Bowling Green 3, Toledo 2
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BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University baseball team took care of business on Saturday afternoon (May 18), as the Falcons completed a three-game sweep over the Toledo Rockets with a 3-2 triumph at Steller Field. The win moved the Falcons to 32-18 on the season, with a 24-6 record in the MAC. The 24 MAC wins extend the program record for MAC wins in a season. Additionally, the 32 wins for BGSU are the most since achieving the same amount in 2008.

Toledo almost tied the game 3-3 in the eighth inning, but a base-running blunder by Caden Konczak at second base ended the inning and the threat by the Rockets. With runners on first and second and two outs, Toledo's Scott Mackiewicz hit a soft liner into shallow center field. By the time the Falcons grabbed the ball, JP Wagner had scored and Konczak was on third base. However, Konczak never touched second base on his way from first base. On the appeal, he was called out when Sam Seidel stepped on second base. Since the force was in play at second, Konczak was called out and the run was taken off the board, which proved to be the difference in the game.

Western Michigan 10, Central Michigan 0
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MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – The Western Michigan baseball team set a new single-season program record for strikeouts and ended the regular season with a 10-0 shutout win over Central Michigan on Saturday.
 
With WMU's victory and Ball State's loss at Kent State, the Broncos earned the No. 2 seed in next week's Mid-American Conference Tournament. It is the highest seed for Western Michigan since 1983, when it was the number one seed in the West Division and number two overall seed.
 
DJ Thompson (3.0 IP), Joe Shapiro (2.0), Turner Doran (1.0) and Luke Thelen (1.0) combined to collect Western Michigan's league-leading fifth shutout of the season. All five shutouts for the Broncos have come in conference play, with no other team having recorded more than one against MAC competition.
 
The quartet also combined for six strikeouts on the afternoon to bring WMU's total to 400, surpassing the 2001 team's mark of 395 for the single-season school record.
 
Western Michigan grabbed the first run just three batters into the game. Jackson Kitchen started the contest with a triple into the right field corner and then scored on a Cade Sullivan sacrifice fly.
 
The score remained 1-0 until the Broncos erupted for nine runs in the fourth. WMU's first two runs of the frame came on bases-loaded walks issued to Brendan Harrity and Kitchen. Dylan Nevar plated a pair with a single and CJ Richmond brought in two more with a double to make it 7-0. Western Michigan reloaded the bases for Michael Maloney, who drew a free pass to pick up an RBI. Harrity then capped the outburst with a two-run single.
 
During the nine-run eurption, Sullivan scored for the 63rd time in 2024 to set a new single-season program record.
 
Nevar's pair of RBIs brought his season total to 63, tying him with Frank Alfieri's 1999 campaign for second-most in program history. The left fielder also moved into sole possession of fourth in career runs batted in with 152.
 
Richmond became the second Bronco this season to reach the 60-RBI mark, giving the junior the fourth-most in a single season in WMU history.
 
With the regular season complete, Western Michigan turns its attention to the 2024 Mid-American Conference Tournament, which begins on Wednesday, May 22, at Crushers Stadium in Avon, Ohio. The Broncos earned the No. 2 seed and a bye to the second day of the tournament. WMU's first game will be at 6 pm on Thursday against a to-be-determined opponent. All games of the 2024 MAC Tournament will be streamed on ESPN+.

Kent State 7, Ball State 2
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KENT- The Golden Flashes honored their six seniors and the Flashes sent them out on a winning note in their final game at Schoonover Stadium, a 7-2 triumph over Ball State on Saturday. 

Calvin Bickerstaff, Kyle Jackson, Mike McNamara, Joe Miceli, Tim Orr and Benny Roebuck were all honored in a pre-game ceremony. Saturday's finale had the feeling of a playoff game with seeding implications on the line for both clubs.
Ball State struck first as Blake Bevis struck again, singling into left, scoring a run but Tim Orr threw out Hunter Dobbins at the plate to end the inning. Kent State had runners in scoring position in each of the first three innings, but stayed 1-0 into the fifth. 

Josh Johnson hammered the first pitch of the 5th inning over 440 feet to left to tie the game, it's his 13th homer of the year and 60th RBI. It stayed 1-1 into the eighth as the Flashes got out of a jam in the seventh and again in the eighth. Ball State loaded the bases with two out and Kyle Jackson robbed Dylan Grego of a go-ahead base hit on a ball deep in the hole between short and third. 

Kent State surged ahead in the bottom of the eighth. The first four batters reached on base hits with Jackson's single up the middle scoring Tim Orr, putting the Flashes up 2-1. Brody Williams made it 3-1 on a single and Bo Shinkle brought home another run on a double play. Dom Kibler and Ripken Reese then provided the power, hitting homers to left and right to cap a six-run frame. 

Peyton Cariaco got out of the eighth and closed out the ninth for his fifth win of the year. The Flashes will either be the fifth or the sixth seed on Wednesday in the upcoming Mid-American Conference tournament while Ball State will be the three seed.
Stay tuned to Kent State Baseball on social media for information on the upcoming tournament and the latest in baseball news. 

Northern Illinois 9, Eastern Michigan 8
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DeKALB, IL - The Northern Illinois University baseball team's senior class made sure they went out as winners on Saturday afternoon, contributing to the Huskies' 9-8 win on Senior Day at Ralph McKinzie Field at Walt and Janice Owens Park.

"This series was three pretty good games and both teams showed a lot of toughness," said head coach Ryan Copeland. "We were both trying to end our seasons on a high note. It wasn't easy, but we found a way to win. We always found the way to get that last pitch, that big hit. You're just hoping the seniors in their final game here make a difference, and a couple of them did."

Eastern Michigan (14-38, 9-21) broke a 3-3 tie with four runs in the top of the seventh. The Huskies responded with two runs in the bottom of the inning. Mason Kelley (Mt. Washington, Ky./Schoolcraft College) led off with a double down the left field line. Christian Seegers (Schaumburg, Ill./Creighton) followed with a walk. After a flyout, Andre Demetral (Rochester, Mich./Florence Darling Tech) reached on an infield single to load the bases. Colin Summerhill (Chicago, Ill./Troy) followed with a potential double play ball, but EMU second baseman Cory Taylor's relay to first was wild and two runs scored to make the score 7-5.

NIU (21-33, 14-16 MAC) got a scoreless eighth inning from freshman Alex Day (Tinley Park, Ill./Andrew) that included back-to-back strikeouts. The Huskies rallied in the bottom of the inning, starting with back-to-back one-out singles from Charlie Parcell (Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West) and Spencer Bartel (Sun Prairie, Wis./Madison College), who got a hit in his final at-bat as a Huskie and was pinch-ran for by JP Gauthier (De Pere, Wis./Illinois State). A wild pitch allowed Parcell to score from third and advanced Gauthier to second.

The Huskies loaded the bases on an Eric Erato (Sussex, Wis./Sussex Hamilton) and Seegers being hit by a pitch. With two outs, Demetral hit a single to centerfield that drove home two runs and put NIU up 8-7. Eastern Michigan intentionally walked Summerhill to load the bases for Jake Nelson (Altoona, Wis./Madison College). Reliever Mat Sanfilipo then hit Nelson with a pitch to bring an insurance run around to score and make the total 9-7.

"There were a handful of big hits, big walks in front of me to give me that opportunity," Demetral said. "I was trying to relax and get back to what I was doing and thankfully came up with the knock there. It was a lot of fun."

The Eagles made one last attempt at a rally in the ninth. Brendan Kleiman led off with a home run over the left field fence to make the score 9-8. Taylor followed with a double to put the tying run in scoring position with no outs. Senior Reagan Klawiter (Verona, Wis./Madison College) entered the game from the bullpen for the 34th and final time this season. He retired Kyle Schroedle on a groundout to Demetral at shortstop for the first out with Taylor advancing to third. Klawiter then struck out Logan Milene for the second out. Evan Sines then hit a deep fly ball to left field which CJ Cepicky (St. Louis, Mo./Missouri) caught at the warning track to end the game and lock up the series sweep.

"This was how the season was supposed to end, with your seniors that have been in this program for awhile finding a way to win it," Copeland said.

Eastern Michigan took a 3-1 lead after three innings. NIU closed within a run in the bottom of the fourth on an Aaron Harper (Hemet, Calif./Mt. St. Jacinto CC) sacrifice fly. Seniors Jackson Stewart (Urbandale, Iowa/Des Moines Area CC), RJ Nowicki (Hoffman Estates, Ill./Barrington) and Jacob Draeger (Johnston, Iowa/Des Moines Area CC) combined for a scoreless top of the fifth out of the bullpen. A Summerhill two-out double in the fifth tied the game at 3-3.

Summerhill finished his career going 3-for-4 on Saturday with two RBI. Demetral and Bartel both had a pair of hits. Erato scored two runs and drew a walk in his 201st career game at NIU. Klawiter earned his first career save on Saturday in the final relief appearance of his career.

The Huskies finished the season with a record of 21-33, an 11-win improvement from 2023 with a nine-win improvement in Mid-American Conference play alone at 14-16.

"This is a good year to build upon," said Copeland. "My hope for the program is much bigger than this. I love to win and I want to get to the point where if we have a 21-win season, it's not a good year. To take the same group and more than double our win total and finish where we did in the MAC, knowing we let a couple games slip, shows we had some proud moments and some opportunities we let slip. There were a lot of games where we could have folded and we didn't. It makes me really excited for the future of Huskie Baseball."