BGSU's Ninth-Inning Rally At Dayton Falls Short

Tuesday, March 21

Dayton, OH

4:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

4-13

Dayton

7-11

Bowling Green

Dayton

March 21, 2017 | Baseball

Box Score

By: by James Nahikian, BGSU Athletic Communications

Final Statistics: PDF | HTML

DAYTON, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University baseball team dropped a 3-1 decision at the University of Dayton on Tuesday (March 21) afternoon at Woerner Field. The game was the program's final non-conference game before the start of conference play. Dayton scored one run apiece in the first two innings, and held the Falcons off the board the rest of the way.

Jake Wilson singled him Bowling Green's lone run of the contest in the ninth inning, and the Falcons nearly took the lead after that. After Wilson's single, Joe McGuinness stepped up to the plate with two outs, and runners at first and third.

The left-handed swinging McGuinness crushed a ball down the right-field line, but it went just foul. The ball had more than enough distance, as it towered over the fence. McGuinness was called out on strikes to end the contest.

Bowling Green finishes the beginning-of-the-season non-conference schedule with a record of 4-13. Dayton improves to 7-11 in 2017 with the victory. Bowling Green out-hit Dayton, 7-6. Both teams committed one error apiece.

"This game, unfortunately, was exactly like our two games over the weekend versus Niagara," said head coach Danny Schmitz. "Our pitching and defense were solid, and gave us a chance to win the ballgame. However, our offense failed to show up.

"We've talked about it now for weeks. Two out of the three phases of the game have been very good for us. However, the third has been non-existent. We need to find a way to execute in the three phrases, or at least play well enough in each to give us a chance. This weekend is the biggest weekend of the season for us. We need to forget about everything that has happened, and find a way to win a series to open up conference play."

Dayton jumped on Bowling Green starter Damon Egnor early, and quickly jumped out to a 2-0 lead. An error and three wild pitches led to the first run of the ballgame in the first inning, and then the Flyers smoked an RBI double in the second to take a 2-0 lead.

A solo home run for Dayton in the fifth inning made the score 3-0. After Egnor lasted 1.1 innings, Nathan Lohmeier struck out three batters over 1.2 scoreless innings. Chandler Stillings allowed the solo home run in the fifth, but the southpaw allowed just two hits over 2.2 innings of work.

Kody Brown followed up Stillings' effort with 1.1 hitless innings, and then Tony Landi logged a scoreless eighth inning. The Falcons scored the one run in the ninth, but the Bowling Green rally fell feet short.

Wilson went 2-for-4 in the game, and drove home Bowling Green's run. Blake Jenkins, Derek Drewes, Greg Basalyga, Logan Giddings and Cam Daugherty registered one hit in the ballgame. Basalyga now has 14 hits in the last 10 games.

The Falcons will now prepare for the start of Mid-American Conference play this weekend. Bowling Green will play a three-game series in Ypsilanti, Michigan, beginning with a 6 p.m. first pitch on Friday (March 24). The Falcons will conclude the series with games on March 25 (3 p.m.) and March 26 (1 p.m.).