In his second outing of the season, Bowling Green junior right-handed pitcher Nate Kress shut out visiting Findlay over five-plus innings as the Bobcats rolled, 8-1, in a non-league tilt.

It is BG’s second win in only two games played so far, while Findlay had won four straight coming into Tuesday’s game.

The 6-foot-2, 175-pound Kress, a Bowling Green State University commit, struck out four, walked three and allowed three hits in 5.2 innings to get the win.

“He’s still trying to hit his stride,” BG coach Fred Riggs said. “He hasn’t seen many batters and we try to replicate it in practice, but it is just not the same.”

Kress did not believe it was his best performance.

“It was so-so. I haven’t pitched in a while because the games were canceled, but I think I was dealing with a low ‘B’ game, which I need to get up to ‘A’ game for Anthony Wayne on Monday,” Kress said.

Riggs says when you don’t have your ‘A’ game, you still must find a way to compete, and Kress did that.

“We always talk to our pitchers about only a small percentage of time are you going to have your ‘A’ game, or your best outing,” Riggs said.

“Most of the time you’re going to have your ‘B’ or ‘C’ (game) and you have to figure out how to compete, and we talk about it all the time,” Riggs continued.

“Nate did a great job. He didn’t have his ‘A’ stuff today, but he had enough to win and pitched well.”

BG sophomore Brent Boston pitched one-third of an inning, walking two but getting Trace Robinson to hit into a fielder’s choice for the third out in the sixth.

Senior right-handed pitcher Jimmy LaForce threw in the seventh, and after leadoff hitter Alexander Reimer reached on an error, he scored Findlay’s only run on an RBI infield hit by Sam Weihrauch.

However, LaForce struck out two, walked none and did not allow an earned run. Meanwhile, BG needed just eight hits and took advantage of five Findlay errors.

“The relief guys came in and we finally started to hit the ball a little bit, and our defense was there … to pick us up,” Riggs said.

BG’s defense never got a three-up, three-down inning, except when junior shortstop Brock Hastings got a putout and assist on a double play to end the fifth.

The Bobcats did commit three errors, combining with Findlay for eight fielding miscues. As a result, the game took two hours and 40 minutes. It was another issue the BG pitchers had to deal with.

Findlay had gotten their second runner in scoring position in the third thanks to two consecutive errors, but Kress managed to hold his ground and keep the Trojans off the board.

“Our defense has some work to do, but it is going to get better. We just have to calm down,” Kress said. “We’re a very young infield and outfield.”

BG senior catcher Ryan Jackson led the Bobcats at the plate, going 2-for-3 with two doubles, a walk, RBI, and he scored three runs.

LaForce was 2-for-3 but reached on all three plate appearances and had two RBIs and Boston had a base hit and RBI. Hastings and seniors Brady Gaines and Luke Johnson each had a base hit.

For Findlay, starting pitcher Ben Best was 2-for-2 at the plate and reached on a walk and Blaine Ritzler and Weirhauch had base hits.

On the mound, Best went 4.1 innings, striking out two, walking three, and allowing five hits and five runs, but only two runs were earned.

Trace Robinson and Mason Hoskins combined to work the final 1.2 innings, allowing three earned runs.