Glanzman "Carey’s" Falcons To Series Win

Saturday, April 18

Bowling Green, Ohio

12:05 p.m. ET

Bowling Green State University

13-20, 6-8

Western Michigan

14-20, 6-8

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Western Michigan	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	3	2	2	8	14	4
Bowling Green	0	4	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	6	8	4

April 18, 2015 | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: by Scott Swegan, BGSU Athletic Communications

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

Nick Glanzman walk off single

Nick Glanzman walks it off!!! Falcons win! pic.twitter.com/CYrC77luZ6
— BGSU Baseball (@WEAREBGBaseball) April 18, 2015

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio—The Bowling Green State University baseball team got a walk off single off the bat of Nick Glanzman in the bottom of the ninth inning, lifting the Falcons to a 1-0 victory and another series win in Mid-American Conference play. True freshman Zac Carey pitched all nine innings, earning his first career complete-game shutout on the mound. The Falcons are now 14-20 overall and 7-8 in MAC play after splitting the Saturday doubleheader. Western Michigan, who won game one 8-6 in 10 innings, is now 14-21, 6-9 in conference play.

"What a way to finish off the weekend with Nick Glanzman's walk off single," head coach Danny Schmitz started. "Both pitchers were lights out in game two and it was just a great, great college baseball game."

Carey, a true freshman, got the start for the Falcons on the mound in game two. He allowed just five hits and was efficient in facing just 33 batters in 9.0 innings for his third win of the season. His 103-pitch complete game improved his record to 3-0 in MAC play with a 2.41 ERA. The Falcons have won four straight starts by Carey.

"There was definitely a lot of emotion today," Carey began. "I just wanted to make my pitches and let my defense work with the wind blowing in this afternoon, and that's what I was able to do.

Despite the outstanding effort on the mound, Bowling Green entered the bottom of the ninth deadlocked in a scoreless battle with WMU. Starting pitcher Keegan Akin allowed just six hits through the first eight innings of action, but ran into trouble with a his first walk of the day to begin the ninth.

With Brandon Howard on first base, Akin balked allowing Howard to move into scoring position with nobody out. Trey Keegan then laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Howard to third base, and WMU opted to intentionally walk Matt Smith to set up the double play.

But, they wouldn't have the chance, as Glanzman played hero, lifting a 1-0 pitch over the infield's head and scoring Howard to give the Falcons the victory. For BGSU, it was their ninth win in the last 13 games overall, and their seventh MAC win in the last 10.

"I talked to the guys in between games and told them they had to forget about the tough loss in game one," Schmitz continued. "I give our guys credit because they were able to do that. Western battled all weekend long, so it was nice to come away with the weekend series."

The game two victory came after a tough loss in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader. Bowling Green took a 6-1 lead into the top of the eighth in that game, but could not close out the victory.

Western Michigan scored first, taking advantage of a three-base error in the top of the second to grab an early 1-0 lead against starting pitcher Andrew Lacinak. Lacinak was sharp on Saturday, pitching a season-high 7.2 innings and striking out three. He allowed six hits and four runs, none of which were earned.

The Falcons came right back in the bottom of the second, answering with four unearned runs of their own against Western Michigan starting pitcher Chad Mayle.

Greg Basalyga started the inning by reaching on an error. After a groundout advanced him to second, Randy Righter's single moved him to third with one out. Derek Drewes then walked to load the bases for Brian Bien.

Bien was able to ground one towards third, reaching on an error and bringing Basalyga home with an RBI. With the game tied at 1-1, Righter scored on a wild pitch from Mayle. With runners on second and third, Kory Brown brought home another one with an infield single, making the score 3-1 in favor of the Falcons. Later in the inning, a Keegan sacrifice fly made it a 4-1 advantage.

The Falcons scored again in the bottom of the fourth inning, as Bien came home on a single off the bat of Keegan to make it 5-1. The Orange and Brown extended their lead to five runs, at 6-1, as Basalyga scored on an error in the bottom of the fifth.

What seemed to be a harmless single off the bat of WMU's Kurt Hoekstra started the Broncos comeback with two outs in the top of the eighth inning, as the next batter then reached on an error. Five-hole hitter Jared Kujawa made the Falcons pay, as he clubbed an 0-2 pitch over the wall in right field for a three-run home run to make it 6-4 into the ninth.

Three of the first four batters singled in the ninth inning, as the only out in that stretch came on a sacrifice bunt. The Falcons turned to the bullpen in a 6-5 game, with runners on the corners. The Broncos then tied the game on a perfectly-executed safety squeeze bunt to put runners on the corners.

It looked as if WMU was poised to take the lead in the ninth after an intentional walk loaded the bases with just one out, but Trevor Blaylock got a big infield pop out for the second out. BGSU turned to the bullpen for freshman Kody Brown, who struck out the next batter to send the game tied into the bottom of the ninth.

The Falcons were unable to score in the ninth, and WMU continued their momentum with two more runs in the top of the 10th. Bowling Green couldn't get anything going in the bottom-half, losing their first extra innings contest of the season, 8-6.

BGSU (14-20, 7-8 MAC) will be back in action this week with four road games, traveling to Youngstown State on Tuesday evening for a matchup with the Penguins. YSU defeated BGSU 6-1 earlier this season at Steller Field in the home opener. First pitch of that game is scheduled for 5:35 p.m. Following the midweek game, the Falcons will travel to Central Michigan for a three-game series next weekend.