True Rollercoaster Ride in Ypsilanti; Falcons Falter in the Ninth

Saturday, April 3

Ypsilanti, Mich.

1:00 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

Eastern Michigan University

True Rollercoaster Ride in Ypsilanti; Falcons Falter in the Ninth

April 03, 2010 | Baseball

By: by Ryan Gasser, Athletic Communications Graduate Assistant

Box score
Updated team statistics

YPSILANTI, Mich. -- Bowling Green brought the bats to Oestrike Field and battled with the Eastern Michigan Eagles, but the last team rally was the decider in Ypsilanti. After the Falcons took a two run lead following Patrick Martin's first career home run, Eastern Michigan answered the call with three runs, including a walk-off RBI single to give EMU the win, 9-8.

After a 5-5 tie was taken into the seventh frame after an EMU five-run sixth inning, #T.J. Blanton# extended his hitting streak to 16 games with a solo home run over the left field fence. The home run gave the Falcons a 6-5 lead that they held until the bottom of the eighth.

In the home half of the eighth inning, the Eagles' Bo Kinder answered Blanton's home run with one of his own to deep center field. After fouling off a 3-2 pitch into his shin, Kinder hobbled into the left-handed batters box and on the very next pitch launched the ball over the fence to tie the game back at six runs.

Patrick Martin kept the streak of solo home runs going when he connected with an outside fastball from EMU pitcher Jordan Glover. Going with the pitch to the opposite way, Martin's hit carried over the left field fence breaking the tie once again and giving Bowling Green a 7-6 lead. The home run was Martin's first career round-tripper. He also earned his first hit of the season in Friday night's game.

The Falcons added a second run in the top of the ninth. Blanton hit a one-out single up the middle and stole second base on the next batter. Derek Spencer stepped to the plate and continued his recent successes at the plate with a single up the middle, scoring Blanton and extending the BGSU lead, 8-6.

Charles Wooten came out to get the win in his third inning of relief, but surrendered a leadoff home run to Andrew Marshall. With a one-run lead and after Wooten allowed a single and hit a batter to put men on first and second, the call was made to the Falcon bullpen to bring in freshman Patrick O'Brien.

A sacrifice bunt moved runners to second and third base and gave the Eagles two outs to play with. After carefully pitching to and walking Aaron Crooks, the bases were loaded for the ninth hitter, Wally Gerbus. Gerbus hit a sharp ground ball deep into the hole between shortstop and third base, but a diving Jon Berti got some glove on the ball, knocking it down. Despite now having a play on a runner, he did save the game-winning run to score, while the game-tying run cross the plate, evening the score at eight apiece.

The next EMU batter wasted no time in settling the score. Bo Kinder who hit the game-tying home run the inning prior swung at the first pitch he saw and grounded one through the right side allowing the winning run to score and drop the Falcons, 9-8.

Eastern Michigan scored their nine runs on 18 hits. Thirteen of those hits were recorded from the sixth inning on after BGSU starter Michael Frank pitched a solid five innings in his sixth start of the season. Frank faced three batters in the sixth inning and was responsible for three of the five runs the Eagles scored that inning. He finished allowing ten hits, three runs while striking out three and walking only one EMU batter.

Bowling Green scored the game's first five runs of the game, beginning in the second inning when Patrick Martin cleared the bases with a two-run double to left-center field. With two outs, Tyler Elkins and Matthew Pitzulo walked consecutively before Martin hit the gap with a two-bagger scoring both Falcons.

The Falcons doubled their lead to four runs in their next at bat when in the top of the third inning Mark Galvin hit his first home run of the season. Spencer singled to right-center field before Galvin took a 2-1 pitch from EMU starter Kendall Lewis gave up Galvin's two-run homer that was hit to dead center field. The home run increased the lead for BGSU to 4-0.

The Orange and Brown added one more run courtesy of a RBI double from Galvin. Spencer hit a one-out triple to right-center field and Galvin followed hitting a deep fly ball into the right-center gap on a full count pitch. After five innings, the Falcons had a 5-0 lead.

In the sixth inning, the Eagles score five runs to tie the game at five. After Frank surrendered two runs on three hits to the inning's first three batters, Wooten entered the game and retired his 14^th straight hitter on a sacrifice fly to right field. Wally Gerbus hit a RBI single to score a run and close the books on Frank before EMU added two more runs after two additional Eastern Michigan hits and an error in the field by Bowling Green.

With the loss, Bowling Green falls to 7-14-1 overall with a conference mark of 1-4. Eastern Michigan's win improves them to 12-15 and 4-1 in the Mid-American Conference. The series will wrap up in Ypsilanti with game three scheduled for Sunday at 1:00 p.m.

Follow the Falcons tomorrow through Eastern Michigan's LIVE STATS and EMU audio (subscription rates may apply). Live blogging unfortunately will not be available for the game. All your Falcon baseball needs can be serviced through BGSUFalcons.com, the online home for Falcon athletics.