The Falcon baseball team took two out of three games against the Ohio Bobcats, winning 3-1 on Sunday after falling 11-3 on Saturday, but winning on Friday 6-4.
Falcons head coach Danny Schmitz also won his 700th game as head coach of the Falcons on Sunday.
“To be honest, I’m more concerned about winning the series,” Schmitz said. “Winning 700 is nice, but it takes a back burner. It’s very important that it’s opening weekend to win the series against arguably one of the best baseball programs in the conference.”
On Sunday, the Falcons got the offense going early as senior infielder Randy Righter hit an RBI single, along with junior infielder Neil Lambert coming across on an error to make it a 2-0 game. In the fifth, junior infielder Brad Croy added to the lead with an RBI single. In the sixth, however, Ohio came back with an RBI single, but the Falcons held on to take the 3-1 victory.
“I was really proud of the way the guys rebounded from yesterday’s game,” Schmitz said. “Before we let the guys go last night, we told (pitcher) Tyler Anderson that we need a good effort out of you today and we got exactly that.”
On Saturday, the Falcons started off strong once again as Righter hit an RBI double in the first inning, allowing the team to go ahead 1-0 early. However, Ohio rebounded in the third with a two RBI single as well as scoring on a steal of home plate to make it a 3-1 game. Ohio added to the lead in the fourth with an RBI sacrifice fly, a two RBI double and an RBI single. The Falcons chipped away at the lead in the fifth with an RBI single from sophomore outfielder Jake Wilson, but Ohio scored two more runs in the sixth on an RBI single and a fielder’s choice. The score remained there until the ninth, when Ohio got an RBI single and an RBI groundout. While the Falcons were able to get an RBI single from freshman outfielder Evan Brown, Ohio still held on to take the 11-3 win. However, the team was able to get a number of freshmen players into the game late.
“We got a number of guys in against Dayton on Wednesday, but we didn’t get everybody in,” Schmitz said. “Yesterday we went with our lineup against a left-handed pitcher, so some guys got in, some didn’t, but today we got everybody in, which is good because we don’t like them sitting too long and getting rusty.”
Friday’s game began with a bang for the Falcons in the first inning, as senior infielder Randy Righter got an RBI double, followed by an RBI groundout from senior infielder Derek Drewes and an RBI single by junior infielder Cam Daugherty to give the Falcons an early 3-0 advantage. However, Ohio responded in the second with a two run home run to cut the lead to one. In the fourth, Ohio hit an RBI sacrifice fly to tie it up, however, in the sixth, the Falcons came back with another three-run inning as junior outfielder Jeff Scott hit a two RBI single, followed by Lambert coming home on a wild pitch. While Ohio got a run back in the ninth on a solo homer, the Falcons still held on to win 6-4.
“I thought the guys came out with a great approach,” Schmitz said. “They got pitches that they could handle, they hit the ball where it was pitched… It allowed (pitcher) Zac Carey to kind of settle in right away and give him a lead, that was huge.”
The team will next play on Wednesday afternoon on the road against the Fort Wayne Mastodons.
