BGSU baseball (22-10, 11-5) was unable to get their offense off the ground against the Western Michigan Broncos (9-21, 5-8), falling in Kalamazoo, Michigan, in the first game of a weekend series 6-1 on Friday.
The surprises started early for the Falcons, who were without two stand-out players in the form of two-way player and usual Friday starter DJ Newman, who has been out since April 4, and junior infielder Sam Seidel, who was plunked by a pitch against Youngstown State on Wednesday but managed to play the rest of the game.
In their stead, the Orange and Brown added freshman outfielder Carter Mottice, who had a strong two-hit performance against the Penguins on Wednesday in his collegiate debut and sophomore infielder Garrett Sloan, who filled in for Seidel at second.
Getting into the action, BG started off sluggishly, going down one-two-three to start, while the Broncos wasted no time as senior infielder Micheal Maloney lined out but gave his baserunner enough time to take an early 1-0 lead.
With the game being as low scoring as it was, both teams only managed to burn through two pitchers each, as junior righty Ty McKinstry pitched seven scoreless innings with five walks, three strikeouts and four hits, along with the win decision.
Credited with the loss for BGSU was junior right-handed pitcher Jacob Turner, who pitched five total innings with the majority of the action happening in the second, as Western forced three hits, three wild pitches, two stolen bases, a walk and three runs, giving the Broncos a 4-0 lead quickly.
From that point, both offenses would struggle, stretching until the fifth and eighth innings, where WMU would manage to tack on two more runs, giving BG a big deficit to make up in the final inning.
With runners on the corners and one out, freshman infielder Brayden Curlis would manage to sky a ball to center field, which gave the Orange and Brown just enough time to crack the goose egg on the scoreboard, 6-1, where it would stay until the final out.
The loss makes it a four-game losing streak against the Broncos for BGSU dating back to May 4, 2024, which includes an 11-0 Mid-American Conference (MAC) Tournament loss in May.
Despite the loss, the Falcons statistically were not too far behind WMU, being outhit 10-5, but they only allowed one walk to Western’s six and six strikeouts to WMU’s seven.
BGSU still have the opportunity to win the series against Western Michigan, with both Saturday and Sunday’s games slated for 1:05 p.m. first pitches in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Falcon Media Sports Network’s Kaden Knapp and Tyler Kavalecz will have recaps for each game, respectively, immediately following the conclusion of the contests.
