The Falcon baseball team defeated the Fort Wayne Mastodons 4-3 on Wednesday afternoon, as the team came back from a 3-0 deficit early on.
“From a pitching standpoint and a defensive standpoint, I thought they kept us in the game,” Falcons head coach Danny Schmitz said. “Our bats definitely got off to a slow start, it wasn’t until the fifth inning that we got our first hit.”
The game started out with Fort Wayne getting on the board first as they had a pair of consecutive RBI groundouts followed by a bases loaded walk in the second inning, making it an early 3-0 advantage. However, the Falcons were able to get back in the game offensively in the fifth with an RBI single from junior infielder Riley Minorik.
“We really had nothing going (before the RBI), they had a perfect game going into the fifth inning,” Schmitz said. “That kind of sparked us a little bit and got us going.”
The team continued the momentum into the seventh inning as senior infielder Derek Drewes scored on a wild pitch, followed by an RBI single courtesy of junior infielder Neil Lambert to tie the game back up.The game would remain even until the Falcons came up to bat in the top of the ninth inning, when sophomore outfielder Jake Wilson hit an RBI single to drive in junior outfielder RJ Williams from third to give the team their first lead of the game. Despite a late threat from Fort Wayne with a runner at second with one out, junior pitcher Brad Croy closed it out for the save and the 4-3 victory. Freshman pitcher Jeremy Spezia earned his first collegiate win for the Falcons.
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“The pitchers did a great job by holding them at bay,” Schmitz said. “The hitters finally woke up late in the game and we found a way to win a game. That’s huge, especially on the road, you have to find a way to win games so I’m really proud of the effort.”
The team will next play on Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons at home against the Eastern Michigan Eagles.
“Eastern Michigan’s going to be tough,” Schmitz said. “They’re going to be a scrappy group, they play the game the right way and they’re going to be good. They’ve had our number the past couple of years so we’re going to need to bring our A-game starting with Friday.”
