On Wednesday afternoon, Bowling Green baseball (25-15, 18-3 MAC) played a partial doubleheader against the Oakland Golden Grizzlies (24-21, 12-9 Horizon League).
The Falcons finished an April 2 matchup against Oakland that was suspended due to weather at the beginning of the seventh inning.
The continuation took all of 40 minutes to complete, as the Grizzlies tacked four quick runs on the Falcons to open the seventh, enough to give them the victory, 21-18.
Bowling Green’s junior centerfielder Nathan Archer needed just one pitch to start the next game. Archer smoked a ball far over the wall, setting the tone for BGSU.
The engine that is the Falcon’s offense did not slow down, with four home runs being hit by the Orange and Brown.
Archer managed to send another shot over the fence for his 16th home run of the season, moving up to fourth in Bowling Green history for single-season homers.
Senior infielder Landon Roque and senior outfielder Jack Krause each crushed a homer, adding to the dinger derby with their 10th and second big flies, respectively.
Home runs were not the only way BG got the job done. Six walks by Oakland gave the Orange and Brown 256 on the year, the most in team history, breaking a program record that has stood since 1978.
Oakland’s offense, which was hot for the finale of the first game, was held scoreless in the first before knocking two home runs in the second and third to close the gap.
The Golden Grizzlies would only score two more runs for the rest of the game, falling in just seven innings.
The Falcons have just one blemish on their home record, a 2-4 loss against the Ohio Bobcats on April 21. Protecting home was key for the Orange and Brown, who put away their rival Toledo Rockets on Tuesday, 17-9.
Toledo’s non-conference battle against BG played a sizeable part in the Falcons game Wednesday, with BGSU’s head coach Kyle Hallock limited in which players he could use.
“We had to know who was available to play, available to pitch, and we were limited because we used a bunch of guys earlier in the game (on April 2),” Hallock said. “So, we had to think of who we were going to use against Toledo and be smart with them while keeping guys available for today.”
BGSU has a three-game home stand remaining as they take on the Western Michigan Broncos (WMU) in their third-to-last Mid-American Conference (MAC) series starting Friday. This could be the toughest test yet for BG, who will face the second-best team in the MAC, with WMU five games behind the Falcons at 13-8.
The first pitch between the Falcons and Broncos will be at 3 p.m. on Friday, with Saturday and Sunday having 1 p.m. starts.
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