Falcons Drop Series Opener As KSU Walks It Off

Friday, May 8

Kent, OH

6:00 p.m. ET

Bowling Green State University

19-25, 11-11

Kent State

27-19, 14-8

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Bowling Green	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	6	1
Kent State	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	1	3	4	1

May 08, 2015 | Baseball

Box Score

By: by James Nahikian, BGSU Athletic Communications

Final Statistics: HTML | PDF

KENT, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University baseball team lost in walk-off fashion Friday night at Schoonover Stadium, 3-2, on a single by Connor Simonetti. With the loss, the Falcons fall to 19-25 (11-11 MAC), while Kent State improves to 27-19 (14-8 MAC).

"Today was a tough loss, but we have to focus on tomorrow's game," head coach Danny Schmitz said. "I was proud of our resiliency to tie the game in the ninth inning today. Unfortunately, we couldn't close it out but our focus is on evening the series tomorrow."

Down to their final strike in the contest – trailing, 2-1 – Nick Glanzman pulled a full-count pitch down the left-field line to plate Addison Rospert. Greg Basalyga led off the frame with a two-strike single that was hit on a line to center field, prior to Rospert coming on to pinch run.

Kent State's Dan Kopcak yielded the single, but then quickly retired Randy Righter and Jesse Rait. The Kent State faithful rose to their feet on Kopcak's full-count delivery, but Glanzman silenced them with the double that was inches fair and rolled all the way to the wall. Zach Willeman stranded Glanzman at second by forcing a Brian Bien groundout, setting the stage for Simonetti's walk-off.

Jason Link pitched masterfully for the Orange and Brown. Link logged seven-plus inning, surrendering two runs on just three hits while striking out four and walking two. The right-hander registered perfect frames in the second, fifth and seventh. And also faced the minimum in the sixth when the Falcons turned a 3-6-1 inning-ending double play that erased a one-out walk.

Matt Smith started the scoring by hitting his first-career home run to leadoff the top of the second. Smith crushed a 1-0 delivery over the left-center field fence off Kent State starter Nick Jensen-Clagg, who logged six innings and allowed the one run on three hits. Basalyga walked following the homer and later advanced to second on an error, but the Falcons failed to bring him home.

Bowling Green also had runners in scoring position in the third, fifth and sixth, but each time, Jensen-Clagg was able to work out of the trouble. In the third, Smith grounded out to second with runners on second and third. In the fifth, Glanzman reached second after a leadoff single and a Bien sacrifice bunt, but Kory Brown and Brandon Howard were set down consecutively. In the sixth, Trey Keegan was the one that reached second, but again, Jensen-Clagg was up to the task.

Sawyer Polen tied the game at 1-1 with a solo shot of his own in the fourth, before one run apiece was scored across each of the final three frames.

Brad Hamilton doubled to leadoff the bottom of the eighth, chasing Link. Tony Landi then entered the ballgame. Reilly Hawkins laid down a sacrifice bunt, pushing Hamilton over to third with only one out. Hamilton then crossed the plate to give the Golden Flashes a 2-1 lead when Dylan Rosa was putout 4-3. The ball was hit softly into a draw-in infield, but Howard had no other play than just to throw to first from second to retire Rosa.

After Glanzman's heroics, Landi walked Polen to start the bottom of the ninth. Howard was then charged with an error on a hard-hit grounder to second that trickled into short right-center. Polen advanced to third on the play. Landi continued to battle, and induced a fly out to right that forced the runners to stay put. But Simonetti ended the ballgame soon after with his one-out single to left.

The Orange and Brown will send Andrew Lacinak to the mound tomorrow for game two of the three-game set. Tomorrow's first pitch is slated for 1 p.m. The ballgame was originally scheduled for 4 p.m., but the threat of rain forced that time to be moved up. The series will then conclude on Sunday with another 1 p.m. start.