Freshmen Fuel Falcons To Saturday Split

Saturday, March 28

DeKalb, IL

1:05 p.m. ET

Bowling Green State University

5-16, 0-5

Northern Illinois

13-12, 4-1

Bowling Green

Northern Illinois

March 28, 2015 | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: by Scott Swegan, BGSU Athletic Communications

Game One: HTML | PDF
Game Two: HTML | PDF

DEKALB, Ill.—The Bowling Green State University baseball team needed somebody to step up on Saturday against Northern Illinois, as the Falcons were riding a losing streak into the doubleheader. After an 11-2 loss in game one, the Falcons got big performances from a pair of Falcon freshman to salvage the series and get back in the win column. BGSU broke out offensively in game two, defeating the Huskies 8-2.

"We obviously needed somebody to step up for us and Zac Carey gave us a great performance on the mound today," head coach Danny Schmitz said. "We've struggled lately offensively, so it was nice to see the guys swing the bats well and get some big hits. Derek Drewes' first career hit was a big go-ahead RBI for us and really sparked us."

Both teams traded unearned runs in the first inning, finding themselves deadlocked into the fifth inning at one run apiece. Brandon Howard walked with one out in the first inning for the Falcons. The speedy Howard then swiped second base and advanced to third on an errant throw by the NIU catcher on the play. Sophomore Trey Keegan singled Howard home, the first of three hits for Keegan in the day.

True freshman Zac Carey was given the ball to start game two on the mound for the Orange and Brown, tasked with stopping the Falcons losing streak. Carey was up to the challenge, delivering a career-high 7.1 innings while allowing just one unearned run in the game to pick up his first career win. The right-handed pitcher allowed just one hit in the first six innings of the game to keep NIU off the scoreboard.

With the game deadlocked at one run apiece, true freshman Derek Drewes delivered with a two-out, go-ahead RBI single in the top of the fifth inning for the Falcons to score Kory Brown who had singled and recorded a stolen base earlier in the inning. The single by Drewes marked his first career hit.

In the top of the sixth inning, the BGSU offense exploded for five runs to take a commanding 7-1 lead in the game. The Falcon offense had not scored more than three runs in a game since March 14 vs. Cornell, but broke out in the sixth with four hits and five runs. Randy Righter, Brown (2RBI) and Drewes (2RBI) each recorded RBI singles in the frame.

Bowling Green extended the lead to 8-1 in the top of the seventh inning, as Keegan smacked his third home run of the season to add an insurance run for the Orange and Brown.

The Falcons stole three bases in the game—one from Howard and two from Brown—to move to 6-0 on the season when stealing multiple bases in a game.

In the first game of the day, Bowling Green was hurt by the big inning once again, as Northern Illinois scored all of their runs in the 4th-7th innings in Saturday's first game. After taking a 2-0 lead against the Huskies, the Falcons surrendered the game's final 11 runs.

Jesse Rait started the top of the third with a single and advanced into scoring position on Brown's sacrifice bunt. Cody Callaway then reached base when he was drilled by a pitch. With runners on first and second, shortstop Brian Bien was able to advance both into scoring position with a groundout to the right side. Then, on a 3-2 pitch from NIU starter Dirk Ormsby, Howard delivered a two-run double into the right-centerfield gap to put the Falcons ahead.

NIU was able to cut into the Bowling Green lead in the bottom of the fourth inning, as a throwing error opened the door for an unearned run. The first three batters for the Huskies reached in the bottom of the fifth, forcing the Falcons to turn to the bullpen with the bases loaded and nobody out.

Following the pitching change, the next three batters reached base to give Northern Illinois the lead. By the end of the fifth, after a five-run inning for the Huskies, the Falcons found themselves behind 6-2.

Things wouldn't improve in the sixth, as the Falcons were retired in order before NIU scored four more to take a 10-2 lead. The Huskies added a run in the seventh to extend their lead to 11-2, and held on from there.

The Falcons will return home for a Tuesday matchup with the University of Findlay. First pitch between the Falcons and Oilers is slated for 3:05 p.m. ET at Warren E. Steller Field.