A superb pitching performance and a couple of runs sprinkled in between gave Bowling Green (10-15, 4-3 MAC) a 2-0 victory in game one of three versus Ball State (6-21, 4-3 MAC).
Cal Bowling tossed his third-consecutive complete game for Ball State. It was all for nothing as the Cardinals couldn't muster any runs.
"We did it all ourselves by not swinging the bats well today," coach Alex Marconi said.
Falcon's starting pitcher Cody Apthorpe dominated Ball State Friday afternoon. The sophomore compiled two strikeouts in both the first and second innings, while fanning the side in the third.
"My fastball felt really good today," Apthorpe said. "I've been working on getting out in front of pitches a lot better than earlier in the year."
Ball State collected hits in each of the first three innings, only to leave runners stranded.
Often, the Cardinals were chasing pitches out of the strike zone, putting them in a hole.
"We swung at bad pitches and fouled off good ones," Marconi said. "When you do that, you're going to struggle."
The game was scoreless until the fifth inning, when Bowling Green struck for the games only runs.
Senior first baseman Clay Duncan led off the inning with a single up the middle. Then, freshman second baseman Logan Walker singled to left before freshman right fielder Patrick Lancaster hit into a fielder's choice, but was credited with an RBI as Duncan scored.
Senior third baseman Frank Berry followed with an RBI single to center field, giving the Falcons a 2-0 lead.
"They had some things go their way today," Marconi said. "They had some hits that bounced the right way and kind of snuck up the middle. They played a good game [and] put some good swings on the ball."
Bowling allowed 10 hits, all of which were singles. Still, the right-hander wasn't happy with the outcome of the game.
"I wasn't good enough with some of my early pitches," Bowling said. "[This outing was] decent. I wish I would've shut them out. Those two runs, I feel we could've limited [them] to one [run]."
Marconi said Bowling tossed another great game.
"He pitched his best and we didn't get the win for him," Marconi said.
Game two is scheduled for 1 p.m. this afternoon and Marconi hopes his team has better luck this time around.
"Hopefully we can get a few things to go our way [Saturday] and [Sunday] and hopefully the outcome is a little different."
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