Apthorpe Leads Falcons to Shutout Win at Ball State

Friday, April 8

Muncie, Indiana

3:00 pm

Bowling Green State University

Ball State University

April 08, 2011 | Baseball

Falcon pitching combined for a 2-0 shutout win against Ball State on Friday.

By: by Ryan Gasser, Athletic Communications Graduate Assistant

MUNCIE, Indiana -- For the second weekend in a row a sophomore starting pitcher set career highs from the hill and led the Falcons to shutout victory. Combined with a two-inning save performance from Mike Frank, Falcon starting pitcher Cody Apthorpe guided the Falcons toward a 2-0 victory in game one of their weekend series against the Ball State Cardinals, Friday afternoon.

April 8, 2011 -- Final
	R	H	E
Bowling Green	2	10	0
Ball State	0	5	0

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

Apthorpe (3-3) went a career-high seven innings in the win, allowing only four hits while walking one in the 27 batters he faced. He set a new career mark striking out eight Cardinals on the day. He struck out at least two batters in each of his first three innings of work and tore through the third inning by striking out the side and stranding a runner in scoring position. Apthorpe did not allow a hit in either of his final two innings on the mound before exiting in a 107-pitch outing.

Bowling Green (10-15, 4-3) gave the Falcon pitchers a two-run cushion posting both runs in the top of the fifth inning. Clay Duncan (Norwalk, Ohio) led the inning off with a single up the middle and moved to second by a sacrifice bunt. Logan Walker (Richmond, Va.) singled to left putting runners at the corners for Patrick Lancaster (Woodhaven, Mich.). The freshman grounded into a fielder's choice, retiring Walker from the base paths but well enough placed to score Duncan from third base to give BGSU a 1-0 lead. Lancaster swiped his third base of the season and scored from second on a Frank Berry (Virginia Beach, Va.) single.

The two-run lead was all the Falcons needed with the astounding performance by the Falcon pitching staff. Combined with Apthorpe's outing, Mike Frank (Maumee, Ohio) closed the doors on Ball State (6-21, 4-3) with a long save, his second save of the season. He retired the side in order in the bottom of the eighth. In the top of the ninth, Frank allowed a one-out double but retired the next two batters by ground out to end the game with a 2-0 final score. Falcon pitching allowed only five hits to the Cardinals all day.

Jon Berti (Troy, Mich.) broke a streak of eight at bats without a hit with a first inning single and a 2-for-4 day at the plate. He was one of four Falcons to have multiple hits on the day. Clay Duncan went a perfect 3-for-3 on the day with a run scored.

The Falcons have now won four straight games versus the Cardinals, including two postseason games last season, eliminating BSU from the 2010 Mid-American Conference tournament. The Falcons and Cardinals meet again on Saturday with a 1 p.m. first pitch from Ball Diamond (Muncie, Ind.).

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.