For the Bowling Green baseball team, playing outside this weekend against Murray State gave them some new ground to tread on.
“This was our first time outside,” BG pitching coach Tod Brown said. “This is my sixth year and every year I’ve been here we’ve been able to have at least one outside practice.”
Luckily for the Falcons, the weekend was still a success even without a chance to play in the elements. The Falcons dropped their weekend opener against Murray State 8-0, but recovered nicely, winning its second game Saturday 7-3 and taking the only Sunday game 10-5.
“That was outstanding,” Brown said. “We were very pleased with the team.”
The weekend that featured quite a bit of hitting for the Falcons surprisingly enough started out with a shutout.
BG was unable to get ahold of Murray right-hander Craig Kraus. The senior held the Falcons to just four hits in his seven innings of work. That, coupled with the lack of playing outside, led to the Falcons lack of pop in their season opener.
But the bats would come alive in the second half of the double header.
The Falcons took advantage of all their opportunities, using seven hits to bring home seven runs. Andy Hudak and Josh Stewart led the way, knocking in a pair of runs apiece.
But the pitching was every bit as impressive for BG.
“Burke Badenhop started the second game and threw four impressive innings,” Brown said.
The reason for the small amount of innings pitched is because the Falcons were looking to use all 11 pitchers they brought on the trip, a goal they reached by Sunday’s game — a game the Falcons led essentially from the get go.
Eric Lawson used the games first at bat to take the ball over the left field fence to give BG the early 1-0 lead. The Falcons really brought out the lumber in the finale, racking 13 hits and four home runs.
Along with Lawson’s round tripper, Nolan Reimold put one out while Andy Hudak outdid both his teammates, hitting a pair of homers in the 10-5 win.
The Falcons will look to continue their momentum as soon as possible. As it stands now, that will be this Wednesday, when they are slated to play in Dayton. As of now, freezing temperatures and a 100 percent chance of snow are in the forecast until tomorrow. If either occurs, it isn’t likely the Falcons will play.
“The big thing this early is that we won’t do anything to jeopardize the team,” Brown said. “If the field is wet or the temperatures drop below freezing we won’t play.”
Weather permitting, the Falcons are slated to play tomorrow in Dayton at 2 p.m.