Bowling Green baseball (17-30, 10-17 MAC) lost 12-4 on Tuesday night against the Michigan State Spartans (17-28, 10-17 Big Ten).
The Falcons and Spartans entered the game going through comparable seasons, both struggling throughout the year — yet still in contention for a conference tournament berth if teams ahead of them slip up.
Similarly, both teams entered on losing streaks, with the Falcons losing their last game and series against Eastern Michigan, while the Spartans were swept by UCLA last weekend.
After putting up a run in the second inning of the game, the Green and White tipped the scales in their favor with a four-run third inning. Noah Bright scored the first run of the inning after his own double, and a wild pitch left him on third base for a CJ Deckinga RBI.
After that, Randy Seymour crushed a pitch down the left field line for a home run, scoring Ryan McKay and Khamaree Thomas in addition to himself. The Falcons responded in the following half inning, with Carter Mottice and TJ Takats bringing in a combined 3 runners helped by another hit and a fielding error.
Despite these efforts, the Falcons never came close to leading the Spartans. Control issues plagued Chase Clatur during the seventh inning — walking three batters in a row before giving up four runs over the next two batters. Kade Arn came into the game to relieve Clatur, but he gave up a run of his own, letting the Spartans take a commanding lead out of the bottom of the seventh.
The eighth and ninth innings proved fruitless offensively, and the Falcons ultimately fell to the Spartans after the top of the ninth inning.
The biggest difference in Tuesday’s contest was the pitching of the two squads. Throughout the game, the Falcons called on eight different arms compared to just three deployed by the Spartans.
Additionally, the Orange and Brown gave up 13 free bases between walked batters and batters hit-by-pitches.
The Falcons, now losers in six out of seven previous games, will look to rebound this weekend when they host the Western Michigan Broncos in a must-win home series this Friday through Sunday.
