On Tuesday, BGSU baseball (25-14, 13-8) fell at the hands of the Michigan Wolverines (24-17, 8-10) by a score of 9-2.
The loss snapped the Falcons’ seven-game non-conference winning streak dating back to March 2, 2025.
“A baseball program in their [Michigan] caliber and their tradition to produce good players, good experience for our players,” Bowling Green manager Kyle Hallock said postgame. “We learn more about ourselves.”
For the Wolverines, senior Will Rogers made his first start of the year on the mound. The Brewers draftee made quick work of BGSU in the opening frame, sending them down in order.
For the Falcons, junior Luke Krouse was assigned the starter role for the sixth time in his career. After two quick Wolverine hits and a fly-out to put runners at the corners, senior Cole Caruso started the scoring by hitting a sac-fly into right field.
In the second, BGSU went down for a second time, while UM stranded two runners to keep the score 1-0.
The bottom of the third started with junior Mitch Voit launching a ball out of the yard for the ninth time this season to extend the Michigan lead to 2-0.
To start the fourth, Krouse sat down two straight batters before freshman Tyler Inge reached base on an Alex Laird throwing error. That set the stage for junior Greg Pace Jr., who hammered a fly ball over the high left-field wall to double UM’s run total to four.
Bowling Green finally got on the board in the sixth frame. Laird reached base after getting plunked and was able to work his way over the third due to two steals bringing Garrett Wright to the plate. The sophomore righty blooped a single into shallow center field, 4-1.
After that, sophomore TJ Takats hit a line drive base hit to put runners at first and second with two out. Moments later, junior Cooper McKenzie smacked a hit into left to score Wright and cut the BG deficit to two. Michigan manager Tracy Smith decided that it was time to go to the bullpen at that point and bring Preston Barr into the contest. The freshman did his job and kept the score 4-2 heading to the bottom of the sixth.
In the seventh, freshman Micah Smith was sent out to pitch for the first time in his college career. The Wolverines loaded the bases with one out, and graduate student Jeter Ybarra lined out to left, but Benny Casillas scored from third to make it 5-2. Moments later, catcher Matt Spear launched Michigan’s third home run of the game, stretching the lead to 8-2.
“It was something that you’ll never forget, and he’s from this area. It looks like he had a lot of family members here, which is outstanding and the support system is very good,” Hallock said. “He’s been making strides and he’s ready to help us the rest of the way. I don’t think it’ll take him too long to go out there and get acclimated.”
UM scored again in the eighth thanks to a graduate student Robert Hamchuk’s RBI single, putting the score at 9-2 heading to the ninth.
Rogers earned his fourth win of the season for the University of Michigan and Krouse was handed his first loss of the season for Bowling Green.
No Falcon recorded more than one hit in the contest as the team totaled five. The Wolverines wound up with eight hits and scored five runs with two outs.
BGSU’s next chance to end their losing streak comes on Friday at Steller Field as the Falcons welcome in the Eagles of Eastern Michigan. Coyle Withrow and Sam Morris will guide listeners through the action on Falcon Radio starting at 2:45 p.m. for pregame.
