BGSU baseball’s (16-5, 7-0) historic 11-game winning streak came to an end on Saturday, as the Falcons lost 20-4 to Kent State in seven innings at Steller Field.
The Flashes started fast, with run-scoring singles from freshman Sawyer Solitaria and senior catcher Hunter Klotz, giving KSU a 2-0 lead.
Bowling Green would try to return the favor with a bases-loaded situation at the bottom of the first, but sophomore right-handed pitcher for Kent State Jacob Bean would strikeout sophomore infielder Brady Birchmeier to end the first inning.
Despite having a mostly quiet second and third inning on the offensive side of both teams, which included a walk allowed in a loaded bases situation from BG, the defensive efforts from both sides were staggering, including senior left-handed pitcher Nic Good having six straight strikeouts on the mound.
“On a day where you really want to get the ball on the ground, he had a lot of strikeouts and ground balls,” Hallock replied. “As long as he continues to take the positives out of this, we’ll be in good shape with him starting.”
Action would pick up at the top of the fourth, as Kent State graduate student infielder Hayden Jatczak hammered a three-run homer to left field, increasing the Golden Flashes lead.
The Orange and Brown, on the other hand, would finally find themselves on the board in the bottom of the fourth, with a run-scoring single from senior outfielder Gavin Ganun, who would send fellow senior Caden Parker home to score 6-1.
The offensive dominance would continue for Kent State, with a run-scoring double from sophomore outfielder Alejandro Covas with the bases loaded to increase the lead by two runs.
Hallock would then pull Good from the mound after this sequence of events despite his early best efforts.
Even with the change to junior right-hander Kade Arn, sophomore catcher Ripken Reese had other ideas, as another three-run homer would be tallied on the board and another RBI double from Jatczak.
The Falcons would give up eight more runs before bringing the top of the fifth to a close, including another three-run bomb, this time from graduate student Billy Gerlott, 20-1—a sequence of events that left many at Steller Field speechless, except for the Flashes dugout.
Bowling Green would finally earn their second-scored run of the game with an RBI single from junior infielder Sam Seidel. This would lead to another breath of fresh air with a double from Cooper McKenzie to try to cut down the deficit in any way they could, but the damage had already been done. Kent State would claim their dominant victory at the top of the seventh, 20-4.
The Falcons and Flashes will meet for the final game of the weekend series on Sunday, March 23. Tune into WBGU 88.1 FM for Tyler Kavalecz and Carter Leonard’s call of the game, with first pitch scheduled for noon.
