It took 17 innings, but the BG Falcon bats finally woke up this past weekend in Knoxville, Tenn. After being no-hit on Friday and entering Saturday’s ninth inning down 10-1, the aluminum finally caught fire, as the Falcons scored 21 runs over the next 10 innings.
Saturday’s rally came up short, as the Falcons lost 10-6, but their powerful offense was alive and well after a five-run ninth inning in which every run was unearned. The Volunteers had jumped out to an 8-0 lead after the fourth, tallying three runs off of walks with the bases loaded. Junior Doug Flere, in his first appearance since returning from Tommy John surgery, took Saturday’s loss.
The Falcons continued that offensive momentum Sunday, however, and held off the Vols to salvage a game of the series, 15-11. Tallying 18 hits, the Falcons led 7-3 after three and after Tennessee had crawled within two after five BG scored five in their half of the sixth to put the game away. Nick Elrod and Tim Newell both had two-run singles in the inning, helping BG take a 12-5 lead. Neil Schmitz pitched two and two-thirds scoreless innings to help BG finish their first win of the 2002 campaign. Eight of 10 Falcons who went to the plate had a hit.
“I think our pitching is really coming around,” said David Barkholz, a sophomore centerfielder. “Last year was a bit rough at the end of games, but we have really improved on that, and our pitching staff has really improved leaps and bounds. I really think they’ll be 100 times better at the end of games this year.”
For the series, the Falcons were led by junior Corey Loomis, who went 5-13 with two runs batted in and two runs scored in the three-game series. Junior Kelly Hunt was 3-12 with four RBI and two runs, while senior backstop Tim Newell was 4-1 with two RBI. In addition, Barkholz, a sophomore centerfielder, was 3-14 with two runs scored.
“I think was a good starting point for our team,” Barkholz said. “It was good to see where we were at, and it answered a lot of question marks we had as a team. I think going in on Friday, it was big Tennessee, and we were shell-shocked.”
With 10 freshmen and 11 sophomores on this year’s team, the Falcons, much like last year, may experience growing pains throughout the campaign. Barkholz, however, does not think the inexperience will hurt the team.
” We have a big crop of freshmen, and obviously, last year’s freshmen have a year under their belt now,” Barkholz said. “We’ve been through a year and I think we relate very well, and that will help our freshmen along.”
The Falcons (1-2) head to Evansville, Ind. to take on Evansville’s Purple Aces this weekend, and face Dayton the following weekend. BG does not play at home until March 26.
