Michigan State University
Bowling Green
Bowling Green Downs Spartan Baseball In Slugfest, 16-13
3/17/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 17, 2009
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Bowling Green used a pair of five-run innings to defeat the MSU baseball team, 16-13, Tuesday (March 17) afternoon at Steller Field. The Spartans rallied with five runs over the last two innings but the comeback fell short in the ninth.
Eli Boike led off the game with his team-leading fourth homer of the season that just cleared the left-field wall to give MSU an early 1-0 advantage, but the Falcons responded in the bottom of the inning to tie the game.
Jonathan Roof led off the second with what looked to be a single to short right-center field but aggressive base running extended it to a double. Roof advanced to third on a wild pitch and later came around to score on a ground out. The Spartans were able to push two more runs across off back-to-back, two-out singles by Seth Williams and Boike, followed by two Falcon wild pitches and an error.
With the wind blowing out directly to center field, the Falcons' Mark Galvin and Ryan Shay used the strong gusts to their advantage in the bottom of the second as each homered to tie the game at four.
BGSU took its first lead of the day in the third, scoring twice off two hits to make the score 6-4.
The seesaw game continued in the top of the fourth when three consecutive Spartans reached with two outs and Jeff Holm then singled through the right side to tie the game up at six.
The Falcons sent nine batters to the plate in the fifth and were able to score five runs off six hits, highlighted by a Logan Miesler two-RBI single, to take an 11-6 lead.
After MSU gave up solo runs in the sixth and eighth innings, the BGSU offense exploded again for another five-run inning to make the score 16-8.
Chris Roberts homered in the eighth and the Spartans then began to claw back in the ninth. Bo Felt doubled in two runs followed by Williams who also doubled in a run. Williams, who went 4-for-5, later scored to cut the lead to 16-13, which is how the game would end.
Reliever Max Miller (0-1) suffered the loss for MSU while Falcons' reliever Phil Hettlinger (1-0) earned the win.
MSU (2-14) will head to Ypsilanti, Mich., on Wednesday (March 18) to take on Eastern Michigan at 3 p.m.
