With a large crop of new players this season, the Bowling Green baseball team is learning to play as team.
After the first weekend of Mid-American Conference games, the Falcons are 0-3 [MAC] and struggling to execute the “small things.”
Ball State, regular season MAC champions a year ago and the coaches’ preseason pick to win the MAC West this season, had no issue taking advantage of the Falcons’ miscues over the weekend.
“All day today we did not execute like we need to. We didn’t get bunts down, hit-and-runs, suicide squeeze, that’s just a lot of runs we threw away by giving up stupid outs and not being able to advance baserunners,” said senior shortstop Brian Bien. “[Ball State] did the opposite. They capitalized, they had a lot of two-out hits that scored runs, and good two-strike hitting. That’s what great teams have to do to win and we’re not quite there yet.”
The second game of the series and the first of a Saturday doubleheader epitomized the Falcons’s season to this point.
BG jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning, but it couldn’t manufacture another run over the final eight innings.
In the second inning, Jesse Rait stole second after a 1-out single to left field. This preceded a Scott Baker balk advancing Rait to third.
But with Rait on third and just one out, Brian Bien was unable to execute a squeeze play, failing to get the barrel on the ball, leaving Rait out to dry for the second out of the inning. Bien eventually struck out swinging at a high pitch out of the zone.
Brandon Howard led off the following inning with a 3-2 walk, but Kory Brown flew out to center and Randy Righter ended the inning by grounding into a 4-6-3 double play.
“Until we buy into the ‘team’ concept and start executing like we’re taught to, we’re going to continue to struggle,” said head coach Danny Schmitz.
Ball State answered in the fourth inning.
After Alex Call led off the inning with a flyout, Jason Link walked the next three batters to load the bases. Scott Tyler then scored Jarett Rindfleisch on a sacrifice fly to left field.
Colin Brockhouse followed with the biggest hit of the day, clearing the bases with a two-out triple, taking a 3-1 lead.
This all but did the Falcons in, not only in the game, but for the weekend.
The Cardinals scored three more runs off of reliever Tony Landi in the eighth inning to win 6-1.
To begin the second game of the doubleheader and final game of the series, the Falcons looked on their way to pulling out a win.
Howard worked the count full before drawing a walk. He advanced to second after a pickoff attempt throwing error. Kory Brown walked in the next at bat, putting two runners on with no outs.
Righter then worked the count before flying out to right center. Trey Keegan followed with foul out to the catcher on the
first pitch.
Matt Smith was able to load the bases with a grounder through the third base, shortstop gap. But, Greg Basalyga flew out to center to end the inning, leaving BG with a zero.
“Those little things add up and that’s what happens, they go home with three W’s and we go home with none,” Schmitz said.
The Falcons scored a run each in the fourth and seventh innings, but it was not enough to top the two-run third inning and three-run eighth inning from the Cardinals. BSU won 5-2.
Ball State also won the first game on Friday, 7-0, after Zach Plesac threw a complete game shutout and blanked the Falcons.
BG finished with five errors, including at least one error in each game.
After getting swept by Ball State the Falcons have now lost their last seven games.
