Falcon baseball has continued to stay hot in 2025, toppling the Tiffin Dragons in the BG home opener 8-7, making the Orange and Brown 10-5 overall on the season.
Going into this series against Akron, the Falcons are 3-0 in conference play, tied for first in the MAC, while the Zips are 0-3 in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) and 6-10 overall this season.
First pitch for the series is set for Friday at 2 p.m., with the Saturday and Sunday games both scheduled for 1 p.m. starts. Recaps for each of these matchups will be posted shortly after their conclusions.
Matchup History
BG and Akron’s baseball battles have raged since 1982, with the first five games being played on neutral ground. The Falcons lead the Zips all-time 53-34 and have a winning record of 18-17 when playing on the road against Akron.
The Orange and Brown have won seven of the past 10 matchups against the Zips and are currently on a four-game winning streak. In the last game on March 24 of last year, the Falcons won 15-5 at home.
Scouting Bowling Green
In their last game against Tiffin, BG had eight runs on the same amount of hits, to the sound of three doubles and a home run. The Dragons helped out the Falcon hitting by walking them eight times.
BGSU’s batting average is .285 on the season so far, which puts them in third in the MAC. They also have a .480 slugging percentage and .393 on-base percentage (OBP)
Defensively, the Falcons have the fourth-best earned run average (ERA) in the conference at 5.98, but BG pitching has also given up 19 home runs this year, which is the third most in the MAC.
The Falcon fielding has also been productive and more importantly, lacking in mistakes, only committing nine errors so far this season, the second least in the conference.
Scouting Akron
The Zips are coming off of a home stand win against the Dayton Flyers in which they scored 10 runs on 13 hits to Dayton’s five runs on nine hits.
Akron has a .261 batting average this year, the seventh-best mark in the MAC, and has only hit nine home runs so far this year, which is the third worst in the conference and bodes well for Falcon pitching.
Despite their lower batting average and slugging percentage of .382, the Zips get on base more than anyone in the MAC with a .408 OBP.
On the pitching side of things, the Zips have a .683 ERA, which is a bit worse than the Falcons, and have allowed their opponents to hit 37 doubles and 17 homers.
Falcon Four Players to Watch
Garrett Wright (Bowling Green #3)
The BG senior catcher leads the team in batting percentage with an impressive .415 and had three runs batted in (RBI) thanks to a homer and a double in the home opener against Tiffin.
Wright has a total of 12 RBIs, two homers, and seven extra-base hits on the season, not to mention a slugging percentage of .679 and has committed no errors so far this year.
Brady Birchmeier (Bowling Green #43)
Birchmeier has been efficient from the plate throughout the early goings of this season, batting .316 with a .579 slugging percentage.
The sophomore infielder already has gone yard four times this year and has 20 RBIs on 18 total hits. He is becoming the Falcons long ball hitter and has already shown off his clutch gene.
The Zips senior catcher is hitting .298 this year. In the last game against the Flyers, he went 2-3 at the plate with a double, and he scored both times he got on base.
This season, Horvath has 17 total hits with five RBIs and seven doubles, rounding the bases nine total times for Akron.
The sophomore outfielder is hitting .313 this season with a .375 slugging percentage. He only had one hit in the game against Dayton but had five hits, a run, and three RBIs in the previous series against Eastern Michigan.
Bottone has 20 total hits, 16 runs and 10 RBIs through the start of the season and is a solid leadoff hitter for the Zips.
