The Bowling Green Falcons baseball team is a varsity athletic program at

Bowling Green State University Bowling Green State University (BGSU) is a public research university in Bowling Green, Ohio. The main academic and residential campus is south of Toledo, Ohio. The university has nationally recognized programs and research facilities in the ...

Bowling Green, Ohio Bowling Green is a city in and the county seat of Wood County, Ohio, United States, located southwest of Toledo. The population was 30,028 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Toledo Metropolitan Area and a member of the Toledo Metropolitan ...

, The team plays in the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

(NCAA) at the Division I level as a member of the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twel ...

. The Falcons have played in three NCAA Tournaments, going in , , and . The program has 12 regular-season conference championships (7 NWOIAA, 5 MAC), six East Division championships, and three conference tournament championships. The most recent regular-season championship came in 2009. The 1921 team was the first athletic team at the school to win a title, when they finished 6–1–2 in the

Northwest Ohio League The Northwest Ohio League (also the Northwestern Ohio Intercollegiate Athletic Association and Little Ohio Conference) was an College athletics, intercollegiate athletic conference that existed from 1921 to 1932.F.G. Beyerman and finished their inaugural campaign at 1–3. The program would not reach varsity level until 1918, playing their first game on May 3, 1918 defeating

Defiance College Defiance College is a private college located in Defiance, Ohio and affiliated with the United Church of Christ. The campus includes eighteen buildings and access to the Thoreau Wildlife Sanctuary. History The college began as Defiance Female ...

4–3 in 7 innings. The Normals would finish the 1918 season 2–1 defeating

Bluffton College Bluffton University is a private Mennonite university in Bluffton, Ohio. It is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, with four programs that have earned programmatic accreditation: dietetics, education, music, and social work. The unive ...

6–5 and losing a rematch with Defiance 13–3. Bowling Green joined the Northwest Ohio League in 1921 and finished the season 6–1–2, good enough to make the Normals NWOIAA champions in their first year in the conference. The 1921 Normals baseball team would be the first athletic program at Bowling Green to win a title of any sort. In May 1944 the baseball team won 1–0 against the

Camp Perry Camp Perry is a National Guard training facility located on the shore of Lake Erie in northern Ohio near Port Clinton. In addition to its regular mission as a military training base, Camp Perry also boasts the second largest outdoor rifle range ...

team, where Italian

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...

watched the game. Bowling Green would win six more NWOIAA titles (1922, 1925–26, 1928, 1931–32), before deciding to leave the conference and become an independent.

Move to the MAC

In 1953, Bowling Green would become a member of the Mid-American Conference, following rival and former NWOIAA conference mate Toledo who joined in 1951. In their first season in the MAC, the Falcons would go 8–6 including a 4–4 conference record which would place them 3rd in the conference. Bowling Green would not win their first MAC crown until 1972 when they posted a 24–12–2 record (6–2–1 MAC) and were invited to the NCAA District IV Tournament. The Falcons would defeat

Northern Illinois Northern Illinois is a region generally covering the northern third of the U.S. state of Illinois. The region is by far the most populous of Illinois with nearly 9.7 million residents as of 2010. Economics Northern Illinois is dominated by t ...

2–0 and

Central Michigan Central Michigan, also called Mid Michigan, is a region in the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. As its name implies, it is the middle area of the Lower Peninsula. Lower Michigan is said to resemble a mitten, and Mid Michigan cor ...

7–5 in 10 innings, but fell just short of a birth to the

College World Series The College World Series (CWS), officially the NCAA Men's College World Series (MCWS), is an annual baseball tournament held in June in Omaha, Nebraska. The MCWS is the culmination of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Divisi ...

as they lost 7–2 and 7–5 to

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

. Since moving to the MAC, Bowling Green has won six more regular season championships (1995, 1998–99, 2001–02, 2008) and two conference tournament championships (1998–99). The Falcons were the MAC's representative in the 1999 NCAA Division I baseball tournament and were selected to compete as the 4th seed in the Columbus Regional, hosted by

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

. The Falcons would go 0–2, losing to 1st seed Ohio State 4–1 and then lost in the loser's bracket 10–5 to the 2nd seed

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

Danny Schmitz era

Danny Schmitz replaced Ed Platzer as head coach of the Bowling Green Falcons in 1991. In Schmitz's first season as head coach, the Falcons posted a 16–39–1 (7–23) record and finished 9th in the MAC. Schmitz would turn the program around in his fourth season (1994) posting a 29–18 (16–10) record, finishing 3rd in the MAC. He would lead the Falcons to their second MAC crown the following year posting a 34–20 (22–8) record. Under Schmitz' watch, the Falcons have won five regular-season conference championships, six East Division titles, two conference tournament championships, and an NCAA Tournament appearance. Schmitz is second longest tenured coach in the program's history, only behind Warren E. Steller (31 seasons) and is the programs all-time winningest manager with 489 wins. Schmitz became the program's all-time winningest coach on March 26, 2000 after the Falcons defeated Buffalo 3–2. Russ Chandler Stadium Ethan McKenney (12854090185)

Russ Chandler Stadium Ethan McKenney (12854090185)

After 105 years, the sport was dropped at the varsity level effective immediately on May 15, 2020 as part of the budget cuts due to the on-going coronavirus pandemic. Just weeks later, the school announced it was reinstating baseball after they fund-raised $1.5 million dollars of commitments over the next three years. On June 3, 2020, it was announced that Schmitz would step down from head coach and step into an advisory role with the program.

Steller Field

Steller Field has been home to the Falcons baseball team since 1964. The field is named in honor of Warren E. Steller, a former instructor at the school who coached the school's football (1924–34) and baseball (1925, 1928–59) teams. The stadium is located on the Bowling Green campus, next to

Slater Family Ice Arena The Slater Family Ice Arena is a 5,000-seat hockey arena on the campus of Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. It is home to the university's men's ice hockey team, the Bowling Green Falcons, which plays in the Central Collegiate ...

and across the street from the Perry Field House.

Year-by-year results

For the year-by-year history of Bowling Green baseball see

List of Bowling Green Falcons baseball seasons This is a list of Bowling Green Falcons baseball seasons. The Bowling Green Falcons baseball team represents Bowling Green State University and this list documents the season-by-season records of the Falcons from 1915 to the present including c ...

Head coaches

:¹ – ''Records for 1916 and 1917 are unknown'' :² – ''Bowling Green did not field teams in 1935 and 1937 due to lack of funds and a playing site''

Notable alumni

Burke Badenhop Burke Heinrich Badenhop (born February 8, 1983) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Florida Marlins, Tampa Bay Rays, Milwaukee Brewers, Boston Red Sox and Cincinnati Reds. Baden ...

– pitcher. *

Doug Bair Charles Douglas Bair (born August 22, 1949) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played for 15 Major League Baseball (MLB) seasons — from 1976 to 1990 — for seven teams. Career Pittsburgh Pirates Bair was drafted by the ...

– retired pitcher, 2-time World Series champion. *

Orel Hershiser Orel Leonard Hershiser IV (born September 16, 1958) is an American former baseball pitcher who played 18 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1983 to 2000. He later became a pitching coach for the Texas Rangers from 2002 to 2005 and a bro ...

– retired pitcher, member of 1988 World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers, 3-time All-Star, 1988 Cy Young Award winner and 1988 World Series MVP. *

Roger McDowell Roger Alan McDowell (born December 21, 1960) is an American former professional baseball right-handed relief pitcher who played in Major League Baseball from 1985 to 1996. He played for the New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies and Los Angeles Dod ...

– retired pitcher, member of 1986 World Champion New York Mets. *

Nolan Reimold Nolan Gallagher Reimold (born October 12, 1983) is an American former professional baseball outfielder and designated hitter. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Baltimore Orioles, Toronto Blue Jays, and Arizona Diamondbacks. Early ...

– outfielder. *

Andy Tracy Andrew Michael Tracy (born December 11, 1973) is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) first baseman who played for the Montreal Expos, Colorado Rockies, and Philadelphia Phillies between 2000 and 2009, and is currently the manager for ...

– retired first baseman. * Dan Szalay – second baseman.

References

External links

Official site of Bowling Green Falcons baseball
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bowling Green Falcons Baseball Baseball teams established in 1915 1915 establishments in Ohio