Bowling Green State University Athletics

Falcons Spoil Kent State Senior Day with Win in Finale
May 16, 2010 | Baseball
Box score | Updated statistics | Play-by-play (.pdf)
KENT, Ohio -- Though five Kent State University seniors were given their moment in the spotlight prior to the series finale between the Falcons and the Flashes in accordance with Senior Day and Schoonover Stadium (Kent, Ohio), Bowling Green used the game as their time to shine posting an 8-5 victory on Sunday. The entire Falcon lineup chipped into the offensive output and spotlighted a five-run the sixth inning to give the team the lead for good.
After Kent State took a 3-1 lead into the sixth inning led by five productive innings pitched by their starting pitcher, Kyle Hallock, Bowling Green erupted for a handful of runs against his helper out of the bullpen. In only his 11th appearance of the season, Ryan Mace allowed three runs to Bowling Green and only retired one Falcon before being relieved himself. To start the scoring for BGSU, freshman Matthew Pitzulo hit his second double of the game deep to right field. Pitzulo moved to third when Ryan Schlater belted a liner to first base that KSU's Kyle McMillen knocked down, but had no play on after recovering from his leap. Following up with a run-scoring single to right field was the red-hot Logan Meisler, plating Pitzulo and sending Schlater to second.
After Kent State's second pitching change of the day, Brett Weibley turned into Bowling Green's next victim on the hill. After taking Weibley to a 2-2 count, #T.J. Blanton# roped a single into left field to score the game-tying run from second. Again with two men on, the Falcons kept the runs coming when BGSU outfielder Dennis Vaughn pulled a single through the right side to give the Falcons a 4-2 edge on the Golden Flashes.
The Falcons placed two more runs on the board before the end of the inning and at the same time showed everybody why it so important to run every play out until it ends. With two outs, Jon Berti approached the plate with runners on second and third. The sophomore shortstop hit a simple ground ball to second base, but the throw from KSU's Evan Campbell was thrown in the dirt and under the glove of McMillen at first. As the ball scooted away, Vaughn crossed home and Blanton got on his horse and sped home to score the second run on the Campbell error.
Kevin Leady (7-2) gave the Falcons another strong performance in the win going 7+ innings. Before facing a batter in the seventh, Leady had given up only three runs and six hits. At one point, the senior ten straight KSU hitters spanning from the fourth to the sixth innings. He allowed two additional runs in his eighth inning of work to make the game 6-5, but earned his team-best seventh win in the process.
In that eighth inning, Leady surrendered a single and back-to-back doubles to account for the two runs scored against him. Patrick O'Brien continued to be the most reliable reliever in the Bowling Green pen and retired the rest of the Golden Flash lineup, in order, to get the Falcons out of the jam and keep the score in the Falcons favor.
Bowling Green earned back to two runs they previously gave up on a RBI double from Clay Duncan and a wild pitch from reliever Justin Gill allowed Mark Galvin to score from third. The two-run ninth gave the Falcons a three-run cushion for O'Brien to work with in the ninth. O'Brien mowed down the Golden Flashes in order to finish the win for Bowling Green, 8-5, and earning him his fourth save in the process.
The top of the order did its job both getting on base and driving in runners in front of them. The first three hitters in the Falcon order went a combined 5-for-15 (.333) with three runs and three RBI on the day. Pitzulo finished 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles, a run scored and a walk to bump his overall batting average to .376 on the season. Berti swiped two bases in the game to add to his season numbers, currently totaling 23.
Though Kent State (31-22) possess the tie-breaker over Bowling Green by winning the season series (2-1) the Falcons (25-21-1) take back a share of the lead in the Mid-American Conference East division standings as each team now holds a 15-9 mark in conference play. With one MAC series left for each team, it will come down to the final weekend of play to sort out the brackets and seeding for the MAC Tournament (May 26-29) in Chillicothe, Ohio. Next weekend, Kent State will travel down the road to neighboring Akron University while Bowling Green closes up their home schedule with a three-game series with Buffalo. Both series will start on Thursday, May 20.
Before they can advance into the last weekend of conference play, Bowling Green will host the Horizon League's Youngstown State University on Tuesday, May 18 at Warren Steller Field. First pitch is set for 3:00 p.m. Full coverage can be found through the online home of Falcon Athletics, BGSUFalcons.com.
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