BGSU baseball (16-7, 7-2 MAC) wrapped up their weekend series against Kent State (10-11, 4-2 MAC) on Sunday afternoon at Steller Field, falling 9-7 in a back-and-forth battle that came down to the final innings.
The Falcons had a chance to complete a comeback, but a three-run homer by Kent State in the ninth proved to be the difference.
With this loss, Bowling Green lost the series against Kent State and has still yet to earn a series win against the Golden Flashes since 2012.
The series loss marked Bowling Green’s first MAC series defeat this season—a familiar situation, as Kent State also handed BGSU its first conference series loss last year.
“We had our chances today and just came up a little short,” said head coach Kyle Hallock. “The guys competed, and we’ll be ready to bounce back next weekend.”
Bowling Green wasted no time getting on the board in the first. Junior Sam Seidel drove a two-run single up the middle after junior DJ Newman and sophomore Garrett Wright singled and sophomore Brady Birchmeier drew a walk, giving the Falcons an early 2-0 lead.
Kent State quickly responded, putting up four runs across the second and third innings. A string of RBIs from RS-sophomore Ripken Reese, freshman Brady Marshall, and senior Hunter Klotz created a deficit for the Falcons to claw back from, giving the Golden Flashes a 4-2 lead.
The Falcons responded in the bottom of the third. Seidel stayed hot, ripping an RBI double to left center, bringing in Wright to cut the deficit to 4-3. Moments later, junior Cooper McKenzie tied the game at 4-4 by driving in Birchmeier on a fielder’s choice.
The Golden Flashes regained the lead with two unearned runs in the fourth making it 6-4, but Bowling Green refused to rest their bats.
Senior Gunner Antillon’s RBI single in the bottom of the sixth cut the deficit to one, and sophomore TJ Takats tied the game again in the eighth on a fielder’s choice.
With the score knotted at 6-6 heading into the ninth, the Falcons and Golden Flashes sat equally.
However, Kent State’s freshman Sawyer Solitaria delivered the decisive blow. With two outs and two on, Solitaria launched a three-run homer to left, putting the Golden Flashes back on top.
The Falcons didn’t go down without a fight. Birchmeier led off the bottom of the ninth with a solo shot to the left to make it 9-7, but Bowling Green couldn’t complete the rally.
One bright spot for the Falcons was the performance of sophomore reliever Owen Poole, who tossed three scoreless innings to keep BGSU in the game.
“My mindset going out today was compete, compete, compete,” said Poole. “Gotta compete in all aspects of the game. I did my best to try to keep us in it today, but things happen—it’s baseball.”
However, Poole echoed the team’s determination to bounce back.
“We’re all looking forward to getting back on this winning streak,” he added. “Once we figure these things out that we need to do, we’re gonna be back—and that’s for sure.”
Despite the loss, Bowling Green remains near the top of the MAC standings as they prepare for the last game of their home stretch against the Youngstown State Penguins (4-17, 2-3 Horizon) at Steller Field on March 25 at 3:00 p.m.
