BGSU Splits Doubleheader With Toledo, Setting Up Sunday Rubber Match

Saturday, April 8

Bowling Green, Ohio

12:05 PM

Bowling Green State University

8-17, 0

Toledo

8-22, 0

Toledo

Bowling Green

BGSU Splits Doubleheader With Toledo, Setting Up Sunday Rubber Match

April 08, 2017 | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: by James Nahikian, BGSU Athletic Communications

Final Statistics
Game 1: PDF | HTML
Game 2: PDF | HTML

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University baseball team split Saturday's (April 8) doubleheader with the University of Toledo. Both games were played at Steller Field in front of an attendance of 409. Bowling Green won the first game, 5-4, before Toledo stormed back to take the second game by a score of 20-4.

With the doubleheader split, Bowling Green now owns an overall record of 8-18. The Falcons are a solid 4-4 in Mid-American Conference play. Toledo is 9-22 on the season, and 3-5 in conference play.

"I thought we played close to a complete game in game one," said head coach Danny Schmitz. "Tyler Anderson pitched a heck of a game, and our bullpen did its job in protecting the lead. We played a clean defensive game. We were also patient on offense, and came up with clutch hits.

"You have to give Toledo a lot of credit for responding in the fashion that they did. Their offense was tremendous, and we put ourselves in bad situations by not commanding our pitches. It was really just one of those games, and we have to put it behind us. At the end of the day, we gave ourselves a chance to win the series, and that's how we are going to look at it. There's not much better than a rubber-match game between Bowling Green and Toledo."

Although Bowling Green recorded 10 hits in the second game, Toledo avoided the doubleheader sweep by scoring 20 runs on 23 hits. UT's A.J. Montoya went 4-for-4 with four runs and six RBI, while also smacking two home runs.

Blake Jenkins led the way with three hits and two runs, while Randy Righter went 2-for-4 with one run and two RBI. Toledo's Ross Achter picked up the win, as he went 6.2 innings and registered eight strikeouts.

Behind Tyler Anderson's career-best 7.1 innings, Bowling Green started off the day with a 5-4 victory. Anderson allowed just four hits and one run, while striking out a season-high five batters. He issued just two walks, and picked up his second win on the season. He lowered his ERA to 2.96 on the season with his stellar start.

Bowling Green raced out to a 5-0 lead, but Toledo went on to put the tying run on base in the top of the ninth. After Anderson surrendered his one run in the eighth, Brad Croy and Kody Brown recorded one out apiece to pitch Bowling Green into the final frame.

The Rockets plated three in the ninth off Tony Landi, but the right-hander ended the ballgame and secured the victory for the Orange and Brown by striking out the final batter. Bowling Green posted seven hits, while the Rockets, thanks to four ninth-inning hits, recorded eight hits on the game.

The Falcons got on the board in the fourth inning by grounding into a double play, and in the fifth, Bowling Green took a 4-0 lead with a three-run inning. Nick Glanzman moved two runners into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt after Justin Mott and Jeff Scott reached base to start the inning. Mott poked a single, while Scott reached on an error. Jake Wilson and Blake Jenkins deposited run-scoring singles into left field, inching BGSU's lead up to 3-0. Cam Daugherty then wrapped up the inning with a sacrifice fly to center field.

In the seventh, Scott gave the Falcons a 5-0 lead with a solo home run to left-center. Scott is now tied for the team lead in home runs with five.

An underrated factor on the day was the phenomenal job by Mott behind the plate. He threw out two would-be base stealers in each game, and made a number of nice stops on pitches in the dirt. The junior catcher went 1-for-3 at the plate in both games, with a run in the first game and an RBI in the second game. Mott now leads the team with a .300 batting average.

Bowling Green and Toledo will play the series rubber match tomorrow at 1:05 p.m. at Steller Field. With a win, the Falcons would secure back-to-back series wins within the conference for the first time since April of 2016. The game will air live on BCSN, and will also stream live on ESPN3. Also tomorrow, it will be the last day to buy Falcon Club 50/50 raffle tickets for the $5K pot. The winner will be announced during the game.