April 28, 2006
Box Score
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - An unearned run in the top of the 10th inning was the difference on Friday as the Miami RedHawks (19-22, 7-9 MAC) snapped a four-game Mid-American Conference losing streak with a 5-4 win over the Bowling Green Falcons (22-18, 9-7 MAC).
Bowling Green touched junior Keith Weiser (Hamilton, Ohio) for a run on three hits in the bottom of the first inning. After Weiser retired the first two batters of the frame, a double down the left-field line followed by a single up the middle made it 1-0 for BGSU.
Freshman Jordan Petraitis (Canal Fulton, Ohio) prevented the Falcons from adding to their lead with a fabulous defensive play with two outs in the second inning that kept at least BGSU run from crossing the plate. With runners on second and third, Petraitis barehanded a slowly hit groundball and fired to first just ahead of the runner to squash the scoring threat.
Miami evened the score in the top of the third on sophomore Evan Armitage's (Milford, Ohio) run-scoring double to right that plated junior Brandon Hillier (Hinsdale, Ill.) from second. Hillier singled to lead off the inning and advanced to second on a hit-and-run groundout by junior Dan Leonard (Canfield, Ohio).
A pair of Miami errors allowed Bowling Green to push a run across the plate without the benefit of a hit in the bottom of the third for a 2-1 lead. The leadoff batter of the inning reached on a fielding error and came around to score later in the inning when Petraitis mishandled a tailor-made double-play groundball with one out in the inning.
Hillier singled to right with two outs in the top of the fourth and scored senior Jon Franzese (Barrington, Ill.) from second. Franzese walked to lead off the inning and was advanced to second on a groundout by junior Jeff Carroll (Columbus, Ohio) before making the score 2-2.
Miami took its first lead of the game in the top of the seventh with Hillier factoring in the offense yet again. After singling to start the inning, Hillier moved up to second on a sacrifice bunt by Leonard and then scored on junior Ryne Robinson's (Toledo, Ohio) seeing-eye single up the middle for a 3-2 lead.
Yet another two-out run pulled Bowling Green even with the RedHawks as Josh Stewart rolled a single through the left side of the infield that scored Eric Lawson from second and made it 3-3 in the bottom of the seventh. Weiser had retired 12 consecutive batters and hadn't allowed a hit since the second inning when he issued a two-out walk to Lawson. Weiser appeared to get out of the inning as he induced a groundball to second with two outs, but the bounding ball eluded Armitage and kept the inning alive, setting the stage for Stewart's RBI single.
A pair of seniors combined to put Miami in front 4-3 in the top of the ninth as Jason Brown (Fairfield, Ohio) started the rally with a double off the wall in left with one out. The next batter, Geoff Orr (Orland Park, Ill.) laced a single up the middle that scored Brown and gave the RedHawks a lead that would be short-lived.
Senior Matt Long (Granville, Ohio) relieved Weiser after the junior lefthander went 8.0 innings and retired the first two batters of the inning before the Josh Stewart tied the game with his second home run of the year, a line shot to left that sent the game to extra innings.
In the top of the 10th, Miami loaded the bases with two outs and took advantage of an error by BGSU's first baseman to push across the game-winning run. Orr trickled a groundball towards first with Leonard on third and after the ball took a tricky hop, Orr won a footrace to the bag, allowing Leonard to give Miami a 5-4 lead.
After blowing the save in the ninth, Long redeemed himself by striking out the side in the 10th to pick up his fourth win of the season against two losses.
Miami and Bowling Green play game two of the series on Saturday at 1 p.m. with senior lefthander Graham Taylor (Villa Hills, Ky.) slated to start on the mound for Miami.
NOTES: JR Keith Weiser retired 12 consecutive hitters between the third and seventh innings and went 5.0 innings between the second and seventh without allowing a hit ... all four BGSU runs were scored with two outs.
