Bowling Green went into the weekend series with Eastern Michigan with a 2-0 Mid-American Conference record. Four games and 48 hours later, the Falcons were 3-3 in the conference.
The Falcons avoided the sweep by the MAC West defending champions by winning yesterday’s nightcap in Ypsilanti, Mich., 3-1. Earlier in the day the Falcons lost 4-2 in extra innings. Yesterday’s games and the first game on Saturday featured pitching battles, while Saturday’s second game was a slugfest. Eastern Michigan rallied back from a seven-run deficit to defeat the Falcons in that game, 13-11.
The Falcons traveled to Ypsilanti on Friday for the first game of the series but the game was delayed for 22 minutes between the first and second innings and eventually called in the bottom of the third. Play resumed in Bowling Green on Saturday afternoon, with Eastern leading 2-0. The Falcons fell short of a comeback victory, scoring in the fifth and sixth innings, but losing, 3-2.
Tyler Saneholtz took over for Kyle Knoblauch on the mound when the game resumed on Saturday, giving up one run and four hits in five and 2/3 innings of work. Missed opportunities were the problem for the Falcons in the game, stranding 10 runners on base.
“We didn’t take advantage of some opportunities there in the first game and when you got a 3-2 ball game, it’s very important that you execute and move base runners,” BG coach Danny Schmitz said. “I think we had a couple of different situations where we had guys on second and third and nobody out and didn’t advance anybody and didn’t score any runs, that was the difference in that game.”
Bowling Green’s offense stepped it up for the second game, forcing Eastern’s pitcher out in the second inning, after the Falcons scored five runs in the inning, sparked by Josh Baughman’s triple with the bases loaded and two outs. Kelly Hunt went five-for-six in Saturday’s games and was walked four times. David Barkholz homered in Saturday’s second game, his third round-tripper of the season.
“[Barkholz and Hunt] swung the bats very well. I thought they did a good job. Josh Baughman had a big hit in the second game,” Schmitz said. “We’re starting to swing a little bit better but we still gotta get all three phases working together.”
Eastern rallied back, tying the game in the seventh. The Falcons were unable to score in the bottom of the seventh and the game went into extra innings. After Eastern scored two runs in the top of the eighth, the Falcons could not rally back.
The second game of Saturday’s scheduled double-header was moved to the first game of a Sunday doubleheader in Ypsilanti.
Eastern Michigan freshman Trevor Carpenter pitched the full ten innings of yesterday’s first game, surrendering two runs on seven hits. BG’s Kyle Knoblauch matched Carpenter through eight innings, giving up two runs on 10 hits. Burke Badenhop took the loss, pitching 1.2 innings in relief, giving up two hits and one run. In the nightcap, the Falcons won behind a complete game outing by pitcher Keith Laughlin. Laughlin surrendered four hits in the seven-inning game, striking out three and allowing one run (unearned).
Bowling Green falls to 5-11 overall and 3-3 in the MAC. The Falcons play at Cleveland State on Wednesday at 2 p.m. before returning to Bowling Green for a doubleheader with Oakland on Saturday.
