Late Comeback Fueled By Spencer HR Gets Falcons Back on Track

Friday, May 7

Bowling Green, Ohio

3:00 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

University of Akron

May 07, 2010 | Baseball

By: by Ryan Gasser, Athletic Communications Graduate Assistant

Box score | Updated statistics

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -- When Bowling Green's starting pitching struggled to limit the runs that the Akron Zips posted the three other major phases of the team came to the team's aid on Friday afternoon. Down 9-5 after five and a half innings, the Falcon offense came alive led by Dennis Vaughn and Derek Spencer and partnered with some flawless relief pitching to lead the Falcons to a 13-9 win.

After the Zips scored nine times on ten hits between the fourth and sixth innings, all attributed to Bowling Green starting pitcher Brennan Smith, the Falcons faced a four-run deficit going into the bottom of the sixth inning.

Bowling Green trimmed the lead to one in their half of the sixth scoring three times before the Zips could record the first out of the inning. Logan Meisler led the Falcons off with a line drive single into right field and was followed by a strategically placed bunt down the third base side that led to an infield single. With runners on first and second, Vaughn ripped the ball to the right field wall scoring two runs. After a pitching change by the Zips and a fly out that advance Vaughn to third, Mark Galvin drove in the team's third run with a run scoring single into center field. The base hit also extended Galvin's hit streak to a current team-high 19 games.

Two innings later the Falcons took the lead back with a five-run eighth inning led by a Derek Spencer three-run dinger. After #T.J. Blanton# reached on a fielding error and Vaughn continued his successes with a single, Spencer notched his third hit of the game and added three RBI all on one swing. On a 1-2 delivery from Ben Danzinger that was left out over the plate, the senior from Oregon, Ohio launched a rocket over the left-center fence. The home run gave the Falcons an 11-9 lead, but the fun did not stop there.

With two outs and two men on Ryan Schlater belted a double to right-center field scoring two runs for the Falcons. Schlater attempted to turn the hit into a triple, but an accurate relay throw pegged Schalter at third just after Pitzulo crossed the plate for the Falcons 13^th run. Going into the ninth, the Falcons handed off a 13-9 lead to Patrick O'Brien who sealed the win for BGSU after striking out the Zips last two hitters.

Friday's win marked the first time in 12 games that the Falcons did not score in the game's first two innings, but the team more than made up for it scoring runs in four consecutive innings from that point on.

Jon Berti also has strung together a personal best hitting streak now extending it into double-digits at ten. He finished the day going 1-for-3 with a walk and a run scored. The only Falcon with a longer active hitting streak than he, Galvin went 1-for-4 with a run scored and a RBI. Leading the Falcons with three base hits was Spencer, who also totaled four RBI. Schlater posted three RBI on a 2-for-5 day.

After Smith posted five innings of work, giving up nine runs on 13 total hits, Nick Bruns entered the game and pitched three innings of near-perfect ball. He inherited one runner and retired three straight to get out of a troublesome sixth inning. Bruns allowed only one runner on base in his three innings of relief on a harmless eighth inning single to Drew Turocy. He had retired eight straight hitters to that point. He also struck out a pair of Zips on his way to earning his third win of the season.

Bowling Green (22-18-1, 12-7) will return to Warren Steller Field on Saturday for a 1:00 p.m. rematch against Akron (20-26, 3-16). Follow the Falcons as they continue to climb the ladder towards the top of the Mid-American Conference through BGSUFalcons.com, the online home of Falcon Athletics.

* LATE UPDATE * Miami completed a ninth-inning rally, scoring four runs in their last at-bat to defeat Kent State, 10-9. With the Kent State loss and the BGSU win, Bowling Green now shares the lead in the MAC East with the Flashes.