Falcons Soar Past First-Place Chippewas To Take Weekend Series

Sunday, April 26

Mount Pleasant, MI

1:05 p.m. ET

Bowling Green State University

16-22, 0

Central Michigan

28-15, 0

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Bowling Green	1	1	1	0	1	0	1	0	0	5	16	1
Central Michigan	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	3	0

April 26, 2015 | Baseball

Box Score

BGSU becomes first team in 2015 to beat CMU in weekend series

By: by Scott Swegan, BGSU Athletic Communications

Final Statistics: HTML | PDF
Postgame Audio: Schmitz

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich.—The Bowling Green State University baseball team defeated Central Michigan 5-1 on Sunday afternoon, taking the ever-important Mid-American Conference series on the road from the Chippewas. CMU, who entered the weekend in first place in the MAC standings, had not lost a series in 2015.

"We preach the three phases, and that's exactly what we got in today's game," head coach Danny Schmitz started. "Zac Carey and Kody Brown—two true freshman—combined to throw a tremendous game. Then I thought we made some great defensive plays and obviously had the bats rolling today."

BGSU had 16 hits to CMU's three in the game, as Zac Carey picked up his fourth win in six MAC starts. Four players for the Falcons, who improved to 16-22 on the season and 9-9 in MAC play, recorded three hits in the game.

Carey was dynamite once again, shutting down the potent Chippewas offense. He allowed just three hits and one run (unearned) in 7.1 innings, Another true freshman, left-hander Kody Brown, came into the game in relief and closed it out for the Falcons, retiring 5-of-6 batters he faced in the game.

The Falcons got on the board first for the third time in three games, scoring an early first inning run. In fact, the Falcons scored single runs in four of the first five innings in the game, finding themselves ahead 4-0 midway through the game.

BGSU had six hits in the first two innings and eight hits in the first three innings, taking a 3-0 lead as Carey did not allow a hit to the CMU lineup.

Kory Brown led off the game with a double, the second time this weekend that he began the game with an extra-base hit after hitting a leadoff home run in Friday's win. Brandon Howard then sacrificed Brown to third base and Trey Keegan drove him in with an RBI groundout to third. The Falcons got two more hits in the inning, but couldn't increase their 1-0 lead any further.

In the top of the second, Nick Glanzman, Brian Bien, and Brown (RBI) singled consecutively with one out in the inning to extend the Falcons lead to 2-0. Brown was thrown out at second trying to advance on the throw home, but BGSU led the Chippewas 2-0 after two innings.

Keegan recorded his first of two doubles in the game with a leadoff two-bagger to left-center to begin the third. Keegan had three hits in the game, tying his career high. With Keegan on second, Smith rolled a grounder to the right side. Despite a nice diving play by the CMU first baseman, Smith beat pitcher Adam Aldred to the bag for an infield single. Basalyga then lifted a sacrifice fly to left field later in the inning, scoring Keegan for a 3-0 lead.

Despite getting multiple base runners in the fourth and forcing CMU head coach Steve Jaksa to go to the bullpen, the Falcons were unable to bring home a run for the first time in the game. But, the Falcon offense got back on track in the top of the fifth inning.

For the second time in three innings, Keegan led things off in the fifth with a double, this time a rocket down the left field line. After a Smith groundout moved him to third, Keegan scored on Basalyga's single to left field to make it a 4-0 game.

The Chippewas got on the board in the bottom of the fifth, an unearned run after a Falcons' error started the inning. The first batter of the inning lifted a pop up on the infield, but the defense dropped it on a miscommunication. After a single and sacrifice fly brought the run home, Carey worked out of it to minimize the damage and maintain a comfortable lead for Bowling Green.

BGSU got the run back from the Chippewas in the top of the seventh inning, flipping momentum back to the first base dugout. With two outs, Smith doubled into the right-center gap to get things going. Then, after a Chippewa pitching change, Basalyga uncorked a first-pitch double to score Smith for a 5-1 lead.

CMU got a base runner in each of the final two innings, but Brown worked around them to shut the door for the series victory. For the Falcons, it was their ninth MAC win in the last 13 league games. It was also Bowling Green's fourth straight MAC series which they have won.

Bowling Green will be back in action on Tuesday afternoon, when they host arch-rival Toledo at Warren E. Steller Field. First pitch on Tuesday will be at 3:05 p.m. Then, on Wednesday, the Falcons will make the short trek up Interstate 75 to play the Rockets on the road.