Wilson Wills BGSU To Walk-Off Win Over WMU In Extra Innings

Friday, May 12

Bowling Green, Ohio

3:05 PM

Bowling Green State University

13-31, 0

Western Michigan

19-25, 0

Western Michigan

Bowling Green

May 12, 2017 | Baseball

Box Score

By: by James Nahikian, BGSU Athletic Communications

Final Statistics: PDF | HTML

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – Freshman outfielder Jake Wilson capped off a career day with a walk-off single in the 10th inning, propelling the Bowling Green State University baseball team to a wild 4-3 victory over Western Michigan University on Friday (May 12) afternoon at Steller Field. Wilson went 4-for-5, and knocked home BGSU's final three runs, which helped the Falcons erase a 3-2 deficit late in the ballgame.

Wilson's four hits established a career high. The freshman tied the game in the bottom of the eighth with a two-out single, before shooting a base knock against a drawn-in infield to give the Falcons the dramatic win.

JAKE WILSON WALK-OFF SINGLE!!!!!!!! FALCONS WIN 4-3!!!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/3qaykWldcV
— BGSU Baseball (@WEAREBGBaseball) May 12, 2017

Bowling Green keeps its MAC Tournament hopes alive with the win, while improving to 13-31 on the season in the process. The Falcons are now 8-14 in Mid-American Conference play. BGSU's eight conference wins surpasses last season's total of seven. With the loss, Western Michigan falls to 19-25 (8-11 MAC).

"We have been in so many of these games this year, and I couldn't be happier for our guys that we found a way to win," said head coach Danny Schmitz. "We are fighting for our lives right now, and it's great to see us never give up. I want the team to enjoy this win today, but come tomorrow, we need to be completely dialed in and ready to go. This game doesn't mean anything, unless we are able to come out tomorrow and play another great game."

The win marks Bowling Green's first walk-off win since May 15, 2015. That win also occurred in extra innings, and also took place in the final MAC series of the regular-season. Matt Smith, a senior on last year's team, hit a walk-off home run on that day to beat Buffalo, 13-11, in 11 innings.

Wilson, who is having a remarkable rookie season, snapped his previous career high of three hits, which he set on March 10 against Georgia State. Wilson leads the team in multiple-hit games with 12, and is tied for the team lead in multiple-RBI games with six. He has a team-high 28 RBI on the season.

Western Michigan took a 3-2 lead with a two-RBI triple in the top of the seventh inning. However, Brad Croy limited the damage, and recorded two key outs with the runner at third, keeping Bowling Green's deficit at one run. In the bottom of the eighth, the Falcons knotted the score at 3-3.

Cam Daugherty notched his second hit of the day, and started the rally off with a leadoff single. Jeff Scott then moved him over to second with a sacrifice bunt. After a wild pitch, and strike out, Wilson poked a single into left with two outs.

In the top of the ninth, Western Michigan squandered a huge opportunity to take the lead, due largely in part to the clutch pitching by Kody Brown. WMU put its first two runners on base, and a sacrifice bunt set the Broncos up with runners at second and third with just one out. Brown induced a pop up in foul territory near BGSU's first-base dugout for the second out, and then pitched out of the jam with a strikeout.

Bowling Green went down in order in the bottom of the ninth, but Brown recorded a perfect inning in the top of the 10th, setting up the dramatics in the bottom of the 10th. Scott began the frame with a leadoff double that was smoked into the left-centerfield gap. Nick Glanzman moved Scott to third with one out with a sacrifice bunt, prior to Wilson's walk-off winner.

The Falcons took a 1-0 lead in the fifth on a Randy Righter walk with the bases loaded. The Broncos tied the game with a run in the sixth, but Wilson came up big with a two-out single, plating Derek Drewes, who singled to start the frame, to give the Orange and Brown a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the sixth.

Brown picked up the win for the Falcons, improving his record to 2-0 on the season. The southpaw allowed just one hit over 2.0 scoreless innings. He struck out two, and did not issue a walk. Brown has now logged 33.0 innings on the season, and owns a 3.27 ERA.

Tyler Anderson got the start for the falcons, and he did not disappoint. The right-hander hurled 6.0 innings of one-run ball. He fanned two, walked three, and allowed four hits. In the fourth, with one outm Anderson induced a 4-6-3 double play with runners at the corners, keeping the game scoreless. In the third, he induced another double play, which erased a leadoff walk.

Drewes and Daugherty each went 2-for-4. Drewes also scored a run, and was hit by a pitch. To go along with Wilson's four hits and Scott's leadoff double in the 10th, Bowling Green also received hits from Righter, Glanzman and Greg Basalyga. The Falcons out-hit Western Michigan, 12-8.

Bowling Green and Western Michigan will continue its three-game series tomorrow (May 13) afternoon at 1:05 p.m. The series will conclude on Sunday (May 14) with another 1:05 p.m. first pitch. Prior to Sunday's game, seniors Greg Basalyga, Nick Glanzman, Tony Landi, Addison Rospert and C.J. Schildt will be honored for their careers at BGSU.