BGSU baseball (7-15) lost a high-scoring affair to the Findlay Oilers (16-9) 12-7 at Stellar Field Wednesday night.
This is the Oilers first win over the Falcons since May 3, 1978, and broke the 16-game winning streak the Falcons held against the Oilers.
It was another slow start for the Falcons, as the bats didn’t start catch fire until the sixth inning. Before that point, it was all Oilers, with Findlay picking up 10 runs before BGSU scored their first.
Findlay junior right-handed pitcher Dylan Rouse earned the win, his first of the year.
Meanwhile, BGSU’s starter, junior right-hander Andrew Heffernan, did not find success, tossing 2.2 innings while giving up seven runs on nine hits. Heffernan took the loss, moving him to 0-4 on the year.
The offense got started early for the Oilers, who pounced on Heffernan in the first, scoring two runs after a single by Issac Ramos.
The Oilers blew the game wide-open in the third inning, scoring seven runs. Findlay hit a couple singles that scored a run paired with a 2-run home run from Luke Senften and a 3-run shot from Mike Sciortino. The Oilers added another run in the fifth inning, bringing the score to 10-0.
On the defensive side of the field for the Falcons, Joey Buchanan stole the show after relieving Chase Clatur with the bases loaded in the sixth inning. He came in with two outs and was able to get a weak ground ball to second base to get the Falcons out of the jam. Buchanan pitched a total of 1.1 innings, earning two strikeouts after facing only four batters before being relieved by Titus Lotz.
Bowling Green’s offense came out hot in the sixth inning, scoring five runs and capitalizing on the Oilers defensive mistakes after loading the bases to start the inning. The first run came from a bases loaded walk drawn by Pauly Mancino.
Then, Griffin Scheiderer lined a ball just inside the left foul line to score another two runs for the Falcons.
The Falcons got some help from the Oilers after a dropped pop-fly just past the infield allowed another run to score. Sam Seidel added on another for the Falcons by hitting a sacrifice fly to center field, bringing the score to 10-5 after six innings.
In the seventh inning, Bowling Green added another two runs, thanks to a long home run to left center field by Brayden Curlis.
These were the last runs added on by the Falcons, and Findlay went on to score another two runs in the ninth inning to put the game away.
Next, the Falcons will be going on the road to DeKalb, Illinois, to face the Northern Illinois Huskies on Friday, March 27, at 4 p.m., starting a three-game weekend series at Ralph McKinzie Field at Walt and Janice Owens Park.
