It was a vast contrast to last weekends series against Central Arkansas, where the ‘Breds were swept – this weekend it was Murray State who did the sweeping.
Though the game was back and forth and had six errors total between the two teams, the ‘Breds came away with the win after scoring two runs in the fourth inning.
Head Coach Rob McDonald said compared to the series against Central Arkansas State the pitching was better and the team had more timely hits.
“It was another good opponent,” he said. “We just did a lot of things a little bit better. Probably part of it is that now instead of it being our first, second and third game, we are a little bit further down in the schedule. “
The ‘Breds got on the board early is the first. Murray State was able to put up runs in the first inning in all three games against the Falcons.
Junior Ty Stetson started out with a leadoff single up the middle. Senior Brandon Elliot filed out, which brought senior Dylan Wheeler up to the plate. Bowling Green’s starting pitcher sophomore Trevor Blaylock threw 12 pitches to Wheeler before he advanced to first on a walk and Stetson stole second. A wild pitch then sent Stetson to third and Wheeler to second.
Senior Mike Kozlowski was up to bat next. He was walked before junior Brandon Eggenschwiler reached on a fielder’s choice allowing Stetson to score. Freshman Taylor Mathews was walked. Wheeler, Kozlowski and Mathews all scored on Freshman Dalton West’s double to right center.
The ‘Breds loaded the bases two times before Blaylock was able to finish the inning striking out Sophomore Greg Guest and Senior Paul Ritzheimer.
Bowling Green came back in the top of the fourth and scored five runs. This put them ahead of the ‘Breds by one, after the Falcons scored in the second inning. Murray State rallied in the bottom of the inning scoring two runs making the score 7-6.The ‘Breds would score again in the seventh inning sealing the win with a 8-6 victory over the Falcons.
Freshman Sheldon Baxter was the winning pitcher allowing six hits and three runs in 1.1 innings of play. Freshman Andrew Bramley got the save, allowing only two hits in four innings. Stetson went 3-5 with an RBI and Mathews went 2-3 in the win.
Next up the ‘Breds will travel to Lexington, Ky., to take on the No. 8 ranked University of Kentucky Wildcats.
Story by Jaci Kohn, Sports Editor.