BGSU Baseball’s DJ Newman has been one of many bright spots for the team throughout the month of April.

He’s helped them win multiple big conference series, including Eastern Michigan, who the Falcons had a win drought against that was so long it could vote.  

Seriously.  

Newman, a freshman from Archbold, Ohio, excelled in multiple sports as an Archbold Blue Streak, playing baseball, football, and basketball.

He also was the only male athlete in the entire state last year to be named All-Ohio in all three sports.  

Newman was even a finalist for Ohio’s Mr. Football award in 2021, which ended up going to then-Medina, now-Penn State quarterback, Drew Allar. 

Despite shining in those other sports, Newman decided his loyalty lies with baseball and with Bowling Green.  

“I felt at home with baseball,” Newman said. “When Coach Hallock reached out, we formed a really strong bond instantly, and I knew I wanted to play for him for the next four years.”  

Newman is part of a rare breed as a two-way player, meaning he plays both as a pitcher and as a position player.  

As a hitter, he’s batting .321 with one home run and seven RBIs. As a pitcher, he has a 5.54 earned run average (ERA) in 13 innings. He’s held opponents scoreless in seven of his 11 appearances as a reliever.  

However, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for Newman at the plate this season. 

At the end of March, his batting average plummeted from .267 to .192. 

Recently, though, he’s heated up on both sides of the game, batting .433 since the beginning of April, hitting his first collegiate home run during the Eastern Michigan series.

On the mound, he’s posted a 6.75 ERA and a 1.75 WHIP across four innings pitched in the same span of time.  

So, did he change anything at the plate to fuel this boost?  

“Overall, I keep the same approach and try to hit it right up the middle,” Newman said. “I just try to stick it up the middle and see what happens.” 

Momentum is a very real thing, and Newman believes that his success at the plate has carried over a little bit and contributed to his success as a pitcher. 

“Once you get in the game, you kind of get lost in the game, let the game just go and do what you can do,” Newman said. “On the mound, I try to throw strikes, so I really just want to attack hitters.”  

A true team player, Newman has no preference of what he does, as long has he’s helping his team win. 

“I’m all for whatever the team needs,” Newman said. “My offer from [Coach] Hallock was both, and he said to do them as long as I could. If something needs to change, then we’ll make the change, but as of now I’m going to do them as long as I can.” 

Newman can do it all on offense, hitting for contact, drawing walks, and stealing a bag when he needs to, it looks as of recent he’s added a little bit of power to his bat.

On April 15 against EMU, Newman hit his first big fly as a Falcon in the team’s 11-9 victory over the Eagles.  

“I just got in the batter’s box, right before I stepped in, Coach [Gamache] told me to just trust my hands and to trust myself,” Newman said. “I got to a 1-1 count I think, and I got the pitch I was looking for, put a good swing on it, and it felt like I was in slow motion. It was just a lot of emotions, and I was just glad I could help the team out.”  

With a little less than a month left in his freshman season, Newman says he has a lot of fond memories.

But there’s one specific moment that sticks out to him. 

“That Louisville win. We went down there, played them tough in that first game, knew we could do some damage. We won that second game, and it was a very good feeling for the whole town of BG.”  

With 16 games left on the schedule, not counting the Mid-American Conference tournament, Newman looks to stay hot and keep his seven-game on base streak alive and help propel the Falcons to victory as much as he can.  

For more information about Newman, visit the athletics webpage.