BGSU baseball (32-20, 18-11) walked off Northern Illinois Huskies (21-32, 9-20) Friday to tie up the series and head into a rubber match in the final regular season game.
The Falcons earned a much-needed win after a four-game skid with three straight losses to Notre Dame and a series-opening loss to Northern Illinois.
The Orange and Brown happily welcomed two key players back into the lineup in Friday’s matchup with junior infielder Sam Seidel and sophomore infielder Brady Birchmeier making their first appearances since April 9 and April 19, respectively.
“You can just tell the dynamic and personality of our team is more upbeat cause we know how much they mean to us,” head coach Kyle Hallock said.
With the end of the season winding down, it is time for the possibility of records being broken. For the Falcons, a record was broken Friday for the most strikeouts in a single season by a BGSU pitching staff.
“It’s the only position in sports where you can get complimented for being a ball hog,” Coach Hallock said. “It’s good for the team if you’re striking people out and the other guys don’t touch it.”
The Orange and Brown were nine strikeouts away from the program record for a single season before the game Friday. Freshman pitcher Carrson Sova reached nine strikeouts by the fourth inning of the game and secured the new record for BGSU and his own personal best in a game.
“The biggest key was just being able to attack down low, fastballs at the knees and working changeups after that,” Sova said.
Sova’s record-breaking outing was propelled by six strikeouts looking, along with only two hits given up in his four innings.
The Huskies took a quick 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning with a Gavin Baldwin RBI double.
Senior outfielder Caden Parker evened the game up for the Orange and Brown with a home run over the left field fence.
The Huskies scored a run in the top of the fifth inning before the Falcons scored two in the bottom of the inning to give them their first lead of the game.
Sophomore catcher/outfielder Garrett Wright gets walked to score Parker and tie the game up before junior catcher/outfielder Zach Horky flied out to right field with enough space to score sophomore infielder Garrett Sloan from third and give the Falcons the 3-2 lead.
Parker would continue a much-needed impressive game with an RBI single in the sixth inning.
The Huskies picked up runs in both the seventh and eighth innings to tie the game up at four each.
The Falcons and Huskies went into the bottom of the ninth inning tied 4-4 before a now seemingly typical outcome at Steller Field with a walkoff for BGSU.
Sloan singled to right field, followed by an intentional walk for Wright and a hit by pitch for Horky.
“My teammates did exactly what they were supposed to do.” Senior utility player Gavin Ganun said.
Three different ways to get on base led to Ganun stepping into the box with bases loaded and one out to hit a walk-off single into center field.
“It felt like a game we’re going to play next week in Avon.” Coach Hallock said.
The Falcons and Huskies will face off one final time on Saturday in a rubber match for the finale Mid-American Conference (MAC) series of the season at Steller Field with first pitch at 1:00 pm.
