Bowling Green Battles No. 8 Florida State To The Brink; Seminoles Rally Late To Escape With Win

Friday, May 6

Tallahassee, FL

6:00 PM EST

Bowling Green State University

16-29

Florida State

30-13

Bowling Green

Florida State

Bowling Green Battles No. 8 Florida State To The Brink; Seminoles Rally Late To Escape With Win

May 06, 2016 | Baseball

Box Score

By: by James Nahikian, BGSU Athletic Communications

Final Statistics: HTML | PDF

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Bowling Green State University baseball team took a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the eighth inning against the 8th-ranked Florida State Seminoles, but FSU went on to plate six runs in the frame, and escaped with a 6-1 win over the Falcons in front of 3,737 fans at Dick Howser Stadium.

Florida State handed Bowling Green its first loss of the season when the Falcons led after seven innings. Heading into tonight's contest, the Orange and Brown were 14-0 when leading after seven innings.

"I'm really, really proud of how well, and how hard our guys played tonight," said head coach Danny Schmitz. "To play a team like this, and in this environment – I think that we can take a lot from this experience. It also gives us confidence that we can beat any team in the country. We aren't happy with the final two innings, but we gave everything we had tonight."

The Falcons threatened in the first, as Kory Brown and Logan Giddings smacked consecutive two-out singles. Nick Glanzman then reached on an error, but a ground out to third allowed Florida State's Mike Compton to escape the bases-loaded jam unscathed.

In the bottom of the third, however, Tyler Anderson would work out of his own bases-loaded jam. Florida State recorded back-to-back hits – a single followed by a double – to put two runners in scoring position with only one out. A walk then loaded the bases, but a 4-6-3 inning-ending double play kept the ballgame scoreless after three.

In the fifth inning, Bowling Green took the lead. After a Justin Mott one-out single, an error put runners on first and second. Derek Drewes then moved both runners into scoring position, setting up a Matt Smith RBI single. Smith beat out an infield single that was hit down the third-base line, allowing Mott to score from third.

Anderson left the game after pitching a career-high 4.1 innings. Devin Daugherty took over on the mound with a runner on second, and proceeded to get two outs, keeping BGSU's 1-0 lead intact into the sixth inning.

For Anderson, he allowed just three hits over his 4.1 innings of work. Anderson walked three, and struck out two.

In the sixth, the Falcons were held off the board on a controversial play at the plate. Brown hit a one-out single, and then Giddings hit a double into left with Brown on the move. On an extremely close play at the plate, Brown was ruled out. Danny Schmitz had a heated exchange with home plate umpire Bruce Ravan, but to no avail.

The Falcons took a lead into the bottom of the eighth, but back-to-back doubles tied the game and knocked Daugherty out of the contest. Ben DeLuzio went on to hit a two-run triple to give the Seminoles a 3-1 lead. The Seminoles scored three more times in the frame, and shut the door in the ninth to escape with the 6-1 win.

With the hard-fought loss, The Falcons drop to 16-29 on the season. Florida State improves to 30-13 with the win. Brown and Giddings both went 2-for-4 in the defeat. Drewes, Mott and Smith recorded a hit apiece.

The Falcons and Seminoles will continue the series tomorrow evening. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. The three-game set will conclude on Sunday (May 8) with a 1 p.m. first pitch. Next week, Bowling Green will return to Steller Field, starting with a May 11 game versus Youngstown State.