Falling behind big early, the Falcons baseball team fell on the road to Wright State 13-8 on Wednesday.
The Raiders plated six in the second inning and held a controlling lead the rest of the game as they halted BG’s five-game winning streak.
“Our pitching really wasn’t there,” said Falcons head coach Danny Schmitz.
Starter Andy Gumpf (3-1) was roughed up early, allowing all six second inning runs before being lifted for Greg Mentrek, who went 3.2 innings and gave up three runs.
BG (18-7) trailed by eight before its bats woke up a bit and they narrowed the score to 9-5 after the top of the sixth, thanks to a three-run home run from Jimmy Lipari. But the Raiders (11-14) scored four in the bottom half to thwart the Falcons’ rally.
“We really needed to come out swinging the bats early in the game because it’s tough playing catch-up,” said Schmitz, whose team had to come back from early deficits against Central Michigan Sunday and Heidelberg Tuesday.
Josh Stewart hit a solo home run in the fourth inning, his fourth of the season, to put BG on the board. He finished with a team-high three hits on the day.
The Falcons pushed across three runs in the ninth after a RBI single by Jesse Sobol and two-run triple from Josh Dietz, marking the first triple of his career.
Battling the Bulls
BG will play host to fellow Mid-American Conference member Buffalo in a three-game series this weekend.
“(Buffalo is) a team that is a very blue-collar type team, hard working and scrappy team,” Schmitz said. “Their programs only about six years in existence, but they’re out there playing everyday to gain respect. They are a much improved program.”
The Bulls have done well at the plate to this point, having four regulars hitting over .300. They hit .286 as a team and our led by James Kingsley, who is tops on the club with a .360 average, along with leading them in homers (5) and RBI (23).
The biggest problem for Buffalo has been their pitching staff, who come to Steller Field with an earned run average of 6.13. The staff has given up 199 hits in 171.2 IP and walked an additional 102 batters.
Alan Brech (3-1, 2.51 ERA) is scheduled to pitch the opener on Friday and Kyle Knoblauch (0-1, 6.66) is slated for Saturday. Sunday’s pitcher is still yet to be determined.
Playing on the road will be nothing out of the ordinary for the Bulls as they have played all 22 of their games on the road this season, going 10-12 as they head to Bowling Green.
Friday’s game starts at 3 p.m. and both weekend games begin at 1 p.m.
