Falcons drop two of three to RedHawks
By: Nate Parsons
Issue date: 4/29/08 Section: Sports
Derek Spencer's RBI sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth on Saturday snapped the Falcons' nine-game losing streak against Miami.
With game two of a three-game stint at MU's Mckie Field tied at five all and the bases loaded with one out, Spencer stepped to the plate and hit a deep fly ball to left center, scoring the game-winning run.
Spencer, who had two hits in the game and seven in the series, knew what he had to do when he stepped into the batter's box.
"My approach was to just get something up in the zone that I could get up in the air and into the outfield somewhere," Spencer said.
However, MU made it interesting in the bottom half of the ninth.
With two outs and a man on second, first baseman Brian Hangbers snagged a line drive to end the game, preserving the 6-5 victory.
Brett Browning (1-1) picked up his first win of the season, giving up just one hit after coming in for relief in the bottom of the eighth with the bases loaded and one out.
The RedHawks (15-27, 6-12) jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first, as they forced starter Kevin Light to throw 29 pitches. Light would settle down, though, throwing just 47 pitches in the next six innings combined and giving up only one run.
Game two would be the only bright spot for the Falcons.
In game one on Friday BG walked in the game-winning run in the bottom of the 11th after blowing a 6-0 lead.
With the game tied at eight all, reliever Brennan Smith (2-2) walked in the game-winning run after his 3-1 pitch was high and outside.
"You can't defend the walk, and it came back to haunt us," said BG coach Danny Schmitz.
"We walked way too many guys in the series (30 in all)."
Overall, Schmitz was disappointed in the pitching staff and how they performed.
"They have to raise their quality of play," he said. "They need to give us an opportunity to win ball games. They're very capable of doing that, but we're just not doing that on a consistent basis."
BG only got one quality start and that was from Light, who gave up just four runs (three earned) on five hits in seven innings.
Neither of the other two starters lasted more than 4.2 innings.
In game one Frank Berry pitched 4.2 innings, giving up five runs (four earned) on seven hits, while Kevin Leady (2-4) took the loss on Sunday, giving up seven runs on five hits in 4.1 innings in a game that saw MU score nine runs in the fifth and sixth innings for a 13-4 win.
The Falcons have now lost six of their last seven after starting Mid-American Conference play 6-2.
Spencer said the problem is that the team has settled.
"When we were winning games, we were playing with conviction, like we needed to go out and prove some people wrong," he said. "Once we started winning some games, we put some things in neutral. We started coasting."
With game two of a three-game stint at MU's Mckie Field tied at five all and the bases loaded with one out, Spencer stepped to the plate and hit a deep fly ball to left center, scoring the game-winning run.
Spencer, who had two hits in the game and seven in the series, knew what he had to do when he stepped into the batter's box.
"My approach was to just get something up in the zone that I could get up in the air and into the outfield somewhere," Spencer said.
However, MU made it interesting in the bottom half of the ninth.
With two outs and a man on second, first baseman Brian Hangbers snagged a line drive to end the game, preserving the 6-5 victory.
Brett Browning (1-1) picked up his first win of the season, giving up just one hit after coming in for relief in the bottom of the eighth with the bases loaded and one out.
The RedHawks (15-27, 6-12) jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first, as they forced starter Kevin Light to throw 29 pitches. Light would settle down, though, throwing just 47 pitches in the next six innings combined and giving up only one run.
Game two would be the only bright spot for the Falcons.
In game one on Friday BG walked in the game-winning run in the bottom of the 11th after blowing a 6-0 lead.
With the game tied at eight all, reliever Brennan Smith (2-2) walked in the game-winning run after his 3-1 pitch was high and outside.
"You can't defend the walk, and it came back to haunt us," said BG coach Danny Schmitz.
"We walked way too many guys in the series (30 in all)."
Overall, Schmitz was disappointed in the pitching staff and how they performed.
"They have to raise their quality of play," he said. "They need to give us an opportunity to win ball games. They're very capable of doing that, but we're just not doing that on a consistent basis."
BG only got one quality start and that was from Light, who gave up just four runs (three earned) on five hits in seven innings.
Neither of the other two starters lasted more than 4.2 innings.
In game one Frank Berry pitched 4.2 innings, giving up five runs (four earned) on seven hits, while Kevin Leady (2-4) took the loss on Sunday, giving up seven runs on five hits in 4.1 innings in a game that saw MU score nine runs in the fifth and sixth innings for a 13-4 win.
The Falcons have now lost six of their last seven after starting Mid-American Conference play 6-2.
Spencer said the problem is that the team has settled.
"When we were winning games, we were playing with conviction, like we needed to go out and prove some people wrong," he said. "Once we started winning some games, we put some things in neutral. We started coasting."
Be the first to comment on this story