BGSU baseball continues to fight near the top of the Mid-American Conference (MAC) standings.
After losing back-to-back conference series against Miami (OH) and Western Michigan, the Falcons rebounded on Thursday with a massive 6-4 victory over Ball State, the top team in the MAC and the team that eliminated BG from the MAC Tournament last season.
“I think it was a good start to this year’s series. I think we have enough returners who remembered how last season ended and take pride in what we have in front of us and what we have to play for this year,” BGSU head coach Kyle Hallock said after the win over Ball State.
They beat the Cardinals without two key contributors: Junior two-way star DJ Newman and junior infielder Sam Seidel.
Newman, who was named a preseason First Team All-American, has not played since March 4 against Miami after taking himself out of the game in visible lower-body discomfort. Meanwhile, Seidel has not played since March 9 against Youngstown State, when a pitch hit him in the wrist/forearm area.
While the Falcons have dealt with the injury bug as of late, the win over BSU solidified that the Orange and Brown are going to keep fighting to the end while digging into their depth of young players.
“Sam and DJ are extremely important to our program, as are the other guys that are unavailable to us right now,” Hallock said. “People may know who we have lost, but they are about to find out who we have.”
A few Falcons have stepped up at the plate recently, with nobody performing better than Gunner Antillon over the past couple of games.
Against Purdue Fort Wayne and Ball State, the senior infielder has hit 7-10 with four doubles, two home runs and five runs batted in (RBI).
“It’s awesome because Gunner’s a guy that’s been gap-to-gap most of the year, but he’s getting extended,” Hallock said. “He’s had six years of the college weight room, and on his way out, he’s flexing a little bit and getting the barrel of the bat to the baseball really well.”
However, the story of the season has been and continues to be Connar Penrod.
The senior right-handed closer is up to 10 saves for the Falcons, which is the most in a single season in program history.
Penrod had a runner on first and second with nobody out before getting three straight outs to secure the save over Ball State. He now has a save or a win in 13 of his 15 appearances this year.
Across 20.1 innings pitched, Penrod has a 0.89 earned run average (ERA). He has allowed just two earned runs and 15 hits while striking out 27 batters and walking only eight.
“Just when you start to pen something different, he shows up and says, ‘You know what, this is how it’s going to go.’ He’s a fighter,” Hallock said. “He’s done it with the strikeouts earlier on in the year. He’s done it by making great pitches lately.”
Meanwhile, something I believe has been overlooked for the Falcons is Brady Birchmeier’s defense. He has been utterly fantastic in the field at first base.
The sophomore made numerous brilliant plays against Ball State, recording nine putouts and four assists against the Cardinals.
Birchmeier has a .990 fielding percentage this season, tallying 277 putouts and 15 assists to only three errors. If he continues at this pace, he may be in line for a MAC All-Defensive Team honor.
“He’s done an unbelievable job since the first day he showed up on campus in taking pride in the way he plays first base. He’s gone from a guy who was here who was obviously a big-time power bat to then he’s a complete player,” Hallock said. “Honestly, I haven’t seen a better defensive first baseman in the league through six weeks, and he’s as good as it gets on both sides of the ball.”
The Orange and Brown still have two major games remaining against Ball State, which will be extremely important if they want to stay in the hunt for a regular season conference championship.
The Falcons will face the Cardinals at 1 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, with Falcon Media Sports Network providing a call of both games on Falcon Radio, which can be streamed on bgfalconmedia.com.
