Apthorpe Goes the Distance in Complete Game Win

Friday, April 15

Bowling Green, Ohio

3:00 pm

Bowling Green State University

University of Toledo

April 15, 2011 | Baseball

Bowling Green snapped Toledo's 11-game winning streak with a 6-2 win Friday afternoon.

By: by Ryan Gasser, Athletic Communications Graduate Assistant

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -- For his second straight start sophomore pitcher Cody Apthorpe owned the opposing lineup, limiting the visiting Toledo Rockets to a pair of runs towards a complete game effort in the Falcons' 6-2 win on Friday afternoon. The Falcons battled blistering winds and bats but escaped The Stell victorious to gain ground in the Mid-American Conference standings and break an Toledo 11-game win streak.

April 15, 2011 -- Final
	R	H	E
Toledo	2	9	1
Bowling Green	6	12	1

Box score (.html) | Box score (.pdf) | Play by Play (.pdf) | Updated statistics (.html) | Photo gallery -- click here

The Windham, Ohio native went the distance, tossing his first career complete game in the win. Over the duration of the game he allowed two earned runs on nine hits and striking out four Rocket hitters with only 97 pitches. Apthorpe (3-2) allowed only one run on six hits through his first eight innings. Four times out of nine he had retired the side in order and five times had faced only three hitters in an inning. The MAC East pitcher of the week from two weeks ago silenced the top four spots of the Rocket line up, holding them to two hits over 15 at bats.

The Falcons' Matt Pitzulo (Poland, Ohio) plated the first run in the top of the first on a RBI double that plated junior Jon Berti (Troy, Mich.). Pitzulo lofted a fly ball to left field that took off in the afternoon's wind and carried all the way to the wall deep enough to score Berti from first base. The score ended a scoreless inning streak of 17.2 Toledo starter Mike Hamann (2-3) had accumulated over his last two starts.

After Toledo tied it up in their next at bat, BGSU retook the lead when Alex Davison (Grand Ledge, Mich.) grounded into a 5-4-3 double play with no outs and the bases loaded. The play resulted in two outs and Clay Duncan (Norwalk, Ohio) scoring from third base to give the Falcons a 2-1 advantage.

Duncan was also a part of a two-run sixth inning when he was hit by a pitch and advanced on the bases twice by way of a passed ball by UT reliever Cameron Palmer, one of which resulted in a run. Alex Davison came around to score after the freshman walked and stole second base then was driven in by senior captain Frank Berry (Virginia Beach, Va.) on a single to center field. The two-run sixth put the Falcons up 4-1 on the Rockets.

The Falcons posted a second two-run inning in the eighth when the Falcons took a 6-1 lead with a pair of insurance runs. Patrick Martin (Oregon, Ohio) walked to lead off the inning and stole second base with two outs. Berry singled deep in the hole to short to put runners on the corners before Andrew Kubuski (Elyria, Ohio) plated Martin with a single to left field. Jon Berti also found some green in left with a single that scored Berry.

Bowling Green (12-18, 6-4) matched its run count from their last two games combined on Friday afternoon. They cranked out 12 hits on the day to Toledo's nine and had at least one hit in seven of nine innings. Four of the Falcons' six runs were scored as a result of the runner being put on base by a walk or hit batsman. The top four spots in the Falcon line up that consisted of Berry, Kubuski, Berti and Pitzulo went a combined 8-for-16 (.500) with two runs scored and four RBI.

The BGSU win broke an 11-game winning streak the Rockets had began on March 30 in an 8-5 win over Oakland University and most recently included a 3-1 win over the Michigan Wolverines. It also ended a six-game conference win streak after sweeps over Akron and Buffalo in their last two weekends of play. The 11-game win streak that was snapped was the longest Toledo had accumulated over the last 30 years of the program's history.

The series continues on Saturday afternoon for a rematch between these two teams beginning at 1 p.m. from Warren Steller Field (Bowling Green, Ohio). Bowling Green sophomore Nick Bruns (2-2, 5.94 ERA) will match up with Kyle Shaw (4-1, 3.54 ERA) in game two action. Sunday's series finale will commence at 1 p.m.

With the win and Miami defeating Western Michigan 9-0 on Friday, the Falcons' remain tied for second place in the MAC East standings. Kent State lost its second conference game of the season to Central Michigan, so both the Falcons and RedHawks pick up a game in the standings and now trail by two games.

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.