May 18, 2002

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The University of Akron dropped a Mid-American Conference baseball doubleheader to Bowling Green State University Saturday afternoon at Warren Steller Field. The Falcons, who had eight of their nine starters post multiple-hits in the first game, downed the Zips 28-4 in the seven-inning opener and 10-2 in the second game behind a five-hit pitching performance from Tyler Saneholtz.

With the victories the Falcons improved to 30-20 overall and 17-7 in MAC conference play, while the Zips fell to 18-32 and 8-18 in league action.

Bowling Green took control early in the first game as the Falcons used a 14-run second inning to break the contest open. In the frame, BGSU, which was already ahead on a first-inning two-run homerun by first baseman Kelly Hunt, received two-run homers from Len Elias and Corey Loomis, along with a two-run double by David Barkholz and a bases-loaded single from Tim Newell.

After the Falcons added two more in the third to take an 18-0 lead, the Zips got on the board in the fourth with an RBI single by Brady Steineck. Bowling Green, meanwhile, kept up the offensive attack as the Falcons tallied 10 runs over the final three innings. Akron added three in the top seventh.

Falcons' starter Kyle Knoblauch (6-1) picked up the win after giving up just one run in six innings, while Aaron Gangi started for the Zips and took the loss to drop to 3-4 on the year. Gangi surrendered 10 earned runs in one inning of work.

The second game did start out much better for the Zips as they fell behind 3-0 in third and never recovered. The Falcons added a run in the fourth and three more in the sixth, highlighted by Hunt's third homer of the day, a three-run blast.

The Zips scored a run in the eighth on Shaun Hinssen's RBI double, but BGSU countered with three in the bottom of the eighth on Elias' three-run homer to go ahead 10-1. Akron, meanwhile, loaded the bases in the ninth, but could only muster one run out of the rally.

Frank Mendoza (4-8) started for the Zips in the second game and took the loss after giving up three earned runs in three and two-thirds innings, while Saneholtz, who improved his record to 6-1, surrendered one run in seven and two-thirds innings.

Hunt, who had seven RBI on the day, set a new BGSU single-season homerun record with 21. Third baseman Andy Hudak also knocked in seven runs on the day.

The one bright spot for the Zips was center fielder Ryan Brickwood, who went 4-for-8 and scored two runs on the day.

The four-game series concludes Sunday with a single game starting at 1 p.m.