The Falcon baseball team opened Mid-American Conference play strong against the Eastern Michigan Eagles with a thrilling 5-3 victory Friday.
“I thought the first two games we pitched really well, but our defense really struggled Friday,” BG coach Danny Schmitz said.
Despite committing five errors and getting only five hits to the Eagles’ ten, some clutch pitching from the Falcons staff and smart base running were able to secure the win. Centerfielder Kurt Wells picked up a pair of RBIs in the sixth when an infield single allowed two to score, tying the game 2-2.
A sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth put the Eagles back on top, but second baseman Eric Lawson got an RBI and scored in a three-run eighth that sealed the win.
Reliever Nick Cantrell earned his third win and Tyler Johnson closed the game out for his first Falcon save.
However, the Eagles were given an extra day to recover when Saturday’s game was moved to Sunday due to bad weather, setting up a double-header.
In the first game, Eagle pitcher Jeff Fischer threw a complete game, giving up only one run on four hits and striking out nine Falcon batters. The Falcon pitching staff tried to keep up but junior Greg Becker gave up two runs in the third inning which proved to be too much to overcome.
Despite a stellar performance by Fischer, Falcon coach Danny Schmitz doesn’t think his team did everything they could at the plate.
“We work hard in batting practice but we get in the games and don’t have the same approach. If you only score one run in college baseball you aren’t going to win many games,” Schmitz said.
Eastern Michigan ran away with the second game, winning 9-3. The Falcons left 12 runners on base in the loss. Their record is now 9-10 overall and 1-2 in the MAC.
The Falcons struggled at the plate and in the field the entire weekend, getting only 17 hits to the Eagle’s 27 and committing twice as many errors (8).
“I don’t think we adjusted very well as hitters,” Schmitz said. “Basically we’ve got to play a perfect game with the way we’re swinging the bats.”
One Falcon who didn’t struggle at the plate was Wells, who batted .364 with three RBI in the series.
“I’m taking a much different approach [at the plate] from last year,” he said. “[Schmitz] has had us working on hitting off-speed pitches a lot in practice and the Eastern pitchers seemed to be throwing a lot of change-ups and curve balls. I was just looking for strikes and something I could handle,” he said.
The Falcons will be in Ann Arbor today to take on the Michigan Wolverines. The Wolverines come into today’s game batting .292 as a team with 11 home runs. Last year the Falcons lost to the Wolverines 4-3.
“They’re a Big Ten school and they recruit guys from all around the country,” Wells said. “I expect we’ll be playing against the best.”
