The Bowling Green State University baseball team secured a 7-2 win against Kent State on Saturday, March 7. This result followed a loss the previous day and sets up a deciding game between the two teams on Sunday.
Nate Kress started for Bowling Green, pitching five innings with five strikeouts. Ethan Stade entered in relief and allowed only one hit over four innings, striking out 11 of the 12 outs he recorded. The Falcons’ offense matched their season high by scoring seven runs.
Bowling Green’s first run came in the third inning after Griffin Scheiderer led off with a single and later scored on Zack Horky’s single to center field. Horky advanced to second on the throw home, stole third base, and then scored during Sam Seidel’s at-bat when Seidel reached first safely. Vinny Salvione tripled to bring home Seidel, and Anthony Mitta added a sacrifice fly to give Bowling Green a 4-1 lead. Kent State narrowed the gap with a run in the bottom of the third.
In the sixth inning, Mitta singled and was moved to third by Brady Birchmeier’s single. TJ Takats singled to score Mitta. The Falcons loaded the bases later in that inning; Horky drove in another run with a sacrifice fly. In the eighth inning, Takats reached base again and eventually scored on consecutive passed balls.
On defense, Bowling Green’s pitching staff combined for 16 strikeouts—its highest total since recording 18 against Belmont in March 2019. Stade’s performance marked his first save for BGSU and included his personal best of 11 strikeouts as a reliever; this is also the most by any Falcon since DJ Newman achieved 11 strikeouts against Memphis earlier this season.
Kress made his first start of this season—the second of his career—and struck out five batters, which is also his career high.
Among offensive highlights: Pauly Mancino extended his on-base streak to 11 games despite ending his six-game hitting streak; Birchmeier now has hits in six straight games; Salvione’s triple was his first this year as he extended both his hitting (five games) and RBI (five games) streaks; Mitta has reached base safely in nine consecutive games; Takats had two hits for his second multi-hit game of the year and scored twice for his first multi-run game; Horky recorded two RBIs for his second such game this season.
The final matchup between Bowling Green and Kent State will take place Sunday at 1 p.m., with schedule updates available at BGSUFalcons.com or via social media channels (@BGSU_Baseball).
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