Entering Tuesday’s game against Tiffin, BGSU baseball was 0-11 when trailing in the bottom of the ninth inning this season.
The Falcons improved to 1-11, with sophomore infielder Brayden Curlis driving in senior infielder Sam Seidel with a single down the third base line to walk off the Dragons.
“That’s been kind of a tough thing for us this year is when we trail, we kind of just get down. But today, we knew what we were capable of,” Curlis said. “When I got up to the box, I knew it was the perfect opportunity to flip the switch for this team, and I took advantage of the situation.”
Curlis entered the game in the seventh inning in place of redshirt senior infielder Anthony Mitta.
“It was amazing. Finally getting a chance to prove myself,” Curlis said. “I knew once the guy came in, he threw a lot of fastballs, so I was just sitting on my pitch, and I got it and did something with it.”
After hitting .241 in his rookie campaign, Curlis has struggled at the plate this season, entering Tuesday’s contest with a .143 (5-for-35) batting average.
“It was nice that he did something different that last at-bat. He’s been hitting a lot of fly balls to the opposite field,” head coach Kyle Hallock said. “When we recruited him, he squared baseballs up all the time, hard line drives. There was a little bit of elevation steepness in his swing that he flattened out, and that last swing is more like him.”
Tiffin threw numerous challenges at Bowling Green throughout the game, highlighted by using 10 different pitchers.
However, the Falcons adapted, scoring three runs in the final two innings.
“It was great to see us making game adjustments offensively. Coach Barchus was outstanding with his suggestion (box adjustments), and coach Rem with his coaching offensively allowed those last innings to happen,” Hallock said. “They put a couple adjustments up on the board in the dugout, and our guys bought into them right away.”
After a slow start to the season, the Falcons will look to carry over the momentum on Wednesday against Findlay before a three-game weekend series against Northern Illinois.
“I could see this getting us going. I could see us building a lot of confidence off this,” Hallock said.
