375 days after tearing his ACL at Fifth Third Field against Toledo, BGSU baseball junior outfielder TJ Takats added another chapter to his story Tuesday night in his return to the stadium against the Rockets. 

Takats drove in the first run of the game with an RBI single into center field in the second inning, crossing first base, where his injury happened last year on May 2. 

“He’s put in a lot of hard to work to get back to this game,” head coach Kyle Hallock said. “Fortunately, I thought he righted a wrong individually and he overcame some stuff personally tonight at a place where it was a tough situation last year.” 

The left-handed hitter later added a double and a stolen base. 

He also recorded five putouts in left field, the second-most in a game this season. 

“For him to perform and play well individually was good,” Hallock said. “It was a good demonstration of overcoming obstacles on his part.” 

Although Takats started the season slow, his bat has started to heat up near the end. Takats has recorded a hit in four of the past five and six of the last eight games. 

Over his last four games, Takats is hitting .313 (5-for-16) with four RBIs, two doubles, a home run and three stolen bases. 

Unfortunately, Takats’ performance was not enough for the Falcons, who lost 15-5 in eight innings to Toledo. 

Next, Takats and the Falcons will focus on their final series of the regular season, facing Ball State in Muncie, Indiana, on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. To punch their ticket to the Mid-American Conference (MAC) Tournament, the Falcons need to sweep the Cardinals on top of UMass losing at least a game to Central Michigan. 

“Hope the sun comes up tomorrow, and assuming that it does, we have to get better at practice, and we have to take care of business Thursday, Friday and Saturday,” Hallock said. “We have to play to a standard that would allow you to be in the top six in this league. There’s not more time to wait than putting it together for three days.”