Saturday, May 22
Bowling Green, Ohio
1:05 p.m.
Bowling Green State University
9
vs
8
University at Buffalo
Derek Spencer played "hero" in today's 9-8 victory over Buffalo, hitting a walk-off, solo home run in the bottom of the ninth.
Falcons Take a Share of the Crown with Walk-Off Win Over Buffalo
May 22, 2010 | Baseball
Derek Spencer's walk-off home run in the ninth give the Falcons a share of the MAC East title.
Box score | Updated statistics | Five Minutes With... Senior Day Special
Post game audio - Danny Schmitz and Derek Spencer | Photo Gallery
Radio Call of Derek Spencer's Home Run (call by Jason Knavel on BGSUFalcons.com)
MAC Tournament Printable Bracket (.pdf)
Conference East division championship on the line the Falcons filled every inning with thrills and moments of excitement until the final pitch that decided the contest. Despite losing a two-run lead going into ninth inning, the Falcons fought off the resiliency of the University at Buffalo. With one swing of the bat on the first pitch of the bottom of the ninth, Derek Spencer helped his eight fellow seniors and the rest of the Falcons walk off of Warren E. Steller Field (Bowling Green, Ohio) with a 9-8 win on Saturday afternoon.
Bowling Green took an 8-6 lead after scoring a pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth on a run-scoring sacrifice fly by Ryan Schlater and a RBI single by #T.J. Blanton# off of UB reliever, Jeff Thompson. The Falcons brought on Patrick O'Brien for the save and the win, but the Bulls were not finished fighting.
After striking out the opening batter Brad Agustin on a called strike three via a check swing, O'Brien ran into troubles with the two, three and four hitters of the UB lineup. A check-swing that resulted in a weak ground ball to the right side was fielded by Mark Galvin and tossed to the freshman pitcher at first base for the second out, but the Bulls began their two-out rally en route to tying the game. With a runner at second, Jacob Rosenbeck singled to his counterpart at shortstop with a grounder deep into the hole. Berti's throw pulled Clay Duncan off of the bag at first on a close play and allowed runners at the corners. After Rosenbeck was relieved by Jason Kanzler in a pinch-running situation, a passed ball scored the runner from third and sent Kanzler to second. Adam Skonieczki then hit a 2-2 pitch from O'Brien up the middle. Though Berti looked to have had a beat on the ball, the ball took an awkward hop on Berti's approach to the grounder and skid into center field allowing the game-tying run to score.
Nodded at eight runs a piece, the first pitch in the home half of the ninth was the pitch that decided the game. Spencer led the bottom of the ninth off and needed to see only one pitch to make the Falcons winners. Spencer took a high, outside fastball and lined it deep into right field. Screaming toward the outfield wall, Buffalo right fielder Charlie Karstedt ran out of room and watched the ball sail over the wall. The Falcons poured out of their respective dugout and met the game-winning run in the form of a senior from Oregon, Ohio at the plate as he scored the run that awarded Bowling Green a win, the series sweep of the Bulls and a share of the MAC East title.
Spencer concluded his last hurrah at Steller Field with a 3-for-5 day from the plate accompanied with a pair of RBI topping off what could be considered the perfect ending to his career at “The Stell”.
Six Falcons recorded multiple hits in Saturday's game, including three with a trio of hits. Berti and Duncan both went 3-for-4 from the plate and knocked in a pair of runs each. Every Falcon in the starting lineup reached base at least once in the contest and eight out of the nine starters recorded at least one hit.
Berti also accomplished an outstanding feat in the game after recording three consecutive hits in the contest. Digging back into Friday's game against UB, the sophomore reached base via a base hit in seven consecutive at-bats before grounding out in his last plate appearance on Saturday.
Prior to the late inning dramatics that decided the game, the Falcons played much of Saturday's game ahead in the game. Buffalo scored in the top of the first inning on a sacrifice fly that plated Bobby Pizzuto after he advanced to third on a passed ball.
Bowling Green responded as they had in Friday's game with a series of runs that allowed them to take back the lead. On six hits, all singles, the Falcons mustered four runs against UB starter Josh Edwards. Four Falcon seniors were a part of the singles barrage in the first including Logan Meisler, Dennis Vaughn, Spencer and Mark Galvin. Galvin also stole a base in the mix of things, better allowing him to score on Clay Duncan's single plating BGSU's fourth run.
Buffalo broke into the Falcons' lead with a pair of runs in the top of the fifth coming from back-to-back RBI doubles from Bull hitters David Neff and Rob Lawler.
After 11 Falcon singles accounted for all of the team's hits through the first five innings, Galvin broke that streak with a hit worth four bases. On the first pitch of the Falcon half of the sixth, the Norwalk, Ohio native went opposite field with a fly ball that carried over Karstedt's head to give BGSU a 5-3 lead.
Buffalo took the lead back in the top of the seventh after posting three runs on reliever Nick Bruns in his fifth inning of work. The freshman did not record an out before being lifted following a leadoff homer and a single by Pizzuto. Ross Gerdeman entered the game and on his first offer to the plate was taken deep by Brad Cochrane for a two-run home run.
The Bowling Green senior class continued to rise to the occasion when Falcon leftfielder Dennis Vaughn again tied the score with one swing of the bat. Vaughn chose one he liked and pulled his fourth home run of the series to tie the game at six runs, allowing for the late inning dramatics to pick up from there.
Saturday's win closes out the regular season with a bang and cites the first time in BGSU baseball history that teams have won at least a share of the MAC East title in three consecutive years. Had Kent State lost to Akron, it would have given the Falcons the division title outright, however the Golden Flashes defeated the Zips, 20-7. Bowling Green has won consecutive regular season titles three times, most recently in 2008 and 2009. The Falcons also won division titles consecutively in 1998-99 and 2001-02.
The Falcon win also helps set the tone for the upcoming Mid-American Conference Tournament. With Bowling Green (28-21-1, 18-9), Kent State, Toledo and Central Michigan all winning on Saturday the Falcons earn the fifth seed in the tournament. They will play fourth seeded Ball State, who lost to Toledo also in walk-off fashion on Saturday.
After No. 1 seed Central Michigan elected to play at 7:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Bowling Green slid into the 9:00 a.m. time slot to play the Cardinals on the opening day of the tournament. Click here for the complete MAC Tournament bracket, or go to mac-sports.com.
Full coverage of Bowling Green baseball will be provided throughout the tournament. The Mid-American Conference will provide audio and video through the All-MACCESS Pass provided through their website. Free audio will be provided for all BGSU games through the official online home of Falcon Athletics.
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