April 23, 2011
Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio-The Ohio baseball team got a fine pitching performance by starter Seth Streich, clutch pitching by Tyler Stage and the first home run of shortstop Garrett Black's career to take both ends of a doubleheader Saturday at Warren Steller Field.
The Bobcats won game one 5-2 and game two 7-5 in 10 innings. The wins are the first regular season victories for the Bobcats over the Falcons since a 15-0 triumph in the regular season finale for both teams in 2007.
Ohio improved to 19-20 and 5-9 in the Mid-American Conference, while BGSU dropped to 14-21 and 7-7 in the league.
Bobcat third baseman Dan Ward drove in three runs on the day and had four hits, while center fielder Ethan Newton had three hits. Ward and left fielder Kory Burkhart each scored twice.
BGSU got four hits apiece from Clay Duncan and Frank Berry while T.J. Losby and Jeremy Shay had three each.
Streich kept BGSU off the board for most of the first game and that allowed Ohio to jump on top 5-0 with three in the fifth and two in the sixth. First baseman Taylor Emody led off the fifth with a solo homer to left, his second blast of the season. Catcher Trace Voshell followed with a two-run single four batters later to complete the inning's scoring. Ward's single down the left field line and right fielder Adam Gecewich's sacrifice fly to center accounted for the sixth inning's tallies.
The Falcons were able to push across runs in the eighth and ninth innings, but Stage got all three outs at the end of the game to record his second save of the season.
Streich (1-5) got the win, his first of the season, by tossing eight innings and allowing one run on eight hits with eight strikeouts and two walks in 138 pitches. BGSU starter Cody Apthorpe (4-4) took the loss, after giving up five runs on six hits with three strikeouts and one walk in five and one-third innings. Reliever Michael Frank pitched well at the end, going three and two-thirds scoreless innings and striking out two with two walks.
The Falcons stranded 12 runners during the game, while Ohio left just four.
Ohio jumped on top again in the second game when it plated two runs in the first on singles by Emody and Ward and another in the second on Newton's single through the right side.
BGSU sliced the lead to one with two in the bottom of the second, but the Bobcats came back with Streich's RBI triple down the right field line to push the lead back to two.
It again became one with another BGSU score in the fourth, and the Falcons tacked on runs in the seventh and eighth innings to grab a 5-4 lead heading into the top of the ninth.
That was when Ward forced extra innings when his two-out shot through the left side found its way into the outfield to plate Burkhart.
The Bobcats then got a bolt of lightning in the 10th when Black ripped a 1-0 pitch over the wall in left to give the visitors a 7-5 lead and it was up to Stage to, once again, clinch the win.
The Falcons would indeed threaten in their at bat, but the freshman righthander slammed the door shut with a strikeout of Berry and a flyout by Ryan Schlater to give the Bobcats their first MAC series win of the season.
Stage was credited with the win to move to 3-0 on the season after tossing the final two and two-thirds innings and allowing just three hits and two walks with two strikeouts. Starter Brent Choban allowed four earned runs on nine hits with four strikeouts and three walks in seven and one-third innings.
BGSU reliever Ben Singer dropped to 0-3 after he yielded two runs on three hits with one strikeout and no walks in two innings.
Berti stole his 15th base of the season in the game as the Falcons once again left 12 men on base.
The series finale between the two teams is scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday afternoon.
