BGSU baseball struggled against No. 5 Georgia Tech to begin their 2026 season, losing all three games by a combined score of 50-11 in Atlanta, Georgia.
While the results were rough, including a 27-4 loss in the first game of a doubleheader on Saturday, they were not unexpected. Georgia Tech has the talent to compete for a national championship, led by Drew Burress, one of the best players in college baseball.
Additionally, the Falcons have not been able to practice much outside compared to the Yellow Jackets due to the weather, which makes a major difference, especially early in the season.
Georgia Tech also proceeded to decimate Georgia Southern on Tuesday, 25-1.
However, the opening weekend was not all doom and gloom for the Falcons.
In their major blowout loss on Saturday, the Falcons did hold a 2-0 lead through the first two innings before an 11-run avalanche by the Yellow Jackets in the third inning put the game out of reach.
There were also standout performances by a few key players.
Senior infielder Sam Seidel raked, hitting .625 in the series with two doubles, a home run, four RBIs, four stolen bases and five walks to only one strikeout.
Junior outfielder Pauly Mancino, who transferred from Ohio, also had a nice series, batting .364.
11 players made their BGSU debut: Mancino, Anthony Mitta, Vinny Salvione, Ethan Papacek, Ethan Stade, Griffin Scheiderer, Andrew DiLodovico, Joey Buchanan, Jackson Miller, Lance Vickers and Andrew Heffernan. Scheiderer, DiLodovico, Buchanan and Miller all made their collegiate debuts.
We also now have a feel for how head coach Kyle Hallock is dealing his cards to begin the season.
As expected, senior right-handed pitcher Jacob Turner and sophomore right-handed pitcher Carrson Sova got the start on Friday and Saturday, respectively. Meanwhile, junior right-hander Andrew Heffernan, who transferred from Merrimack, started the second game on Saturday and appears to be the early-season Sunday starter.
The outfield and infield spots are still ongoing battles, with nine infielders (Salvione, Seidel, Brady Birchmeier, Mitta, Cooper McKenzie, Scheiderer, Laird, Brayden Curlis and DiLodovico) and four outfielders (Zack Horky, Mancino, Chase Chopin and Carter Mottice) seeing action against GT. Those battles will likely continue until MAC play begins in a few weeks.
The series against Georgia Tech was great experience for Bowling Green, similar to facing Tennessee to begin the 2024 season.
However, the games were not a true reflection of what the Falcons will be this season.
The next series against Western Carolina on Friday, Saturday and Sunday will be more of a barometer for where Bowling Green is, as the Catamounts finished last season 30-28 and were picked to finish fifth out of eight teams in the Southern Conference preseason poll.
