Ball State University
Bowling Green (DH)
Baseball Drops Both Games Of Doubleheader At BGSU
April 11, 2009 | Baseball
Junior catcher Zach Dygert (Angola, Ind./Angola) tallied five hits in the doubleheader, including his fourth home run of the season. Dygert posted a 1.125 slugging percentage on the afternoon while freshman first baseman Ian Nielsen (La Porte, Ind./La Porte) drove in four runs in the twin bill.
Game One ? Bowling Green 3, Ball State 2
The Ball State baseball team suffered a hard fought 3-2 loss to Mid-American Conference foe Bowling Green in game one of the Saturday doubleheader at Steller Field.
Ball State struck first against Falcon starter Brennan Smith in the top of the fourth inning. Dygert opened the scoring as he crushed a 2-0 pitch over the left field wall for his fourth home run of the season to put the Cardinals ahead 1-0.
Bowling Green threatened in the bottom of the fourth inning against BSU right-hander Brad Piatt (Galveston, Ind./Lewis Cass). The Falcons put the first two runners aboard courtesy of a hit by pitch and the first BGSU hit of the game on a single by Derek Spencer. Piatt worked his way out of the inning with a fine defensive play as he made a diving catch on an attempted sacrifice bunt by Dennis Vaughn and was able to double off the BGSU runner at second base for a double play.
The Falcons tied the game in the bottom of the fifth inning against Piatt. After one out, Mark Galvin and T.J. Blanton hit back-to-back singles to put two aboard. Piatt was able to get the second out of the inning but Patrick Martin sent a seeing-eye single up the middle to plate Galvin to tie the game at 1-1. Bowling Green took its first lead of the game in the bottom of the seventh inning against senior left-hander Tom Mueller (Westfield, Ind./Westfield). After a hit, the Falcons took advantage of a Cardinals' error to put two aboard with one out. Ryan Shay put BGSU ahead as he reached on an infield single and Tyler Elkins gave the Falcons a 3-1 lead with a bloop single to center field.
Ball State made one final push in the top of the ninth inning against BGSU reliever Dusty Hawk. Sophomore third baseman Kolbrin Vitek (Bryan, Ohio/Bryan) led off the inning as he ripped a single to center field and Dygert followed with a single to left field to put two aboard. Junior left fielder Kory Benbow (Muncie, Ind./Cowan) laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to move both batters into scoring position.
Nielsen pulled the Cardinals within one run at 3-2 as he lifted a sacrifice fly to left field to plate Vitek. Sophomore shortstop T. J. Baumet (Brownsburg, Ind./Brownsburg) came close to tying the game as he lifted a fly ball down the right field line but BGSU right fielder Mark Galvin was able to corral it for the final out of the inning.
Piatt worked six strong innings in the no decision as he allowed just one run on four hits while striking out one batter. Mueller (0-2) was charged with the loss as he worked two innings and allowed two runs, both of which were unearned. Smith (5-3) picked up the victory for the Falcons as he tossed eight strong innings and allowed just one run on four hits. Hawk tallied his third save of the season as he allowed one run in the ninth inning.
Game Two ? Bowling Green 7, Ball State 6
Ball State rallied to tie the game in the top of the ninth inning only to see Bowling Green plate the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Cardinals dropped a 7-6 decision to the Falcons in game two of the doubleheader.
The Cardinals opened the scoring right in the top of the first inning against BGSU left hander Matt Malewitz. Junior center fielder Jeremy Hazelbaker (Selma, Ind./Wapahani) led off the game with a walk and senior second baseman Nate Fields (Cincinnati, Ohio/Anderson) singled to center field to put two aboard.
After a double steal moved both into scoring position, Vitek drew a walk to load the bases with nobody out. Malewitz was able to get a strikeout for the first out of the inning by Nielsen came through with a two-run single through the left side to give the Cardinals a 2-0 lead. The Falcons were able to get out of the inning without any more damage.
Bowling Green struck right back in the bottom of the first inning against BSU right-hander Brenden Stines (Granger, Ind./Penn). Shay led off the inning with a double to right field and moved to third base on a sacrifice bunt. Tyler Elkins drove Shay in with a single up the middle to narrow the BSU lead to 2-1. Stines was able to work out of the inning as he induced a ground ball double play to end the threat.
Bowling Green took the lead in the bottom of the second inning as it scored a pair of runs on the strength of three hits, two walks and a BSU error to go ahead 3-2. Stines was able to strand the bases loaded as he got Elkins to pop out to second base to end the inning.
Ball State answered back in the top of the third inning as Fields led off the inning with a single to center field. Fields moved to third base as he stole consecutive bases and came home as Dygert dropped a single into right field to tie the game at three apiece. Nielsen put Ball State back ahead with a run scoring triple down the right field line to plate Dygert. The Cardinals took a 5-3 lead as Benbow scored Dygert from third on a ground ball to second base.
Bowling Green added a single run in the bottom of the third inning to narrow the BSU lead to 5-4 before both pitchers settled in for a couple of innings. The Falcons tied the game at 5-5 with a run in the bottom of the sixth inning as Blanton reached base on a fielder's choice with two outs. He moved into scoring position with a stolen base and came home as Shay singled to right center field to even the score.
The Falcons threatened in the bottom of the seventh inning as they loaded the bases with two outs courtesy of two BSU walks and one error. Right-hander Aaron Hammons (Greenfield, Ind./Greenfield Central) was able to induce a ground ball from Galvin to end the inning with the game still tied at five apiece.
Ball State threatened in the top of the eighth inning against BGSU reliever Charles Wooten. Freshman left fielder Cody Elliott (Florence, Ky./Beechwood) and junior right fielder Ryan Chenoweth (Fort Wayne, Ind./Homestead) drew back-to-back lead off walks. Wooten was able to work out of the inning with a strikeout and a ground ball double play to keep the stalemate intact.
Bowling Green took the lead back in the bottom of the eighth inning against right-hander Morgan Coombs (West Terre Haute, Ind./Lincoln Trail). Blanton led off the inning with a single and came home to score as Elkins tripled off of the left center field wall to give the Falcons a 6-5 lead.
Ball State had one last chance in the top of the ninth inning against Wooten with the top of the order at bat. Wooten was able to get the two quick outs to start the inning to force the Cardinals down to their final out. Vitek came through in a big way as he ripped a 0-1 pitch high over the left center field wall to tie the game at six apiece with his team-leading sixth home run of the year.
Bowling Green responded in the bottom of the ninth inning and scored the game-winning run with two outs against Coombs. The Falcons drew a one out walk before David Borcherdt and Mark Galvin singled to load the bases with one out. Coombs was able to get Blanton to pop out to short right field for the second out of the inning but Shay came through with the game-winning hit as he poked a single into right field to score the game-winning run.
Coombs (2-3) picked up the loss in relief as he allowed two runs on five hits in 1.2 innings of work. Stines ended with a no decision as he worked six innings as allowed three earned runs on five hits. Wooten (2-1) tallied the victory in relief as he worked 2.1 innings and allowed just one run on one hit. Malewitz also had a no decision as he threw 6.2 innings and was charged with five runs on seven hits.
The Cardinals and Falcons will conclude their three-game series Sunday afternoon. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. at Stellar Field with right-hander Kolbrin Vitek (Bryan, Ohio/Bryan) set to take the mound for Ball State.
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