T.J. Losby had three hits and drove in two runs and Jason Link threw three hitless innings of relief to lead the BG baseball team to a 3-2 victory against Dayton in its home opener Tuesday afternoon.
With sunny skies and gusty winds blowing out to straight-away center field, the Falcons played one of their strongest games of the season, allowing only two runs on eight hits and manufacturing three runs off 10 hits.
Perhaps most importantly, the team only committed one error.
“That’s probably the first time we’ve had all three phases — pitching, defense and hitting — and we did it very well,” said coach Danny Schmitz. “Defensively we played well; I saw some nice plays out there and offensively we executed enough to scratch across three runs.”
Patrick Martin started the game for BG and pitched exceptionally for the better part of his outing. On a strict pitch count, he threw four innings, allowing one run on five hits and two walks, recording four strikeouts.
He struggled towards the end of his outing, however, loading the bases in the fourth inning and allowing two singles in the fifth without recording an out.
Jason Link relieved him and walked a batter to load the bases, but BG got out of both bases loaded situations without allowing a run.
“I thought the fourth was key for [Patrick],” Schmitz said. “He was on a pitch count so we knew things would get tight for him in the fifth. Then Jason came in and got a huge line-drive double play to help get out of the fifth.”
Early in the game, mistakes cost the Falcons a chance at potential runs. In each of the first two innings, BG had base runners thrown out trying to extend plays. Jeremy Shay was thrown out in the fifth trying to extend a double into a triple and Logan Walker was thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double in the second.
Dayton scored both of its runs on home runs, the first by A.J. Ryan in the second inning and the second by Zach Stewart in the ninth.
BG tied the game on a double by Jesse Rait in the third inning and went ahead for good on a sacrifice fly by Losby, who entered the game in the sixth inning batting 367.
“I thought I played well, but I had a lot of guys around me,” Losby said. “The pitcher played great and our defense was outstanding.”
Losby’s RBI single in the eighth inning provided the needed insurance run, as Nick Bruns gave up a leadoff homer in the ninth.
Dayton got the potential tying run to third base in the inning, but Bruns was able to finish the game to pick up his first save of the season.
Link picked up his first career win in relief. On the season, he has allowed only two earned runs in 14 1/3 innings pitched.
The two runs allowed by BG was the fewest since it allowed two runs in a win against Dayton on Feb. 28.
“Everyone was hitting their spots and keeping the Dayton hitters off balance,” said Losby, who caught all nine innings. “They were throwing strikes with all their pitches; they all did a great job today.”
The Falcons will be back in action Wednesday afternoon as they take on Malone at home. First pitch at Stellar Field is scheduled for 3 p.m.
