After splitting the first two games of a three-game stint at Murray State this weekend, the BG baseball team won the third game 7-6 in extra innings.
Needing two runs in the top of the seventh in game two of the doubleheader Sunday afternoon to even have a chance, the Falcons got just that.
After third baseman Derek Spencer scored on a wild pitch, second baseman Logan Meisler singled in the tying run with two outs.
After shutting down MSU in the bottom half of the seventh, BG scored what would be the eventual game-winning runs in the top of the eighth.
With the bases loaded after catcher Ryan Schlater’s single, an intentional walk to shortstop Ryan Shay and a single by right fielder Andrew Foster, Spencer hit a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Schlater. First baseman Frank Berry followed that with a single, scoring Shay and giving BG a 7-5 lead.
MSU cut the lead to one after a double and single off BG’s Charles Wooten. With two outs and the bases loaded, Brett Browning came in for Wooten and recorded the save (1) as he got MSU’s Kyle Tiernan to groundout to second.
“There’s no doubt about it,” said coach Danny Schmitz. “Anytime you can come from behind, especially on the road, that’s big.”
Dusty Hawk (1-1) picked up the win for the Falcons, going 3.1 innings and giving up one run on three hits and striking out five. He came in for Brian Hangbers, who started the game and went 3.2 innings, giving up four runs on six hits.
Shay led BG, going 3-for-4 with one RBI. For the weekend, Shay batted .818 as he went 9-for-11 with three RBIs.
MSU’s Chris Craycraft (2-0) was the story in game one as he pitched a complete game, limiting BG to only two runs on six hits.
“You got to give [Craycraft] credit,” Schmitz said. “He had command of his three pitches – fastball, breaking pitch and a change-up. He kept the ball down and had good movement on his pitches, which forced a number of ground balls.”
BG started the scoring with one run in the fourth after an RBI triple from right fielder Mark Galvin.
The Falcons added another run in the fifth to take a 2-0 lead, but the lead wouldn’t last long, as MSU put up six runs on five hits and two errors in the bottom of the fifth.
Shay and Galvin led the Falcons with two hits and one RBI apiece.
Starter Kevin Leady (1-1) took the loss for the Falcons. He pitched four innings, giving up five runs (three earned) on eight hits, while striking out five.
BG’s offense was the story of the game on Saturday as it scored 14 runs on a season-high tying 16 hits.
After scoring two runs in the first and another in the second, BG fell behind 4-3 after MSU put up four runs in the bottom of the second.
The Falcons responded with a nine-run third inning, leading to a 12-4 lead, which they never looked back from.
To go along with his RBI in the first, Spencer added three more in the third on a triple to right center. He led the Falcons, going 1-for-5 with a game-high five RBIs.
Meisler, Schlater, Shay and Foster also collected RBIs in the top of the third for BG.
Shay led the Falcons in hits , going 4-for-5 with an RBI, while Meisler added three hits and two RBIs.
MSU answered with two runs in the bottom of the third, but BG responded with two more runs in the top of the fourth to take a 14-6 lead. MSU added one more run in the ninth.
Getting the win for the Falcons was Nick Cantrell (2-2). He came in for starter Kevin Light and pitched six innings, giving up two unearned runs on three hits, while striking out six.
MSU’s Jake Donze (1-1) didn’t have a good day on the mound, as he gave up 10 runs on seven hits to Falcon bats in only 2.1 innings of work.
“I thought we swung the bats very, very well,” Schmitz said. “I thought our guys were very disciplined with their left-handed pitcher. We forced [Donze] to bring the ball up in the zone and we gave ourselves some very quality at-bats.”
The Falcons’ next game – a 6:30 tilt at Wright State tonight – has been canceled due to poor playing conditions. The game has yet to be rescheduled.