TOLEDO, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University baseball team took on the rival Toledo Rockets at Fifth Third Field Friday night (May 2) in front of a crowd of 2,325 under the lights. Paced by a strong start from Jacob Turner and backed by the bat of Zack Horky, the Orange and Brown captured an 8-3 victory in the series opener. Turner tossed six innings and struck out sixth, both career-highs, while giving up just one run. Horky added a three-hit day with a career-high five RBI to push Bowling Green to the win.

With the win, the Falcons clinched a 30-win season for the second straight year, the first back-to-back 30-win seasons for BGSU since 2001-02. The Falcons are now 30-14 on the season while being 17-8 in the MAC and are now one win away from punching their ticket to the MAC Tournament. Additionally, BGSU advances to 6-2 all-time when playing at Fifth Third Field.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• In the top of the first, TJ Takats legged out an infield single before stealing second. With two outs, Zack Horky drilled a line drive past the outstretched glove of the third baseman, doubling to the corner with Takats scoring for the first run of the game.
• The Falcons added on in the third inning. Garrett Wright singled up the middle with a Gavin Ganun walk moving Wright up to second. Horky delivered a hit into center field, bringing Wright around to push the score to 2-0.
• Toledo tallied their first hit of the game with two outs in the fourth. Another followed for the first Rocket run and a 2-1 score. 
• Garrett Sloan started the top of the fifth with a single through the right side of the infield. Wright reached on an error to put two on. Takats laid down a bunt, reaching first with an error on the play resulting in Sloan scoring for a 3-1 lead.
• A walk to Ganun loaded the bases up for the Falcons before a Toledo pitching change. Horky lifted a sacrifice fly into center, scoring Wright for a 4-1 lead.
• Carter Mottice singled to start the sixth inning, but a fielder's choice replaced him with Alex Laird at first. Laird was able to swipe second before coming around to score on a Sloan single up the middle to make it a 5-1 advantage. 
• Wright drew an intentional walk and a throwing error put Caden Bates on to load the bases. Ganun drew a walk to push home Sloan, keeping the bases juiced with one out and a 6-1 score.
• Horky followed with his third hit of the day, singling for two RBI with both Wright and Bates scoring, giving Horky five RBI on BGSU's eight runs with an 8-1 lead.
• Toledo scored one in the bottom of the eighth and another in the bottom of the ninth for the 8-3 final. 

STAT LEADERS

• Jacob Turner: W (2-3), 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R/ER, 6 K
• Kade Arn: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R/ER, 2 K
• Zack Horky: 3-for-4, 1 2B, 5 RBI
• Garrett Wright: 1-for-4, 3 R, 1 BB
• Garrett Sloan: 2-for-4, 1 RBI, 2 R
• TJ Takats: 1-for-2, 1 R, 1 SB
• Caden Bates: 1-for-2, 1 R

FALCON STAT FACTS

• The win for the Falcons gives BGSU back-to-back 30-win seasons for the first time since 2001-02, joining a four-year stretch from 1976-79 and 1998-99 as well. 
• Zack Horky's first inning RBI double extended his hitting streak as well as his RBI streak. Horky has at least one hit and one RBI in each of the last seven games he's played in. He also has three doubles over that span with a total of eight on the season. Horky's five RBI marked a career-high and gave him 11 total during his RBI streak. 
• Jacob Turner sent down the first 11 batters he faced in the game, striking out four in the process. Turner ended up going a career-high six innings in the start, striking out a career-high six while giving up just one run. 
• Garrett Wright singled in the third inning, extending his on-base streak to 32 games and his hitting streak to six games. After not scoring in the midweek against Findlay, Wright scored three times in the game giving him 19 runs scored over the 11 games, scoring in 10 of the 11 contests with the midweek being the outlier. 
• Gavin Ganun matched his career-high for walks in a game, drawing three. He drew three earlier this season against Ball State on April 19. 
• Alex Laird drew a walk in the seventh inning, extending his on-base streak to 12 games. Laird also scored and stole a base in the game, giving him 13 runs scored and seven stolen bases. 
• Getting a start for the first time since April 11, Garrett Sloan registered a multi-hit effort, his fifth time this season with multiple hits in a game for the Orange and Brown. 
• Caden Bates tallied a hit and came around to score. With two base hits this season over six at-bats, Bates has scored both times he's reached base via hit. 

UP NEXT
The Falcons and Rockets will continue their series on Saturday (May 3), moving on to Scott Park for the remainder of the series. The times of the final two games are currently in flux due to weather. Any schedule changes will be announced on BGSUFalcons.com as well as Twitter/X (@BGSU_Baseball). 

Follow the Falcons
Be sure to follow the Falcons' baseball team on social media
Twitter - @BGSU_Athletics and @BGSU_Baseball
Instagram - 'bgfalcons' and 'bgsu_baseball'
Facebook - 'BGSU Athletics'
YouTube - 'Falcons Athletics'