Falcons Extend Winning Streak To Seven With Saturday Win Over Zips

Saturday, March 15

Akron, Ohio

12 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

12-5, 5-0

Akron

6-12, 0-5

Bowling Green

Akron

Photo by: Samantha Peebles, BGSU Athletics

Falcons Extend Winning Streak To Seven With Saturday Win Over Zips

March 15, 2025 | Baseball

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BGSU Secures First Series Win At Akron Since 2021

By: by Kyle Edmond, BGSU Athletics

AKRON, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University baseball team continued their winning ways on Saturday (March 15), picking up an 11-5 victory over the Akron Zips. The win secures the series win for the Falcons with a game to go, the first series win at Akron for BGSU since 2021. Bowling Green now has a seven-game winning streak, matching the longest winning streak for the team during the 2024 season. The Orange and Brown hold a 12-5 record on the season while being 5-0 in the MAC.

The Falcons jumped out to an early lead, scoring four in the first including a three-run home run from Cooper McKenzie. A two-run home run in the third from Brady Birchmeier sparked a three-run inning before another two-run home run in the fourth, this time from DJ Newman, pushed the BGSU lead to 9-0. While Akron challenged in the later innings, the Falcons were able to position themselves for an 11-5 final score for the win.

HOW IT HAPPENED

In the first inning, Garrett Wright was hit by a pitch for the first runner of the game. DJ Newman followed with a single through the right side to put runners at the corners. Brady Birchmeier doubled off the left field wall, scoring Wright for the first run of the game.
Cooper McKenzie followed Birchmeier by putting an opposite field home run over the right field fence, a three-run home run for a 4-0 BGSU advantage after the top of the first.
In the bottom of the first, Akron worked to load the bases, but back-to-back strikeouts from Nic Good kept the 4-0 score intact with the Zips leaving all three runners stranded.
The Falcons offense added to the tally in the third. Newman began the inning with a single before Birchmeier destroyed a home run to left field, increasing the lead to 6-0 to prompt an Akron pitching change.
TJ Takats kept the rally going with a double to the right field wall. Garrett Sloan brought him home, sending a single up the middle to push the score to 7-0.
In the fourth, Wright reached with a single to set up a two-run home run to right by Newman, giving the Falcons home runs from the three, four and five hole hitters as well as a 9-0 lead.
Akron put a run on the board in the bottom of the fourth for a 9-1 score.
In the top of the sixth, Wright drew a walk and took second on a wild pitch. Birchmeier drilled his second double of the day into the left field corner, scoring Wright for a 10-1 BGSU lead.
A two-run home run in the bottom half of the sixth and another pair of runs in the seventh for Akron cut the lead down to 10-5 entering the eighth.
In the eighth, Wright was hit by a pitch followed by a Newman single. A walk to McKenzie loaded the bases with a pitching change. Another walk, this time to Takats, scored Wright for an 11-5 Falcon score with Akron turning to the bullpen again.

STAT LEADERS

DJ Newman: 4-for-5, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 3 R
Brady Birchmeier: 3-for-5, 2 2B, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 2 R
Cooper McKenzie: 2-for-4, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 R, 1 BB
Garrett Wright: 1-for-3, 4 R, 2 HBP, 1 BB
TJ Takats: 1-for-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 R, 1 BB
Garrett Sloan: 2-for-5, 1 RBI
Sam Seidel: 2-for-6, 1 2B
Nic Good: 4.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R/ER, 8 K
Owen Poole: W (1-2), 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R/ER, 3 K
Nate Kress: 2.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R/ER, 1 K

FALCON STAT FACTS

Garrett Wright was hit by a pitch twice in the game, his 30th and 31st times being hit as a Falcon. Wright is now just two away from breaking the program record for career HBPs while being tied for second all-time. As for this season, Wright has been hit 10 times, already tied for eighth all-time for a single-season.
Wright later scored in the first inning, his first of a season-high four runs scored in the game, extending his runs scored streak to six games with 12 over the six-game span. Wright added a fourth inning single to push his hitting streak to six games as well.
Brady Birchmeier and DJ Newman both quickly extended their on-base streaks with hits in the first inning. Birchmeier pushed his on-base streak to a team-high 18 games going back to last season while Newman's is now at 12 games.
In his second at-bat, Birchmeier crushed a home run to left, his team-leading fifth home run of the season. Birchmeier finished the game with four RBI, pushing his season total to a MAC-leading 26. Birchmeier also hit two doubles in the game, his first multi-double game of his BGSU career.
After entering the weekend without a home run on the season, Newman knocked his second in as many games with a home run in each of the weekend's contests so far.
Cooper McKenzie belted his second career home run with a three-run blast in the first inning with both homers coming this season for McKenzie. He now has a five-game hitting streak.
Gunner Antillon logged a base hit in the game, extending his hitting streak to a team-best eight games.
Garrett Sloan tallied two hits in the game, giving him back-to-back multi-hit outings. Sloan is also in the midst of a four-game hitting streak.
Tossing a scoreless inning of relief, Owen Poole earned the win, his first of the season and second of his BGSU career.
Nate Kress contributed another scoreless outing from the bullpen, giving him 4.1 consecutive innings without allowing a run.

UP NEXT
The Falcons and Zips will conclude their weekend series on Sunday (March 16) at 1 p.m. From there, Bowling Green will return home for a six-game homestand, beginning with two midweek games, scheduled for Tuesday (March 18) and Wednesday (March 19) with 3 p.m. first pitches.

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