Falcons Downed by Dayton In Midweek Action

Tuesday, March 30

Dayton, Ohio

3:30 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

University of Dayton

Derek Spencer (above) will lead the BGSU Falcons (7-12-1, 1-2) into Ypsilanti, Mich. to play this Eastern Michigan Eagles this weekend.

March 30, 2010 | Baseball

By: by Ryan Gasser, Athletic Communications Graduate Assistant

Box score

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -- After an early offensive shakeup in the first two innings resulting in three Dayton Flyer runs, Bowling Green chipped away at the deficit but came up short in a 4-2 loss to UD on Tuesday afternoon. Bowling Green scored a run in the seventh and eighth innings and had the tying run at the plate in the ninth but could not plate the runs needed to mount a comeback against the Flyers.

Derek Spencer finished 1-for-4 on the day and gave the Falcons a chance to achieve the ninth inning comeback with a one out double to left center field. The Falcons had the tying run at the plate twice before the game ended, yet Dayton reliever Trent Haughn struck out his second batter of the inning by fanning Mark Galvin before forcing #T.J. Blanton# into a game-ending fly out.

Coming into the game, two Falcons had hitting streaks of 13 games on the line. After playing Dayton, Blanton extended his hit streak to 14 games after a sixth inning single. Teammate Ryan Schlater saw his career-high 13-game hit streak end Tuesday after going 0-3 versus Dayton.

Dayton scored all four of its runs in the first five innings and against freshman pitcher Nick Bruns. Down 4-0, Bowling Green got on the board in the top of the sixth after an RBI double courtesy of freshman Matthew Pitzulo. Matt Vannett reached on an error and was moved to third on a single by sophomore shortstop Jon Berti, a wild pitch allowed UD catcher Jon Welch to pick off Vannett on third while Berti moved to second on the play. With two down, Pitzulo took a payoff pitch from Flyer pitcher Eric Wagner and punched it to deep center field plating Berti on Pitzulo's fourth double of the year.

Bowling Green followed with their second run in the seventh inning after Mark Galvin doubled to right center and Blanton singled to lead off the inning. David Borcherdt's sacrifice fly to right field scored Galvin from third, making the game 4-2 in the Flyers' favor.

In his first collegiate start, Bruns took the loss and went five full innings and on five hits allowed four runs, three of which were earned. He also struck out a pair of batters, one in his first and last innings of work.

The Falcons' bullpen pitched lights out against Dayton allowing three hits in three innings of work combined. Three Falcon relievers pitched a scoreless inning of work after Bruns retired for the night. Ross Gerdeman allowed two of those hits in his inning of relief. Patrick Martin pitched a one-hit seventh inning and Charles Wooten retired three straight batters in the eighth to complete the Falcon bullpen session.

After retiring three straight Dayton hitters, Wooten has retired 13 consecutive opposing hitters spanning over his last three relief outings. Against Northern Illinois in their 7-2 win in the first game of a doubleheader on March 27, Wooten pitched three flawless innings against the Huskies in addition to his fourth straight flawless inning Tuesday evening.

With the loss, the Falcons fall to 7-12-1 overall.. Bowling Green will now prepare for a weekend field trip to play head coach Danny Schmitz's alma mater, the Eastern Michigan University Eagles. The series will commence on Friday, April 2. Game times have been altered for the weekend. Friday's game will be played under the lights of Oestrike Stadium (Ypsilanti, Mich.) with a 6 p.m. ET start time. Saturday, the two teams will meet at 3 p.m. and Sunday's action will begin at 1 p.m.

Follow the Falcons through the online home of BGSU Athletics, BGSUFalcons.com. Gameday Central will be active with up-to-date statistics with live audio, statistics and a play-by-play blog being provided.