The Falcon baseball team lost to the Wright State Raiders 8-5 on Tuesday night, despite taking a 4-0 lead in the fourth inning.
“We did some good things,” Falcons head coach Danny Schmitz said. “But we’ve still got to stop beating ourselves and we need to make plays when we need to make them.”
With Falcon senior starting pitcher Daniel Buratto pitching a shutout through the first three and two-thirds innings while allowing just one hit and one walk, the team’s offense came to life in the fourth with freshman designated hitter Tyler Haas hitting a two-RBI double, followed by an RBI single by senior left fielder Jeff Scott and another RBI single from sophomore catcher Nick Neibauer to give the Falcons the 4-0 lead.
However, Wright State turned the momentum around in the fifth with a new pitcher in as junior right fielder Peyton Burdick took a bases-loaded walk to add in Wright State’s first run of the ball game, followed up by junior third baseman Seth Gray tying it up with a 3 RBI triple and sophomore designated hitter Zane Harris giving them the lead with an RBI single for a 5-4 advantage.
“We did some really good things in the fourth inning,” Schmitz said. “For the most part, we swung the bats really well and for the most part when we did have rallies going, we hit the ball hard even though it was at people.”
Wright State continued to do damage offensively in the seventh inning as Harris added an RBI sacrifice fly and senior shortstop Chase Slone got a 2 RBI single to make it an 8-4 game. However, the Falcons had a rally going late in the game and got a run across in the ninth as senior shortstop Neil Lambert got an RBI sacrifice fly. However, the team left the bases loaded as Wright State claimed the 8-5 victory.
“Obviously we walked too many guys and hit too many guys,” Schmitz said. “I think they had 10 free baserunners and you just can’t do that. We should have made a couple of plays that we didn’t make and basically they got all of their runs because we didn’t make a couple of plays and we gave them free baserunners. We outhit them 14-6, so we can’t defend the free baserunners.”
Junior relief pitcher Mitch Gremling picked up the win for Wright State, going one and two-thirds innings while allowing only one earned run along with four hits and one walk, as Falcons junior pitcher Damon Egnor took the loss, going one inning while allowing five earned runs on three hits and one walk. Wright State sophomore reliever Jake Schrand picked up the save, going the final two innings while allowing an earned run on two hits and two walks.
The team will next play in a three-game series on the road against the Ball State Cardinals on Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons, before traveling to face the Dayton Flyers on the road on Wednesday afternoon.
“Ball State’s going to be solid,” Schmitz said. “They’re going to have a couple of big-time arms and swing the bats well and play good defense, they’re very well coached. We’re going to have to match their energy and bring our A-game.”
