Falcons Dropped in Tenth by Cleveland State

Sunday, March 20

Cleveland, Ohio

12:00 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

Cleveland State University

March 20, 2011 | Baseball

BGSU loses Sunday's game and the series in an extra inning affair to the CSU Vikings.

By: by Ryan Gasser, Athletic Communications Graduate Assistant

AVON, Ohio -- For the second straight day, Bowling Green needed more than nine innings to find a winner when playing the Cleveland State Vikings. In game three action held Sunday afternoon, the Falcons lost a 2-0 lead in the fifth inning and played into the tenth before the Vikings walked off their home field with a 3-2, extra-inning win.

Final / 10 inn.
	R	H	E
Bowling Green	2	13	2
Cleveland State	3	8	1

Box score (.html) | Box score (.pdf) | Play by play (.pdf) | Updated statistics (.html)

Two batters into the bottom of the tenth the Vikings had taken the win from the Falcons. Leadoff hitter Anthony Sambula hit a line drive off of reliever Ross Gerdeman (Fort Jennings, Ohio) that tailed toward the left field line. Freshman Brandon Howard (Cincinnati, Ohio) made a diving effort to his right but could not make the catch as the ball skid off the turf and all the way into the corner. Sambula trotted into third base with a triple and the next batter, John Calhoun, ended the game with a single through the middle of a drawn in infield to end the game.

Despite the miscue in left field, Howard led the Falcons offensively with a perfect 5-for-5 day at the plate, scoring once in the third inning. All five of his hits were singles either to left or center field.
Charles Wooten (Elmore, Ohio) had a career day on the mound setting highs in both innings pitched (6.0) and strikeouts (9). He accompanied those numbers with allowing only six hits, two walks and two runs both of which were unearned. He earned a no-decision in the team's loss.

The Falcons took a 2-0 lead in the third inning when Howard and Matt Pitzulo (Poland, Ohio) both reached on base hits to open the inning. Jon Berti (Troy, Mich.) knocked the third straight hit of the inning, a single to center field, to score Howard from second base. Cleveland State starting pitcher Nate Dick hurled a wild pitch that skipped past the catcher allowing Pitzulo to score from third.

Bowling Green lost their lead in the fifth inning, allowing two unearned runs. After Bowling Green pegged a runner at the plate attempting to score on a bunt single, the Vikings had runners at the corners before a balk was called allowing the runner from third to score. The ruling on the field was that Wooten had completed a double set in his pitching motion. After the runner on second moved to third on a grounder to the left side, a passed ball skid under Vannett's glove and allowed him to score tying the game at two.

Momentum nearly shifted in the Falcons favor the very next inning when aggressive base running gave them two opportunities to take the lead. After reaching base with a single to lead the top of the sixth inning, captain Clay Duncan (Norwalk, Ohio) found himself the runner on third with Falcons on the corners. Matt Vannett put down a bunt on the third base side of the pitcher's mound in an attempt on a squeeze play but the Cleveland State pitcher picked up and underhanded the ball to his catcher in time to get Duncan out at home plate.

The Falcons nearly scored again when Andrew Kubuski (Elyria, Ohio) moved to second on the play on the previous play and Logan Walker (Richmond, Vir.) roped a single into left field. Receiving the signal to keep going, Kubuski rounded third and headed for home but a one-hop throw from left fielder Steve Mahler beat Kubuski to the dish and again the Falcons were unsuccessful in scoring.

Other notable performers for Bowling Green included Patrick Martin (Oregon, Ohio), Clay Duncan and Logan Walker. Duncan and Walker both joined Brandon Howard as Falcons that had finished the day with multiple hits (2, each) while Martin pitched a pair of scoreless innings and struck out two Viking hitters.

Bowling Green (6-10) will be back in action this Tuesday with a non-conference home game with the University of Dayton Flyers at Warren Steller Field (Bowling Green, Ohio) set for 3:00 p.m. The Falcons will fly into conference competition next weekend when they travel to play Northern Illinois University in DeKalb for a three-game set.

Full coverage of Falcon baseball and all 18 varsity sports can be found on the official online home of BGSU athletics, www.BGSUFalcons.com. Be sure to follow the Falcons on Facebook by searching “BG Warriors” or follow them on Twitter through www.twitter.com/WEAREBGBASEBALL.