Baseball Drops Home Opener, 5-3

Box score.

YPSILANTI, Mich. – The Bowling Green Falcons used a three-run eighth inning to rally from behind and claim a 5-3 victory over Eastern Michigan in the Mid-American Conference opener for both squads here at Oestrike Stadium. With the victory the Falcons improve to 9-8 and 1-0 in the conference while the Eagles drop to 4-11 and 0-1 in the league.

EMU, which opened the year with 14 consecutive road games, left 16 runners stranded for the game. Steve Bradshaw went 2-for-5 from the plate while three different Eagles added an RBI. Jeff Davis was the hard-luck loser, allowing two runs in 1.1 innings.

In the second frame, the Eagles loaded the bases after the first two batters of the inning walked and junior Trumaine Riley reached via an error by the shortstop. Freshman Kyle Rhoad hit a blooper to left field scoring Brian Blackburn to give Eastern a 1-0 edge. Bowling Green nearly got out of the jam as Josh Ivan lined into a double play, but Matt Moffet walked to reload the bases. BGSU’s Alan Brech got Jeff Hehr to pop up to end the threat.

Neither team was able to muster any offense until the bottom of the fifth, when sophomore Bradshaw hit a shot in the left center field gap for a double. He advanced to third on a throwing error with only one out in the inning. Redshirt freshman Aaron Powell plated Bradshaw with a double of his owns to make it 2-0. A walk and a wild pitch gave at second and third, but Powell was caught in a run down and Riley grounded out to end the inning.

In the top of the six, Bowling Green mounted a rally of its own as the two runners got on base via hit-by-pitches. Junior George Biddle retired the next batter but BG’s Kurt Wells beat out an infield hit allowing both runners to cross home and tie the game at 2-2.

Eastern followed it up in the bottom on the frame, as Rhoad singled to center and stole second. An Ivan sacrifice advanced him to third with just one out and a sac fly by Moffett scored the go-ahead tally to make it 3-2.

The Eagles continued to attack in the seventh inning, thanks en large part to five Falcon miscues on defense. EMU loaded the bases with only one out but BGSU’s Nick Cantrell, who had come in relief in the sixth, struck out the next two Eagles to get out of the jam.

Bowling Green came right back in the eighth as two batters reached on walks as forcing the Eagles to bring sophomore Jeff Fischer in from the bullpen. An Eric Lawson single into the gap in right center tied to game at 3-3, and took the lead on a suicide squeeze by Wells for his second RBI of the day. Josh Stewart tacked on another run with a single up the middle to make it 5-3 after seven and a half.

EMU mounted a ninth inning threat but to no avail as the Falcons won 5-3.

The Eagles and Falcons continue the three-game series tomorrow afternoon, March 25, with a 1 p.m. game at Oestrike Stadium.

Eastern Michigan Athletics

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