Yesterday brought another high-scoring affair to Steller Field, as the Falcon baseball team downed Oakland University 14-6 in another midweek non-conference tilt.
In a game that took three hours and four minutes to complete, the Falcons (19-16) pounded out 16 hits, bringing their hit total in the last three days to 34. For students in attendance this week who will be leaving campus after next week’s final exams, BG provided plenty of parting offense for their fans.
This game actually did start out rather close, regardless of the final score.
Brett Browning started the game for the Falcons on the mound, and gave up two unearned runs in the first inning. Then, Andrew Foster singled home Ryan Shay after the latter hit a double in the bottom half of the first.
But the next fourteen batters in a row were retired on both sides, which sped up the game considerably.
Browning left the game after he struck out the last batter in the top of the fourth.
In the bottom portion of that inning, Derek Spencer and Logan Meisler hit back-to-back doubles to tie the game at two. Foster singled again during the next frame to gain a slim 3-2 lead, but in the sixth there was much aluminum to be heard from the home team at the Stell.
The first five Falcon batters -Spencer, Meisler, Brian Hangbers, Marty Baird, and Dennis Vaughn -all reached base and eventually scored. Shay and Foster would score as well to bring about a 10-2 BG lead through six.
Foster added another RBI single in the seventh inning and would finish his day 4-for-6 at the plate with four RBIs and two runs scored as well.
That spiked his batting average up 17 percentage points – and the reason behind the success?
‘Last game I struggled seeing the ball, but this was much better,’ Foster said. ‘We’ve been working on staying back behind the ball and getting it to all fields, which really helped against Oakland today.’
The outfielder’s .347 average is actually only fifth-best on the 2008 BG team stocked with solid hitters. Foster is also the lone senior in the lineup.
As for the pitching, it performed better than usual yesterday. After Browning made his exit at the end of four, Nick Cantrell, Dusty Hawk, Hangbers, Baird and Charles Wooten each came in to throw an inning.
‘We were hoping to get four innings out of Brett and he gave us exactly that,’ said BG coach Danny Schmitz. ‘Then the five who followed did a nice job as well.’
On a team that features only two pitchers with earned-run averages below five, any quality mound performances are welcome, even if it’s against a team like Oakland who fell to 8-19 with the loss.
Cantrell, who actually ended up with the win on the day, described the danger in having the rather astronomical ERAs continue down the stretch.
‘Right now it feels like the hitters are really pulling the team’s weight,’ Cantrell said. ‘The pitchers definitely need to pick it up, because we can’t depend on the hitters to put up double-digit numbers every game.’
The team’s focus now shifts to a three-game series in Oxford, Ohio this weekend, where they will take on one of the Mid-American Conference’s bottom teams at Miami University. The pitching staff will be afforded a chance to keep their earned run totals low, as the RedHawks have the second-worst batting average in the MAC this season.
BG’s average, meanwhile, continues to be the best in the league. However, the offense will certainly need to perform better than they did against Kent, their most recent MAC opponent.
‘These big victories [against Albion and Oakland] will be good for rolling into the weekend,’ Foster said. ‘We have to go to Miami now, which isn’t a very good environment to play in because the fans are pretty hostile down there.’
His coach agreed about the benefits of this week’s poundings.
‘I thought the boys played well and it will give us confidence down there,’ Schmitz said. ‘We just want to go out and play hard, that’s our goal. Don’t get caught being in awe of anyone, let them be in awe of you.’
The first pitch at awe-inspiring McKie Field in Oxford will be thrown at 6 p.m. tomorrow.
