The BGSU baseball team ended their season on a disappointing note, loosing all three games against Ohio University last Friday and Saturday.
The losses drop their final record to 26-27 overall, with an 11-16 record in the Mid-American Conference. They finished fourth in the MAC behind OU.
“We knew going into the weekend that we were eliminated [from the MAC tournament],” said coach Danny Schmitz.
However, the team said they had something to play for.
“We turned our focus to our two seniors. We wanted to send them out winners,” said junior Josh Stewart.
BG came close to accomplishing that goal, except for a complete shutout by Bobcat pitcher Yale Silverman in the second game of their Friday doubleheader.
In their first game Friday, the Falcons lost 7-6 in heart-breaking fashion. Up 6-5 going into the bottom of the ninth, the Falcons allowed the tying run to score from second on a throwing error by third baseman Chris Gacom. Then, on a grounder to third with two out, the throw was just a little too late to get the runner, and the winning run scored from second, beating the throw home.
On Saturday, the Falcons again lost a close one with a score of 12-11. The Falcons jumped out to a 7-0 lead, led by first baseman Brian Hangbers who drove in six runs in the game, including a grand slam.
Later in the game, Bobcat starting pitcher Anthony Gressick added two home runs and four RBIs to lead an offense that proved too much for the Falcons to handle.
Schmitz said failure to close out games has been the cause of the team’s skid out of contention following a promising start.
“We played well at times, but we couldn’t finish some games out,” he said. “You’ve got to have a strong bullpen, and that was our Achilles heel this year. It’d be nice if your starters could go nine innings, but that’s not always the case.”
With the season now over, players will turn their attention toward summer leagues or the Major League Baseball draft.
Seniors Tyler Wasserman (third base) and Tyler Saneholtz (pitcher) may not have the best chances at being drafted, but two Falcon juniors have a good possibility this year.
Catcher Josh Stewart, who was drafted last year by Tampa Bay but chose to return, and starting pitcher Alan Brech both have a chance at going pro, according to Schmitz.
“I didn’t have a really good year, so I’m not expecting much,” Stewart said.
Stewart did, however, add that he would leave if he was drafted.
For the rest of the team, the focus will be on next year.
Second baseman Eric Lawson said that if the Falcons are to succeed next year, they will need to bring a new mentality.
“We were not a very tough team this year. It seemed like the littlest bit of adversity [would arise], and we’d coil up and crawl into a hole. Instead of playing not to lose games, we need to play to win.”
Lawson added that being such a young team may have hurt BG’s chances this season.
“We had a lot of little mistakes that we made, because we were a young team. Hopefully, we can learn from our little mistakes.”
