Bowling Green baseball advances to MAC semifinal for first time since 2013

AVON, Ohio — Bowling Green picked up its first Mid-American Conference baseball tournament win since 2015 thanks to a six-run sixth inning, which propelled the Falcons to an eight-run, 12-4 win over Miami at Crushers Stadium on Thursday.

It was also the first time the Falcons have made the MAC semifinal since 2013.

With the win, the No.1-seeded Falcons (33-18) advance and will face No. 2 Western Michigan, who blanked No. 3 Ball State 8-0 in the nightcap. The game is set for a 6 p.m. start on Friday with the winner advancing to the MAC Championship on Saturday.

In the regular season, the Falcons were 1-2 against the Broncos.

After going down 1-0 to the RedHawks, BG’s Caden Parker scored on a hit-and-run by Tyler Ross to make it 1-1.

Jack Krause kept it going by singling up the middle, scoring Garrett Wright for a 2-1 BGSU lead.

Krause drove in game-high five runs on a pair of singles and two doubles for the Falcons. He also stole a base and scored two runs.

The Falcons tacked on six more in the sixth to make it 8-1. BGSU sent 10 batters to the plate in the inning. Krause drove in two of his five RBIs in the inning when he had a two-run double that scored Wright and Parker to make it 4-1. Ross and Wright each scored three runs in the game.

BGSU made it 6-1 when Leighton Banjoff slapped a two-run single to score Krause and Tyler Ross.

Sam Seidel’s single to right field brought in Banjoff to extend the lead to 7-1. Seidel subsequently scored when Nathan Archer singled him in to cap the six-run inning.

Miami (27-26) got two back in the top of the seventh to make it 8-3, but the Falcons answered with four unanswered across the seventh and eighth to take care of the RedHawks and hold on for the win.

Nic Good got the call on the bump for Bowling Green and he struck out three over six innings.