The Dayton Flyers came into Warren Stellar Field Wednesday looking for revenge and they picked a good day to do it.
Winds gusting at up to 43 mph helped them put up 14 runs against 10 different BGSU pitchers., winning 14-9.
“The balls were pop-ups and they were going out of the park,” said Falcon right fielder Andrew Foster.
The loss was the Falcon’s first at home this season and drops their record to 16-14.
Dayton pitcher Luke Trubee earned the win mostly due to a six-run ninth inning explosion by the Flyers’ offense that deflated a BGSU team that had come from behind earlier in the game to lead by one going into the inning.
Greg Becker was saddled with the loss.
Foster led all batters, going 3-for-4 with three RBIs and a walk. Dayton was led by second baseman Galen Schuum, who went 2-for-3 with two home runs, three RBIs and two walks.
Foster, who hit the game-winning grand slam the last time the teams met, had the chance to hit another when he came to the plate in the fifth inning with bases loaded. He came up just a couple feet short this time when he doubled off the centerfield wall, but the bases were cleared giving the Falcons a 7-5 lead.
The Falcons led 9-8 heading into the ninth inning but after Becker loaded the bases, Brian Hangbers was unable to pitch out of the jam and the Flyers scored six runs, thus cementing the victory.
The Falcons struck out twice in the bottom of the inning to end the game.
“We kind of had slated that we were going to try to get 10 pitchers in there,” said BG coach Danny Schmitz. “We did, some days it works out and some days it doesn’t.”
The reason for entering 10 pitchers was in preparation for rival Toledo (16-12, 5-4 Mid-American Conference), Schmitz said.
BG hosts the Rockets for three games beginning Friday at Warren Steller Field.
“It’s always nice to beat Toledo,” Foster said. “We’ve had a history of battles between us.”
But he added that the wins are just as important to their Mid-American Conference standings as for bragging rights. The Falcons (5-4 in MAC) sit one game behind Kent State (6-3, 18-11 overall) for first in the MAC East.
“I don’t think there’s any doubt this is a great rivalry no matter what sport,” Schmitz said. “Still it’s a very important MAC weekend for us. We basically have nine out of our next 12 conference games at home and we need to make sure that we play very well during that stretch and it starts with game one (Friday).
“We know Toledo is going to be an outstanding opponent, they’re having a great year.”
Toledo is coming off a big win over the University of Michigan who beat the Falcons earlier this year.
The Falcons will have history on their side, though. They leads the all-time series 103-79. They won all four games against the Rockets last year by an average of nine runs.
The Falcons will be leading off with their ace Friday as Alan Brech is set to take the mound.
“Alan Brech has been outstanding for us on Fridays but it’s game two and three where we’ve been kind of struggling so we’re going to try to make some adjustments this weekend and see if that helps out,” Schmitz said.
Brech is 2-0 this season in seven starts and possesses a 2-0 record against Toledo in his career. He is leading the team in ERA (2.33), strikeouts (25) and innings pitched (38.2).
“I know they were pretty young last year so they’ve got pretty much the same team,” he said. “They’re a pretty good hitting team.”
Game time is scheduled for 3 p.m. Friday and 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
