt the chance to tie the game. After working the count to 2-2, the senior popped a fly ball into foul grounds in shallow right field where Reynold made the putout ending the game, 6-5.
Despite the loss, Brennan Smith (1-2, 8.76) struck out seven batters to take the team lead with 22 on the season. He received the no-decision after allowing five unearned runs in six innings of work, totaling 109 pitches. After his two walks in the first inning, he did not allow another runner on four balls and struck out five hitters between the second and sixth innings.
Derek Spencer continued to improve his batting average after posting two hits on the day in four at-bats, while the only other Falcon to have multiple hits was leadoff man Jon Berti, who also went 2-for-4 with a run scored. The Falcons combined for five runs on nine hits, but their four errors in the field made the difference allowing five unearned runs on the day.
The loss drops Bowling Green to 6-10-1 overall (0-1, MAC) on the season while Northern Illinois improves to 6-14 with a 1-0 MAC record.
With inclement weather on the horizon for Sunday, the rest of the series has been rescheduled to be played as a doubleheader at Warren E. Steller Field (Bowling Green, Ohio) to begin at noon on Saturday afternoon. There will be a small intermission between games one and two on the day.
Follow all of Saturday's game action between the BGSU Falcons and the NIU Huskies through BGSUFalcons.com. Gameday Central will be fully active with LIVE STATS, up-to-date statistics and a link to radio coverage provided by the Bowling Green Radio Sports Organization (BGRSO).
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