BGSU baseball (1-6) lost to the Cincinnati Bearcats (6-3) 11-1, in seven innings on Wednesday afternoon.
Head coach Kyle Hallock spoke about the road loss. “We’ve got to address putting people away with two strikes and making better pitches,” Hallock said. “Because those [pitches] were obviously way too hittable.”
For the Falcons, redshirt senior pitcher Ethan Stade made his first start in a Bowling Green uniform. The Minnesota State transfer allowed three runs in his two innings of work and let six total runners get on base.
Hallock reflected on Stade’s first start. “He’s going to be a big piece of what we’re doing,” Hallock said. “He made some good pitches and then some pitches you want back.”
Following Stade’s shortened start, senior pitcher Luke Krouse came out for the third inning. Krouse would battle through the third and get out of a bases loaded jam before allowing two runners to get on to start the fourth. The third inning is the only one in which BG held the Bearcats scoreless.
Krouse’s departure would lead to sophomore pitcher CJ Boudreaux entering the game in relief. Boudreaux gave up five runs in just 1.2 innings. Cincinnati scored four of their five runs with two outs, and a pair of homers were the nail in the coffin for the young righty.
While the staff attempted to find the strike zone, redshirt junior pitcher Ethan Papacek was the player who found it the least. Papacek’s pitches found the strike zone 11 out of 24 times (45.8%), with his strike percentage finishing last on the team.
Hallock spoke about the pitch control during the game. “The theme of the pitching staff tonight was they left too many pitches over the middle,” Hallock said. “We get them taking pitches a certain way where you can tell they don’t like it.”
Papacek hit two batters during his 0.2 inning appearance. As a team, BG hit four batters and found the strike zone 59.2% of the time.
To close the game, freshman pitcher Joey Buchanan let up a walk-off hit that activated the mercy rule.
Overall, BGSU gave up 14 hits and 23 baserunners in the game, with six strikeouts as a pitching unit.
The Falcons travel to Alabama this weekend to face Samford in a three-game series starting on Friday at 5:05 p.m.
