Bowling Green baseball is on a hot streak midway through March, winning six of their last seven games, with sweeps against Mid-American Conference (MAC) opponents Miami (OH) and Ball State.
The Falcons are the only team in the conference that remain perfect in MAC play, looking to grow this lead in their first home series of the season against the 5-14 Akron Zips.
First pitch of the series falls at 3 p.m. on Friday, March 21 at Steller Field in Bowling Green. Both Saturday and Sunday’s games will start earlier at 1 p.m.
Matchup history
Advantage in the series falls in favor of the Orange and Brown, with BGSU posting a record of 49-33 against the Zips.
The last series the Falcons and Zips played ended with Akron winning two of the three games at home, BGSU managed to win the final game of the 2023 series 5-4.
Akron’s last showdown at Steller Field led to the Zips being outscored 41-22 in four games with one game only lasting seven innings..
Scouting Bowling Green
Bats have been hot for the Falcons who are just two games removed from a MAC-high 34 runs on Saturday, March 17.
The Orange and Brown are the 16th best scoring team in the country averaging 9.8 runs a contest. BGSU is the second-best batting team in the MAC, earning a team .291batting average on the season.
Pitching for the Falcons is not as strong, allowing an average of 8.29 earned runs a game, placing them eighth in the MAC.
With two straight wins in this series, BGSU has the potential to start MAC play 9-0 for the first time in team history.
Scouting Akron
The Zips are on a small hot streak, winning their last two matchups against Northern Illinois and Wright State.
Offensively the Zips struggle, finding themselves dead last in the MAC. They post a team .210 batting average with 87 runs on the year and are one of only two MAC teams who have single digit home run numbers (9).
Akron finds their groove on the diamond, sitting in the middle of the MAC in pitching, allowing an average of 7.47 runs a game and giving up a .308 batting average to opposing hitters.
Akron has a fielding percentage of .969 which earns them third in the MAC, .001 better than Bowling Green.
Falcon Four players to watch
Jack Krause (Bowling Green #7)
The senior outfielder recorded several season highs on Saturday, posting five hits that resulted in five runs and four RBI’s. The next day he smoked two homeruns in the same game making his two of seven on the day.
The Brighton, MI, native has the best batting average for the Falcons with a (.370) batting average in 15 games played paired with slugging and on base percentages of (.574) and (.514).
Krause also has an even hit to run number with both sitting at 20, he has two doubles and three homeruns on the year which contributes to 12 RBI’s.
The right-handed sophomore pitcher can do it all for the Falcons, slinging an ERA of 3.96 and a team leading 29 strikeouts on the year.
The Archbold, Ohio, native does just as well behind the plate putting up a batting average of (.333), and a slugging percentage of (.667) which is a team high. His on base percentage is lower at (.456).
Newman leads the team in homeruns with five, with two doubles and two triples, this has resulted in 17 RBI’s so far this season.
The senior has found himself starting in 18 games so far for the Zips playing in 19 which is the most of any Akron player.
The Gahanna, Ohio, native has a (.286) batting average which is paired with a (.492) slugging percentage and a (.423) on base percentage.
Bowman has tallied three doubles this season, on top of two triples and two home runs which resulted in ten RBI’s.
The senior pitcher is the 11th best pitcher in the MAC with a (5.91) ERA with five games started.
The Sylvania, Ohio, native has 17 strikeouts allowing only 19 hits that resulted in 15 runs with 14 of those being earned.
Atkins has allowed two doubles and two homeruns on 81 at bats. This has resulted in him giving up a batting average of .235.
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