The Bowling Green baseball team came extremely close to pulling a massive upset, losing 2-1 to the #5 Louisville Cardinals on Friday.

Louisville opened the scoring early, as catcher Jack Payton hit a solo home run to give Louisville the quick lead.

However, the Cardinals offense was stymied for a long time after that.

Gage Schenk once again brought his A-game. The senior right-hander from Wapakoneta gave the Falcons five-straight innings without allowing a single hit to keep one of the best offenses in the NCAA at bay.

Bowling Green gave their first threat in the second inning, as second baseman Nathan Rose doubled to left field.

However, he was stranded on second as Jack Krause struck out to end the inning.

The game was a pitchers duel in every way imaginable, as Schenk went toe-to-toe with the Cardinals ace Ryan Hawks.

Bowling Green had the lone hit after the Rose double until the sixth inning.

In the sixth inning, the Falcons got on the board for the first time.

With one out, left fielder Adam Fallon singled, and then scooted all the way to third base on a failed pickoff move by Hawks.

Third baseman Tyler Ross poked a single into left field to plate Fallon and tie the game at one.

Schenk worked into the seventh, before allowing a leadoff double to Payton and that was the end of the line for Schenk.

Head Coach Kyle Hallock called to LHP Rigo Ramos in the bullpen.

Ramos was able to get a groundout to begin things, but yielded a base hit to OF Eddie King Jr. to plate Payton and give the Cardinals a 2-1 lead.

That would also close the final line for Schenk, allowing just two hits and two runs while walking none and striking out four.

Impressively, he did everything on just 70 total pitches.

Bowling Green was able to get pinch-hitter Anthony Toma on-base in the eighth on a fielding error, but he was stranded on first base.

That was ultimately the last runner of the game for the orange and brown as they went down in order in the ninth inning, taking the 2-1 loss.

The win for the Cardinals would go to Hawks, with the loss going to Schenk and the save going to Louisville’s closer Greg Farone.

Both teams managed just four hits on the afternoon in the low-scoring affair.

Game two of the three-game set between the squads is slated for Saturday at 1:00 p.m.

For more information about the team, visit the athletics webpage.