Ramos Logs Career-High Nine Strikeouts As Falcons Tally 16th-Straight MAC Win

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University baseball team continued their impressive start to MAC play, picking up a 14-5 final over the Ohio Bobcats on Saturday (April 19). The win moves BGSU to 16-0 in the MAC, a conference baseball record, while also advancing to 9-0 at home, matching the best home start in program history with the last time being in 1946. The Falcons are also now tied for the second-best MAC start in BGSU Athletics history, trailing only BGSU volleyball's 18-0 start in 2020-21.

The Falcons were paced by Rigo Ramos on the mound, striking out a career-high nine batters over 5.2 innings on his way to his second win of the season. At the plate, a 3-for-4 day from Garrett Wright, including a double and a home run, sparked the BGSU offense. Nathan Archer added a 3-for-5 day with a double and home run as well with the round-trip coming on the first pitch thrown by Ohio of the day.

HOW IT HAPPENED

With the first pitch in the bottom half, Nathan Archer hit a deep fly ball to left center adding his 12th homer of the season. The last time the Falcons started a game with a home run was just a few weeks ago thanks again to Archer's bat at MAC foe Northern Illinois.
With just eight pitches Rigo Ramos got through the second inning with ease adding two more strikeouts to his total on the day.
Caden Parker earned his first assist of the season thanks to a 7-5-2 put out at the plate to get the second out in the first half of the third, keeping the Bobcats scoreless.
For the second time in the afternoon Archer got an extra base hit on the first pitch of the bottom half, reaching on a double.
Garrett Wright was hit by a pitch to put two on for the Falcons. Shortstop Tyler Ross came up to the plate and knocked Archer in as both Wright and Ross advanced on a throwing error by Ohio's left fielder to put runners at second and third.
Later in the inning, Leighton Banjoff legged out an infield single to score Wright while Ross scored on a throwing error by Ohio's shortstop on the same play to extend the lead to 4-0 through three innings.
Following an Ohio leadoff double in the fourth, the Falcons and Ramos stranded the runner thanks to two strikeouts and Ross securing a pop fly to keep the lead intact.
Striking out the first two batters in the fifth Ramos set a new career-high with eight strikeouts in a game. On the day, Ramos finished with nine.
Ohio scored in the top of the fifth with a two-out rally. A walk, balk and steal put a runner on third with a single bringing the first OU run of the day home.
Wright opened up the Falcon frame of the fifth with a leadoff double to left center. DJ Newman followed with a single through the left side to put runners at the corners. With a drive, and near home run, Ross utilized a sacrifice fly to the warning track in center to add another RBI to his total, driving in Wright and moving Newman to second.
A Jack Krause walk and Banjoff hit-by-pitch left the bases loaded for TJ Takats where a ground ball to first base let Newman score, giving Takats his 24th RBI of the season and BGSU a 6-1 lead with five innings in the books.
Ohio added a run in the sixth and forced a BGSU pitching change. A walk and sac bunt put a runner in scoring position, scoring on a single to right to cut the lead to 6-2.
The BGSU answer came in the bottom half. Archer legged out a single on a soft dribbler with one out in the bottom of the sixth. In the next at-bat, Wright cleared the trees in left center of Steller Field, driving in both him and Archer for an 8-2 BGSU advantage.
On the very next pitch Newman hammered a double to the right center. A fly out by Ross moved Newman to third before Krause legged out a dribbler to second, scoring Newman from third adding more insurance for Bowling Green.
The inning continued with Krause stealing second before a walk to Banjoff added another runner. The fourth ball in Banjoff's walk was a pitch that got away, moving Krause to third with runners at the corners. Takats found a hole in the right side of the infield for a single, bringing home Krause.
Landon Roque was hit by a pitch to load the bases and complete a turn through the order for BGSU in the inning. Parker followed with a four-pitch walk to force home the 11th Falcon run of the day for an 11-2 score through six.
Two Bobcat singles early in the seventh inning set up a three-run home run to cut into the deficit, 11-5.
BGSU's answer again came quickly. Wright drew a walk to begin the bottom half with a Ross single putting two on. Banjoff stepped in and roped a ball over the left centerfield fence for his seventh home run of the season, stretching the lead to 14-5, the eventual final.
Isaiah Seidel came in as relief in the eighth and got out of the inning thanks to a 6-3 double play from Ross to Takats. In the ninth, Seidel took down the Bobcats 1-2-3 and struck out the last batter of the game to secure the victory.

STAT LEADERS

Rigo Ramos: W (2-0), 5.2 IP, 100 Pitches, 4 H, 2 R/ER, 9 K
Isaiah Seidel: 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R/ER, 1 K
Garrett Wright: 3-for-4, 1 2B, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 4 R, 1 BB
Nathan Archer: 3-for-5, 1 2B, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 3 R, 1 BB
DJ Newman: 3-for-5, 1 2B, 2 R
Leighton Banjoff: 2-for-3, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 2 R, 1BB
Tyler Ross: 2-for-4, 2 RBI, 2 R
Jack Krause: 1-for-4, 1 RBI, 1 R, 1 BB
TJ Takats: 1-for-4, 2 RBI, 1 BB

FALCON STAT FACTS

The win continues BGSU's historic start in MAC play, now 16-0 the best start in MAC baseball history. Additionally, the Falcons are now tied for the second-best start in MAC play for BGSU Athletics history. BGSU women's basketball started 16-0 three separate times. BGSU volleyball holds the record at 18-0 from the 2020-21 campaign.
The Falcons once again defended their home field, now 9-0 at home this season. The home record matches the best home start in program history, going 9-0 in 1946 as well.
The victory marks the 21st of the season for the Falcons, giving BGSU their most wins in a single season during the Coach Hallock Era and the most wins in a season since logging 25 in 2015.
Getting the nod on the mound, Rigo Ramos tossed 100 pitches for the Falcons over 5.2 innings of work. Ramos tallied a career-high nine strikeouts for the Orange and Brown and picked up his second win of the season after logging the victory in Sunday's (April 14) extra-innings win over Central Michigan as well.
Entering the day fourth in the MAC in batting average, and first among freshmen, Garrett Wright continued to showcase a hot bat, going 3-for-4 at the plate with a double and a home run. The freshman backstop now has at least three hits in three of the last four games. Over those four games, he also has 11 runs scored and six RBI. On the year, Wright now has five home runs and three doubles, including three home runs in the last two games he's played.
Nathan Archer hit a home run on the first pitch by an Ohio pitcher on the day. The knock marked Archer's second time this season hitting a leadoff home run in the first. Archer is now up to 12 home runs this season and 29 as a Falcon, tying him for ninth all-time in program history with Derek Spencer.
Jack Krause drew a walk and logged a hit to push his on-base streak to 22 games for Bowling Green, the second-longest active streak on the team.
TJ Takats followed Krause's lead, drawing a walk and registering a hit to move his on-base streak to 21 games, the third-longest active streak on the team.
DJ Newman logged three hits on the day for the Falcons, including a double, extending his hitting streak to a team-best nine games.
Leighton Banjoff and Tyler Ross each logged two hits in the game, stretching their hitting streaks to five games, tied for second on the team.
Banjoff has now scored in eight-straight games for the Falcons and has reached base in nine-straight. Over the last four games, Banjoff has four home runs, nine runs scored and 11 RBI.
All of BGSU's nine starting in the batting order reached base at least once and eight of the nine either logged an RBI or scored at least once.

UP NEXT
The Falcons and Bobcats will continue the weekend series on Saturday (April 20) with a 1 p.m. first pitch at Steller Field. The game will also be Alumni Day for Bowling Green, including pre-game recognitions of the 1999 and 2009 teams. The series will conclude on Saturday (April 21) with a 1 p.m. start as well.

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