Falcons Open Series With 7-4 Win Over Akron

Friday, May 1

Bowling Green, Ohio

3:05 pm ET

Bowling Green State University

18-23, 10-9

Akron

21-23, 9-10

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Akron	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	3	4	7	3
Bowling Green	1	0	3	0	0	1	1	1	X	7	15	2

May 01, 2015 | Baseball

Box Score

By: by Scott Swegan, BGSU Athletic Communications

Final Statistics: HTML | PDF
Postgame Audio: Schmitz
Photo Gallery

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio—The Bowling Green State University baseball team started the weekend off with a 7-4 victory over the University of Akron on Friday afternoon. The Falcons and Zips, who entered the weekend tied in the Mid-American Conference standings, squared off at Warren E. Steller Field. BGSU commanded the game from the onset, leading 7-1 before three Akron runs in the ninth. With the win, Bowling Green is now 18-23 overall and 10-9 in MAC play. The Zips dropped to 21-23 on the year and 9-10 in league action.

"What a terrific job Jason (Link) did today—he battled his tail off," head coach Danny Schmitz started. "From an offensive standpoint we did a great job pretty much the entire game. We need to improve our bunting going forward, but I was very pleased with the offense today. Give our guys credit, they battled and it paid off this afternoon."

Five players in the Bowling Green lineup had multi-hit games, led by Trey Keegan, Matt Smith, and Jesse Rait who all registered three. For all three, it set a season high, and tied a career high for both Keegan and Smith. The Falcons had 15 hits in the game, including 12 off Akron starting pitcher John Valek III. For Valek, it was the most he has ever surrendered in his three-year career with the Zips.

Equally as impressive as the Falcons' offense was senior right-hander Jason Link on the mound for the Orange and Brown. The Hamilton, Ohio native pitched 8.1 innings, marking the fourth consecutive week he has pitched a career high in innings in a start. Link did allow three earned runs, all three of them coming in the ninth inning after he had already thrown a career-high in pitches, ending the game with 115. He picked up his fourth win on the season to improve his record to 4-3 on the year.

Akron recorded their first hit of the day off Link with a two-out double in the top of the first, but that would be the last hit he allowed until a two-out single in the sixth—a stretch of 18 straight Akron hitters without a hit.

The Zips, following the double in the first, drew a walk to put runners on the corners with two outs. Link worked out of it though, inducing a groundout to Brian Bien at short to end the inning.

After Valek struck out the first two Falcons in the first, Keegan started a mini-rally with a two-strike single into left field. The Falcons had six two-strike hits in the game and six two-out hits, coming up clutch all afternoon to manufacture runs against the Zips.

Following the Keegan single, Smith jumped on a pitch from Valek and drove it to the wall, just missing a two-run home run but settling for an RBI double to put the Falcons on the board with a 1-0 lead after one inning.

The first two Falcons reached base via single in the bottom of the second inning, but the Falcons were unable to execute a sacrifice bunt, squandering a chance to add to the early lead.

However, BGSU tacked on three runs in the bottom of the third inning to keep the pressure on the Zips. Keegan once again started things off with a one-out single—a chopper over the third baseman's head. Smith then lined a single to right field, and a misplay by the Akron defender allowed both runners to move up a base in scoring position. Greg Basalyga, the designated hitter on Friday, then walked to load the bases.

Rait extended the Bowling Green lead with a single through the left side of the infield, scoring two runs to make it 3-0. The Akron throw to the plate, which was late, snuck past the catcher and to the backstop, allowing Rait to move into scoring position on the throwing error.

Randy Righter, who went 2-for-3 with a walk in the game, then lifted a sacrifice fly to center field to score Basalyga from third and put BGSU ahead 4-0 after three innings.

Two Falcon errors in the top of the fourth inning allowed for an Akron run to come across, but Link was able to pitch over the blunders to maintain a comfortable 4-1 lead. That lead remained until the bottom of the sixth innings, where the Falcons struck again to knock Valek out of the ballgame.

After Brandon Howard walked with one out, he was able to advance into scoring position on a groundout. Smith once again came through for the Falcons, bringing home Howard to make it a 5-1 lead. For Smith it was his second RBI of the game, both coming with two outs in the game.

The Falcons also tacked on runs in each of the seventh and eighth innings, extending their lead to 7-1. In the bottom of the seventh, Righter scored on a squeeze bunt by Bien. Righter walked, stole second, and advanced to third on a single by Nick Glanzman to set up the sacrifice opportunity. In the bottom of the eighth, Smith scored on a single off the bat of Rait to make it a 7-1 game into the ninth.

Three straight Akron batters reached off Link with one out in the ninth, causing the Falcons to turn to freshman Kody Brown out of the bullpen. After a single brought two runners home, Brown got a fly out and strikeout to shut the door.

Bowling Green and Akron will continue their weekend series on Saturday afternoon, with first pitch scheduled for 1:05 p.m. at Steller Field. Andrew Lacinak is expected to be on the mound for the Falcons as they look to claim the series against the Zips.