Perhaps this is just what the BG baseball team needed. After being rained out of three crucial Mid-American Conference games this past weekend, the Falcons recovered from a bad start to pound Division II Defiance College Tuesday, 18-3.
Now, with just six weeks until the conference tournament, BG faces another crucial test this weekend with a four-game home series against the Marshall Thundering Herd, which currently sits in second in the MAC’s East division at 4-3.
“I was glad to get everyone in the game, in hopes that will pay dividends this coming weekend,” BG coach Danny Schmitz said. “Not only getting the pitchers in, but the position players who got in were glad to get some action going into the weekend.”
BG, at 4-5 in conference after last Friday’s 11-6 loss to Buffalo, pounded out 22 hits in Tuesday’s win, including four from junior heavy hitter Kelly Hunt. Overall, the Falcons used 24 players in the win, including eight pitchers.
“That was what we call a Johnny-stop game,” said senior outfielder Len Elias. “It is hard for those pitchers to get pumped up for a weekend conference series throwing in a bullpen the weekend before. They just threw in the bullpen Sunday after we were rained out, so it was good to get all of those guys into the game.”
Marshall enters the game at 13-17 overall and 1-9 on the road, and comes off a split against Morehead State. The Herd is led by Matt White, who has started all 30 games for Marshall and is batting a torrid .378. He has also hit five home runs and runs batted in, while Gregg Hiller is hitting .314 with seven home runs and 25 RBIs. Perhaps the weak part of the Herd’s squad is the pitching staff, as Chris Meadows leads the team in earned run average at 6.03.
“Marshall is a team that will swing the bats against us,” Schmitz said. “They swung them very well against us last year, and we figure they will do the same this year. White has been a starter since he set foot on campus; he’s a great player. Obviously, both teams will want these games badly this weekend for conference implications.”
For the Falcons, Hunt is now hitting .407, with nine home runs and 39 RBIs, while teammate Corey Loomis leads the team in hitting at .409 with eight home runs and 28 RBIs.
“We really weren’t expecting this game to be this big this early,” Elias said. “But with the cancellations, that’s exactly what this series is; it’s huge. We need to take three of four this weekend to give us a cushion for later games. This way, if we happen to lose a game along the way that we aren’t supposed to, we are still okay.”
Notes
This year BG leads the conference in fielding, at .967. The Falcons have just 34 errors in 29 games. … Loomis, among batters in the conference with a minimum of 2.5 at bats per game, ranks fifth in batting average at .413, while Hunt’s 35 RBIs in MAC play rank him third in the conference. … Neil Schmitz’s four saves rank him second in the league.
“Our pitching has been improving constantly,” Elias said, “which we need, because as our pitching goes, it seems our hitting goes as well. If they give our bats time to get warmed up and give up three or four runs, we are in good shape, and the same for us. If our bats start off hot, that lets our pitchers get into a groove and start throwing strikes.”
The weekend series with the Thundering Herd begins today at 3 p.m., while Saturday’s doubleheader begins at 1 p.m. Sunday’s nine-inning series finale begins at 1 p.m.
