Blacksburg, VA. – Bowling Green baseball fell short against the Virginia Tech Hokies over the weekend, dropping a pair of games against their Atlantic Coast Conference opponent.  

The teams played a doubleheader Saturday, with BGSU dropping game one 13-2, and game two 12-0. Game three was scheduled for Sunday, and after a 90 minute delay due to inclement weather, the teams took the field. However, two batters into the game, more bad weather came into the area, delaying the game once more before it was ultimately canceled and declared a no contest. 

The Falcons played a back-and-forth game one on Saturday. Senior Gage Schenk got the start on the mound for the orange and brown, and after a first-inning run, settled in nicely, posting four straight scoreless frames.

However, the Falcons couldn’t get to Hokie starter Anthony Argulles, as the right-hander allowed one hit through five innings, and after five, the score stood at just 1-0 Hokies. 

BGSU started a rally in the sixth inning. Second baseman Sam Siedel walked to lead off the inning, and was followed by a single to left field by catcher Kyle Gurney. However, with two on and nobody out, the Falcon rally stalled as Nathan Archer struck out, Tyler Ross flew out to deep center field, advancing Siedel to third, and Nathan Rose grounding out to third base to end the inning. 

The Hokies rallied for a pair in the sixth inning. However BGSU averted more damage as with a runner on third, a ground ball was hit right at Siedel, who tossed out the runner at first base, and as the runner from third base broke for home, first baseman Tyler Ross fired a strike to Gurney to nab the runner at the plate and keep the score at 3-0. 

The Falcons got on the board in the seventh, as with two outs, DJ Newman tripled to right-center field, scoring Justin Fugitt, and trimming the deficit to two. 

In the eighth inning, the Falcons rallied once again. Gurney walked to start the inning, and Archer followed that with a base hit. Then, Ross hit a slow roller up the first base line that barely stayed fair for a hit, and Gurney hustled around from second to score. However, a strikeout and a double play halted BG’s rally and kept the score at 3-2. 

A disastrous bottom of the eighth killed off BGSU’s chances, as Virginia Tech would strike for 10 runs, capped off by a long grand slam to put the game out of reach. The orange and brown committed two costly errors in the inning, and it spiraled from there. 

Argulles earned the win with six shutout innings, while Schenk (5.1IP, 3ER, 3K) took the loss. 

Game two would not go the Falcons way, as the Virginia Tech bats got hot early, and kept it rolling until the end. 

Rigo Ramos got the start for Bowling Green and started out well, throwing a scoreless first inning. VT would answer however, as they struck for three runs in the second inning, and then chased Ramos from the game in the third inning with a leadoff home run. 

BGSU struggled to get the bats going early, and the lack of momentum ultimately hurt them quite a bit as the Hokies put up a crooked 7-spot on the board in the fourth inning to break the game open and take an 11-0 lead. 

The Hokies gained one more run in the seventh inning, keeping the shutout intact all the way through, and defeating BGSU 12-0. The lack of runs for Bowling Green was not because of a complete lack of runners, however 12 runners left on base in game two and 20 overall on the day stood large against the Falcons. The win went to the Hokies’ Drue Hackenberg and the loss went to Ramos. 

A couple of outstanding performers for BGSU on the day included a pair of freshman in Siedel, who walked twice in game one and had a three for four game at the plate in game two, as well as Newman, who had three hits and a walk across both games. 

BGSU falls to 16-27 with the sweep, while Virginia Tech improved to 28-16 on their season.

The Falcons are back in action on Tuesday as they travel to Youngstown State to take on the Penguins. First pitch is scheduled for 5:00 p.m.