Bradenton, Fla. -The Eastern Kentucky baseball team took a 6-5 lead in the bottom of the eighth when junior Keith Bolger scored off a sacrifice fly by brother Brett Bolger. But Bowling Green State (8-1) scored three runs in the top of the ninth to hand the Colonels (1-7) their sixth-straight loss.
Bolger went 3-for-4 on the day and drove in a team-high three runs. His sac fly, and the strong relief pitching of Greg Harper, sent the Colonels into the ninth with a one-run lead.
BGSU sophomore Eric Lawson sparked the Falcons ninth-inning comeback with a leadoff double off EKU closer Richard Boothe (0-3). After getting the next hitter to groundout, which moved up the runners, Boothe intentionally walked Nolan Reimold, who hit a two-run homer in the first inning.
With runners on the corners and one out, Boothe forced Andy Hudak to hit into what what have been a game-ending double play, but the ball took a wicked hop and found its way into the outfield to tie the game at 6-all. Josh Dietz followed with a game-winning RBI single through the right side, then Bobby Majer added an insurance run with a sacrifice RBI bunt.
BGSU's Matt Hundley (2-0) retired the side in order in the bottom half of the frame to pick up his second victory of the season. Hundley threw the final 1.1 innings for the Falcons, retiring all four batters he faced.
Bowling Green led 2-0 after the first inning, compliments of Reimold's bomb to left center, but senior Will Whisenant made it a 2-1 game with a solo shot in the second inning (his second home run of the season).
Errors again played a part in Eastern's loss, as the team committed four on the day, and allowed BGSU to tack on two unearned runs in the third. EKU starter Shane Zegarac retired the first two batters he faced in the third, but saw Bowling Green go on to push across two runs by capitalizing on a pair of Eastern miscues. Zegarac threw 5.0 innings on the day, allowing just five hits and two earned runs.
Eastern cut its deficit to one run, 4-3, in the bottom of the fifth by manufacturing a pair of runs. Senior Derrick Bussell made it a 4-2 contest by scoring off a sacrifice bunt by senior Bryan Stevenson. Senior Adam Visnic followed with an RBI double two batters later, scoring Brett Bolger, to bring EKU within a run.
The Colonels rallied for two more runs in the sixth, courtesy of a two-run double by Brett Bolger, to take a 5-4 lead. The Falcons tied the game at 5-all by scoring an unearned run of Harper, who pitched 3.0 innings in relief (allowing just one unearned run) and sent EKU into the ninth with its 6-5 lead.
Brett Bolger's sac fly gave the Colonels the lead, but the heart of BGSU's lineup was too much in the ninth as Boothe dropped to 0-3 on the year.
Whisenant, Visnic and Keith Bolger each enjoyed multi-hit performances for the Colonels, who tied BGSU with 11 hits on the day. Dietz led the Falcons with three RBI and was one of four players with multiple hits in the win.
EKU returns to action tomorrow afternoon when it takes on Massachusetts at 2:30 p.m. at Academy Park.
