Falcons Slap Chips With Big Bats in 7-3 Victory

Friday, May 28

Chillicothe, Ohio

4:00 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

Central Michigan University

May 28, 2010 | Baseball

By: by Ryan Gasser, Athletic Communications Graduate Assistant

Box score | Play-by-play | Updated statistics
Post game interviews - Matthew Pitzulo and Danny Schmitz (MAC-sports.com)

CHILLICOTHE, Ohio – As a form of payback for putting the Falcons into the losers bracket of the 2010 Mid-American Conference Tournament Thursday afternoon, Bowling Green returned the favor to Central Michigan University by leveling up the right side of the bracket with a vengeance win. Friday night marked the perfect ending to the first of two potential doubleheaders the Falcons need to win to be crowned MAC Tournament Champions. Led by three Falcon home runs and solid pitching from three BGSU hurlers, the Brown and Orange won their nightcap with the Chippewas, 7-3, and will advance to the final day of the tournament.

Most impressive in Friday night's game was the collective effort of Nick Bruns, Patrick Martin and Patrick O'Brien from the mound at VA Memorial Stadium (Chillicothe, Ohio). Bruns made the start for the Falcons and tossed three strong innings allowing only three hits and one run on a solo shot he suffered in the second inning. He relinquished his duties to redshirt-sophomore Patrick Martin who threw his longest outing of his career.

Martin (2-1) tossed marvelous inning of work and retired 19 of the 22 batters he faced on the day. The Oregon, Ohio native worked out of a bases-loaded jam in his first inning of work after allowing a double, single and a hit batsman. Turning over the lineup and approaching the second hitter in the CMU order, Martin forced DH Brendan Emmett to fly out in foul grounds down the right field line where Mark Galvin made the grab running to his left and fighting the sun to end the inning and the CMU threat. Martin then went on to retire four straight Chippewa batters nine of his 12 batters. His only mistake came with one runner on in the eighth when he allowed a two-run homer to bring Central Michigan within four runs of Bowling Green.

O'Brien, who earned saves in each of the Falcons two prior wins in this tournament, entered in a non-save situation but put the icing on the cake of a delicious BGSU win. He faced a tough task with the top of the Central Michigan lineup approaching the plate but continued to deal their heart of the order problems striking out three-hitter James Teas and forcing cleanup slugger Nate Theunissen to fly out to centerfield to end the game.

Offensively the Falcons once again received contributions from all areas of the batting order. Dennis Vaughn led the top half of the Falcons order with three hits on the day as the 1-2-3 hitters in the Falcon lineup went a combined 6-for-12, accounted for three runs and two RBI in the game.

With the assistance of a balk call on CMU starting pitcher Zach Cooper, the Falcons scored the game's first run. After #T.J. Blanton# doubled into the right-center field gap and advanced to third on a Vaughn single that skid into left field. With runners on the corners, Cooper made an illegal move with a twitch of the glove that was called a balk. The balk moved both runners up and gave the Falcons a 1-0 advantage.

In the Falcon fourth, BGSU added a pair of runs to break a 1-1 deadlock. After a Jon Berti single to center field and a walk to Galvin, Cooper attempted to pick Berti off at second. The throw was spot on, but nobody was covering the bag from CMU. The errant throw allowed each runner to advance 90 feet. With a check swing on a 1-1 offer, Clay Duncan bounced a soft grounder between first base and the hill that Cooper had no choice but to go to first with. The putout scored Berti from third and set up Galvin to score from third on a Matthew Pitzulo sacrifice fly, giving Bowling Green a 3-1 lead.

The Falcons kept the trend of scoring in pairs alive by posting two runs in both the sixth and seventh innings. It also marked the beginning of the “BG Barrage” of home runs. To lead off the sixth inning, Galvin singled up the middle and was sacrificed to second to put him in scoring position. However, he was allowed to trot the rest of the way home when Pitzulo put a rocket in the baseball that shot over the batter's eye in dead center field. Central Michigan changed pitchers for the at-bat, but the new arm on the mound mattered not. After driving the count full, Pitzulo drove a pitch that was left out over the plate over the batter's eye and into the wooded area beyond the walls of VA Memorial Stadium. The two-run blast extended the lead to four runs and kept coming the very next inning.

As if the 5-1 lead on the number-one seeded Chippewas was not enough, the crowd and the team were reenergized with back-to-back homeruns from #T.J. Blanton and Derek Spencer# began the eighth inning with consecutive solo home runs. Two runs were scored on three pitches from Cooper when Blanton took the first pitch he saw and parked it beyond the right center field fence. Spencer followed on an 0-1 count with a no-doubter to left center field that erupted the crowds wearing Brown and Orange, while those wearing maroon and gold sat back in awe. The BG home runs leaders filed their 15^th and 12^th homeruns, respectively, on the season.

After the final out was recorded, Bowling Green (31-22-1) has now forced a third game with Central Michigan to determine who earns the right to play in the championship game on Saturday evening. Now that both BGSU and CMU possess one loss, they will in one final game tomorrow afternoon with a time slot yet to be determined.

The start time of the finale between the Chips and the Falcons will rely upon the outcome of tonight's final game between #7 Eastern Michigan and #2 Kent State. If Kent State wins tonight's game, the Falcons will play at 11:30 a.m. ET in the day's opening game. Kent State and Eastern Michigan would then play one last time to determine who from their side of the bracket would play in the championship game. However, if Eastern Michigan wins, Kent State is eliminated from the tournament and Bowling Green will play CMU at 12 noon for the right to play EMU in the championship game. That game time will be posted on BGSUFalcons.com tonight at the conclusion of the EMU/KSU game.

Coverage of Bowling Green's final rematch with Central Michigan as well as the entire 2010 MAC Tournament will be provided through BGSUFalcons.com and MACsports.com.