Friday, March 25
DeKalb, Illinois
3:00 pm CT
Bowling Green State University
7
at
2
Northern Illinois University
Falcons Open Conference Slate with Solid Win Over Huskies
March 25, 2011 | Baseball
BGSU earned a win in the conference opener in part due to one of the team's most solid pitching performances this season.
DEKALB, Ill. -- Falcon baseball opened up the Mid-American Conference schedule with a win over Northern Illinois on Friday afternoon, outscoring the Huskies 7-2 at Ralph McKinzie Field (DeKalb, Ill.). A strong performance on the hill by starting pitcher Cody Apthorpe combined with tri-captain Jon Berti's leadership at the plate led to the Falcons' first conference win of the year.
| March 23, 2011 -- Final | |||
| R | H | E | |
| Bowling Green | 7 | 11 | 0 |
| Northern Illinois | 2 | 5 | 0 |
Sophomore Cody Apthorpe (Windham, Ohio) earned the Friday start and took advantage of the opportunity setting a career high in strikeouts and earning the win, his second of the season. He lasted a season-high six innings and fanned seven Huskies in the victory. Three times he struck out two batters in a frame and allowed only three hits in his outing.
After swapping runs in the first inning, the Falcons began to break away from the Huskies in the fourth inning when the Brown and Orange posted three runs. Matt Pitzulo (Poland, Ohio) led off the inning with a single to right followed by an infield single to the left side by tri-captain, Clay Duncan (Norwalk, Ohio). A walk to Alex Davison (Grand Ledge, Mich.) loaded the bases for the Falcons where Frank Berry (Virginia Beach, Va.) knocked home a run with a single to right field, giving BGSU a 2-1 lead. A sacrifice fly to left field hit by catcher #T.J. Losby# (Bryan, Ohio) was deep enough for Duncan to score from third base to extend the lead to two runs. Andrew Kubuski (Elyria, Ohio) continued the scoring, singling to right scoring another run and giving the Falcons a 4-1 lead by inning's end.
Bowling Green added two more runs the next inning to push the score to 6-1 in favor of the visiting Falcons. Jon Berti (Troy, Mich.) hit his second of four hits on the day, a triple to right center field, and came around to score on Matt Pitzulo's single through the left side of the infield. Duncan pushed Pitzulo to second on a sacrifice bunt and advanced to third on a wild pitch before Ryan Schlater (St. Paris, Ohio) brought the sophomore around the final 90 feet on a single to right field.
Inheriting a 6-1 lead in the seventh inning, Michael Frank (Maumee, Ohio) went the rest of the way and earned his first career save in a three-inning outing. The second-year hurler allowed only two hits, both coming in the eighth inning resulting in one run.
Berti led the Falcons offensively, going 4-for-5 with two runs scored. Three of his four hits were singles, spraying hits to all three areas of the field. He also stole his second stolen base and second three-bagger of the season in the win. Duncan and Pitzulo combined to go 4-for-8 with three RBI behind Berti in the order.
Bowling Green (7-10) and Northern Illinois (5-12) will take back to the diamond Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. for the middle game of this weekend's three-game series.
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