BGSU baseball (31-16,17-10) takes a break from their usual weekend conference series to battle the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (26-19, 12-15) in three games split between Indiana and Ohio.
Play will begin Friday, May 9th, at 6:30 p.m. in Frank Eck Stadium in South Bend, Ind., and game two will take place Saturday at 2:00 p.m.
For the final game of the series, the Falcons will head home to Steller Field in Bowling Green on Sunday to conclude the series at 3:00 p.m.
Falcon Media Sports Network will have coverage of all three games with radio broadcasts starting Friday on WBGU 88.1 FM with Tyler Kavalecz. Saturday, Kavalecz returns, being joined by Chas McNeil on Falcon Radio, with the duo of Kavalecz and McNeil finishing the series on Sunday, also on Falcon Radio.
Matchup History
The upcoming weekend series has been a long time coming, as the past two matchups for the Falcons and Fighting Irish were cancelled in 2023 and postponed in 2024.
Notre Dame and Bowling Green do have quite a history, dating back to April 29, 1960, which saw the Falcons take the opening game 3-2.
Historically, the Orange and Brown do well at home against Notre Dame, sitting at 12-12-1 when playing on the home field, even though the Fighting Irish control the series 36-22-1 all time.
Scouting Bowling Green
Bowling Green has had several ups and downs throughout the season, including five conference series losses, which is over double the amount they lost in 2024.
The Falcons are also dealing with a bite from the injury bug as junior infielder Sam Seidel, senior infielder Gunner Antillon, sophomore infielder Brady Birchmeier, sophomore outfielder TJ Takats and sophomore two-way player DJ Newman have all missed varying amounts of time.
Although Bowling Green is struggling with injuries, they are still coming off a win against the Butler Bulldogs 9-7, on Wednesday.
The Orange and Brown also still rank towards the top in both batting and pitching, with a .299 batting average that earns the Falcons second in the conference and a 6.18 ERA, which earns BG fourth.
Scouting Notre Dame
Despite being known as one of the strongest independent teams in football, the Fighting Irish do find themselves in a conference in baseball, the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), where they rank towards the bottom at 11 out of 16 teams.
Above the plate, Notre Dame’s offense struggles to score, ranking at the very bottom of the ACC in batting average (.263) and hits (392).
Pitching does fare a bit better with a tenth ranking 5.27 ERA while also not letting free passes get by, placing third in the fewest amount of walks with 162.
Falcon Four Players to Watch
Garrett Wright (Bowling Green #3)
As mentioned before, the Falcons have struggled with injury woes, but one player that has remained a constant is Wright, who not only leads the MAC in batting average (.421), he also leads all of the nation’s catchers with his batting average.
Wright’s stat sheet also backs up the amount of praise he is receiving from coaches and scouts with 73 hits for 57 runs, 43 RBIs, 15 doubles, four triples and eight home runs.
Connar Penrod (Bowling Green #12)
Penrod has cemented himself as one of the strongest closers in the nation with 12 saves on the season, which currently smashes the Bowling Green single-season record (9)
While also being top of the MAC, the senior is fourth in the country in saves, while also allowing a 1.99 ERA with nine walks and 29 strikeouts.
The jury is still out if the Irish will pitch Fox for a non-conference series, but if they do, the Falcons are in for a whirl as the junior righty is one of the best pitchers in the ACC.
Fox has a 3.21 ERA, which is seventh in the conference, is first in the conference in opponent batting average (.177), second in hits allowed (34) and fifth in runs allowed (21).
Similar to Bowling Green, the number one option offensively for the Fighting Irish is their catcher, Tinney, who functions as a one-man army for Notre Dame’s offense.
The sophomore is seventh in the ACC with a .364 batting average, hosts a second in the conference slugging percentage (.795) and is seventh in the ACC in home runs (15).
