Previews Courtesy of MAC Athletic Communications Departments
AVON, Ohio – The 2025 Mid-American Conference Baseball Championship begins today, May 21, with a pair of matchups inside Crushers Stadium.
Wednesday, May 21st -- MAC Baseball Championship Game 1
No. 3 Ball State (35-20, 21-9 MAC) vs. No. 6 Eastern Michigan (12-17, 8-10 MAC)
Dave Bacon (PxP), Andy Jardy (Analyst) | LIVE on ESPN+ | Live Stats | 12:30 PM ET
No. 3 Ball State Cardinals
The Ball State baseball team begins the 2025 Mid-American Conference Tournament at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday against No. 6 seed Eastern Michigan at Crushers Stadium in Avon, Ohio.
Ball State and Eastern played a noteworthy series in early April in Ypsilanti featuring a 21-inning doubleheader Friday and a 9-5 comeback win for the Cardinals on Sunday to complete the road sweep. The Cardinals won 4-2 in 14 innings in the second game of the twinbill on Friday, April 4.
Senior Jacob Hartlaub has been a productive starting pitcher for the Cardinals this season both in regards to team success and being an innings eater.
Ball State is 12-2 in the right-hander's starts including 10-0 against MAC opponents, and his innings pitched overall (80) and in conference play (60) are both second in the league.
Ball State's 9-6 win on April 25 at Central Michigan was its 30th of the season, a mark the program has now reached in each of the last 12 completed seasons.
The Cardinals have posted at least 30 wins in each of head coach Rich Maloney's 19 full campaigns as the skipper. Ball State reached at least 35 wins in six straight campaigns as well after achieving the mark on Friday against Miami.
No. 6 Eastern Michigan Eagles
Eastern is back in the MAC Tournament for the first time since 2018 and 17th overall. EMU holds a 37-25 all-time record in the tournament and has won it four times, tying for the second-most all-time with Central Michigan while Kent State has the most with 12. EMU most recently won it in the 2008 season when it went a perfect 4-0, marking its third time sweeping the tournament as it previously did so in the first two MAC Tournaments from 1981-82. In Avon specifically, EMU holds an even 8-8 mark in tournament play with its highest finish coming in 2017 as the runner-up after posting a 4-2 overall record and losing to No. 5, Ohio, 7-4 in the championship game.
Eastern got off to a strong start in MAC play as it started 6-4 in its first ten conference games, including a sweep over Akron to kickoff conference play, March 7-9, and at one point tied for first place in the MAC. After securing a 2-1 series win over Ohio, March 28-29, it won just two of its next 12 conference tilts, and was swept by Ball State, April 4-6, and Bowling Green, April 26-27. The Eagles lost their series against NIU and CMU, 2-1, May 2-3, May 9-11, respectively, setting up a series against Kent State where they had to win at least one game to get into the tournament field. Eastern did just that as they triumphed over the Golden Flashes, 12-11 (12) via junior Cooper Vance's two-run no-doubter walk-off bomb. Eastern owned the tiebreaker over Western Michigan after beating it in a series, March 14-15, and was aided by Toledo, who swept Central Michigan on the final weekend of conference play, granting the Eagles' their first postseason berth since 2018.
Of its 17 MAC Tournament berths, the Eagles have advanced to at least the second round 12 times, the third round three times (only in the eight-team format), the semifinals 11 times, and the final eight times. There have only been three occasions where the Eagles didn't win a game in the tournament (2002, 2006, 2018). Additionally, there has also been three occasions where the Eagles won at least three games but did not finish as either the champions or runner ups (2011, 2016, 2018).
Wednesday, May 21st -- MAC Baseball Championship Game 2
No. 4 Bowling Green (33-20, 19-11 MAC) vs. No. 5 Toledo (28-27, 17-13 MAC)
Dave Bacon (PxP), Andy Jardy (Analyst) | LIVE on ESPN+ | Live Stats | 6:00 PM ET
No. 4 Bowling Green Falcons
The Bowling Green State University baseball team will head into the MAC Tournament this week in Avon, Ohio as the No. 4 seed in the field. BGSU will begin their portion of the tournament on Wednesday, May 21 with a 6 p.m. first pitch against the Toledo Rockets. With a double elimination bracket that will reseed, the Falcons second game will be on Thursday, May 22 with the time and opponent yet to be determined. The games will be played at Crushers Stadium, the home of the Lake Erie Crushers, and will be available to watch on ESPN+.
Bowling Green will be making their second of back-to-back MAC Tournament appearances after being the No. 1 seed last season. This is BGSU's first time with consecutive MAC Tournament appearances since going to three straight from 2013-15.
The Falcons hold a record of 21-23 all-time in the MAC Tournament with the team's last MAC Tournament title coming in 2013.
The Falcons recorded 33 wins during the regular season, already matching their win total from the 2024 campaign when they finished 33-20 overall while being 24-6 in the MAC.
As a team, Bowling Green has tallied 30 sacrifice flies this season, tied for 32nd in the nation while being tied for third in the MAC.
No. 5 Toledo Rockets
The Toledo baseball team begins the 2025 Mid-American Conference Tournament in Avon, Ohio against Bowling Green on Wednesday, May 21. First pitch from Crushers Stadium will be at 6:00 p.m. on ESPN+.
The winner will advance to play against No. 1 seed Miami at 2:00 p.m. or No. 2 seed Kent State at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday. The loser will face the loser of No. 6 seed Eastern Michigan and No. 3 Ball State at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday.
Toledo (28-27, 17-13 MAC) comes in as one of the hottest teams entering the tournament, posting a 12-3 record across its final 15 MAC games. Toledo finished the regular season on a five-game winning streak. The Rockets swept Central Michigan over the weekend, as the offense exploded for 48 runs and 54 hits, as Toledo out-scored CMU 48-12 in the weekend series.
Bowling Green (33-20, 19-11 MAC) finished the regular season by winning 2-of-3 games against Northern Illinois with a 5-4 win on Friday and a 4-2 win on Saturday.
The Rockets took 2-of-3 games in the regular-season series, winning 8-3 and 8-1 in a doubleheader at Scott Park on May 3.
Toledo makes its second-straight appearance in the MAC Tournament and third under Rob Reinstetle. Toledo is 3-4 in MAC Tournament games in its last two trips. Last season's two wins in the tournament marked the first time Toledo has won multiple games in the tournament since 2013.
UT and BG will play in the MAC Tournament for the first time since 2013, when the Falcons eliminated the Rockets in a 1-0 decision. Troy Sudbrook was named the MAC Player of the Week after hitting .667 with two home runs, 10 RBIs and eight runs scored in the Central Michigan series.
Toledo set season highs with 21 runs vs. CMU last Thursday and 22 hits vs. the Chippewas last Friday.
Cole Cahill enters the tournament on a 13-game hitting streak, a season high among all Rocket hitters.
Charlie Scholvin's .484 on-base percentage puts him fifth in the league. He has been hit by 31 pitches this season, the most in the league and third in Division I.
Caden Konczak's 10 home runs leads the team and is tied for 17th in the league.
Luke Leto has put together six-straight multi-hit games dating back to the Northern Illinois series, hitting 16-for-26 (.615) in that span. He is tied for ninth in the MAC with 11 stolen bases.
Toledo holds the lowest ERA (5.13), batting average (.260) and hits allowed (459) in the league this season.
Rocket pitching has given up five or fewer runs in each of its last nine games.
Four pitchers – Braden Curry (3.26), Jacob Tabor (3.35), RJ Shunck (3.63) and Brady Sasse (3.68) – each have ERAs below 4.00 entering Wednesday.
Jacob Tabor has pitched 11.0 scoreless innings over his last two starts, with five hitless innings in his outing against Central Michigan.
Logan Jones' four saves are tied for the seventh-most in the league.
