Buckeye Reporter

Bowling Green State University’s baseball team is set to compete as the No. 4 seed in the upcoming Mid-American Conference (MAC) Tournament, which begins Wednesday, May 21, at Crushers Stadium in Avon, Ohio. The Falcons will face the Toledo Rockets at 6 p.m., with subsequent games scheduled for Thursday, May 22. The tournament follows a double elimination format and will be broadcast on ESPN+. Updates to the schedule will be posted on BGSUFalcons.com and via Twitter/X (@BGSU_Baseball).

This marks Bowling Green’s second consecutive appearance in the MAC Tournament, a feat last achieved by the program from 2013 to 2015. The Falcons have an all-time record of 21-23 in MAC Tournament play and last claimed the title in 2013. During this regular season, Bowling Green recorded 33 wins, matching their total from last year when they finished with a 33-20 overall record and went 24-6 in conference play.

The Falcons’ offense has produced 30 sacrifice flies this season, placing them tied for third among MAC teams and tied for 32nd nationally.

Their first opponent, Toledo, enters the tournament after finishing their season with a five-game winning streak and an overall record of 28-27 (17-13 MAC). In recent matchups against Central Michigan, Toledo outscored their opponents by a combined margin of 48-12 and concluded their regular season by winning eight of their final nine games.

Bowling Green holds a historical advantage over Toledo with a record of 140-102 across all meetings. This will be their fourth matchup this year; BGSU won once while Toledo took both games of a doubleheader earlier this month. In MAC Tournament history between these programs, Bowling Green leads with three wins to one.

The Falcons are approaching a significant milestone: they need just one more victory to reach their program’s 1,800th win since varsity play began in 1918. They reached their previous milestone of 1,700 wins during the 2022 campaign. Head Coach Kyle Hallock has led the team to its most recent stretch of success following Danny Schmitz’s three-decade tenure.

On the mound, Bowling Green’s pitching staff has set new records for strikeouts in back-to-back seasons—registering 418 so far this year after posting a previous high of 403 last season. The team also broke its single-season saves record earlier this year with a current total of 17. They are close to setting another mark for innings pitched in a season; they need just over eighteen more innings to surpass the existing program record.

Individually, Garrett Wright has broken his own school record for hit-by-pitches (26) and is nearing other single-season records including doubles (currently tied at 19), hits (79), runs scored (58), triples (4), total bases (130), RBI (47), and at-bats (192). Wright ranks inside or near the top ten all-time for several categories within one season.

Connar Penrod leads BGSU pitchers with five wins and twelve saves this year—the only pitcher nationally with those totals or higher—and now holds both school single-season and career save records among active players. His ERA stands at 1.78.

Wright is also notable on national leaderboards: he is currently ranked nineteenth nationwide in batting average (.400+)—the highest among catchers—and twenty-second in on-base percentage (.500+). He leads all catchers nationally in these categories within Division I baseball. Wright also appears inside the top twenty-five for hit-by-pitches per game and sacrifice flies across all NCAA teams.

Fans can follow updates about Bowling Green baseball through various social media platforms including Twitter (@BGSU_Athletics / @BGSU_Baseball), Instagram ('bgfalcons' / 'bgsu_baseball'), Facebook ('BGSU Athletics'), and YouTube ('Falcons Athletics').