After a strong 12-3 start, the Bowling Green baseball team struggled in Muncie, Indiana, against Ball State in their first Mid-American Conference series of the weekend.
The Cardinals swept the Falcons in Saturday’s doubleheader, winning the first 8-7 and the second 9-4. Ball State completed the three-game sweep of the Falcons on Sunday, winning 9-2.
“We were supposed to take our ‘A’ game to Ball State and basically we brought an egg with us,” BG head coach Danny Schmitz said. “We did not play well at all.”
The biggest factor for the Falcons’ first losing streak of the season was the dominant performances from Cardinals pitchers. The strongest outing came in the second game of the series, when Ball State starting pitcher Joe Ness, struck out nine Falcons and gave up just five hits and a run in six innings of work.
“(Ness) really kind of shut the door,” Schmitz said. “We took a 1-0 lead and he had an 8-1 lead before he left the game. He had a very strong performance.”
Schmitz said throughout the weekend, Ball State outplayed them in all three phases of the game — pitching, defense and hitting.
“We didn’t pitch well, our defense was not very good and our hitting, with the exception of about four innings was not where it needed to be,” Schmitz said. “Ball State played with a lot of enthusiasm and for whatever reason, we did not.”
Even though the Falcons struggled with their offense, junior right fielder Nolan Reimold continued to swing the hot bat. He scored the game’s only runs on Sunday with a 2-run homerun in the third inning. For the series, he hit 4-for-12 with eight RBI’s and two homeruns.
“Even though we didn’t have a great weekend as a team, Nolan (Reimold) played very well and did a good job for us,” Schmitz said.
Yesterday, Reimold was honored for his strong offensive play when he was awarded as the Louisville Slugger’s National Hitter of the Week. He was also named the MAC Hitter of the Week for the second time this season after smashing four homeruns and driving in 13 runs over the last four games.
Schmitz said Reimold is feeling more comfortable than he did in the beginning of the season, and his stats show the results.
“He’s been doing a good job,” Schmitz said. “In the beginning, he got off to a slow start just from pressing a little too much, but he’s settled in now and basically he’s a threat every time he gets in the batter’s box.”
BG is now 12-6 overall with a 0-3 record in the MAC, while Ball State improves to 12-9 overall, 3-0 in MAC play.
The Falcons host Defiance today at Steller Field. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m.
