Bowling Green Earns 6-2 Win Over Kent State On Senior Day

Saturday, May 11

Bowling Green, Ohio

12:10 PM EST

Bowling Green State University

14-32, 0

Kent State

27-20, 0

Kent State

Bowling Green

May 11, 2019 | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: by James Nahikian, BGSU Athletic Communications

Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score
Photo Gallery: BGSU Marketing / Communications (Isaiah Vazquez)

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University baseball team split a Saturday (May 11) doubleheader with the Kent State Golden Flashes on Senior Day at Steller Field. After dropping a competitive 4-3 decision to open the day, the Falcons bounced back and defeated KSU in the series finale by a score of 6-2.

Prior to the pair of games, Bowling Green honored its 12 seniors – R.J. Williams, Brad Croy, Jeff Scott, Neil Lambert, Gama Martinez, Cam Daugherty, Riley Minorik, Ty Suntken, Joe McGuinness, Chase Antle, Daniel Buratto and Anthony Smith.

Bowling Green received another strong start from Tyler Hays in the first game of the day. Hays allowed two earned runs over 6.0 innings while striking out eight and only issuing two walks. Jeremy Spezia took over for Hays, and went on to toss 3.0 innings of one-run ball.

Kent State scored one run in the first, and never trailed the rest of the way. BGSU would not go away, however. All three times KSU took a two-run lead, the Falcons battled back to trim it to a single run, but Bowling Green was never able to get over the hump and tie the contest.

R.J. Williams went 2-for-3 with an RBI and run scored. Lambert went 2-for-4, while Riley Minorik, Cam Daugherty and Gama Martinez registered one hit apiece. Minorik drove in a run, as well.

David Stopp picked up the win for the Orange and Brown in the nightcap, as the southpaw fired 5.0 shutout innings, allowing just three hits while striking out three batters. Will MacLean fanned two more over 2.0 innings of one-run ball. Chase Antle, in his last appearance at Steller Field, picked up the 100th strikeout of his career in the eighth. Gage Schenk slammed the door shut in the ninth with a clean frame.

Bowling Green took a commanding 6-0 lead by scoring two runs in three separate innings. The Falcons put up a two-spot in the second, third and sixth innings, prior to the Golden Flashes scoring one run apiece in both the seventh and eighth innings.

Adam Furnas lifted a sacrifice fly in the second to get the Falcons on the board. Ryan Johnston then pulled a double down the left-field line to give BGSU a 2-0 advantage. In the third, Neil Lambert drove in a run on a fielder's choice, prior to Minorik coming around to score on an error.

Williams concluded Bowling Green's scoring on the day with a two-RBI single in the sixth. Furnas started the rally with the first bunt single of his career. Johnston's second double of the ballgame put the pair of Falcons in scoring position for Williams.

COACH SCHMITZ QUOTE
"I thought our guys played their butts off today, and it was great to send out our senior class with a win. This was the last time that they will play at Steller Field, and it was important that they ended with a victory. I thought we did a lot of things right throughout this series against a really good Kent State team. Our team will be focused to end the season the right way next week at Northern Illinois."

NEXT WEEK IN FALCON BASEBALL
Thursday, May 16 | at Northern Illinois | 4 p.m.
Friday, May 17 | at Northern Illinois | 2 p.m.
Saturday, May 18 | at Northern Illinois | 1 p.m.

FOLLOW THE FALCONS
Stay up to date with everything BGSU Baseball – in-game updates, news and notes – by following the Falcons on Twitter at @BGSU_Baseball. Schedule changes will also be posted on Twitter, as well as BGSUFalcons.com.