Seidel shines in win at Ohio State

COLUMBUS — That looked familiar. As the baseball soared over the right field fence, Bowling Green State University baseball coach Kyle Hallock had that thought Tuesday night. In the top of the ninth inning, his standout second baseman, senior Sam Seidel, smoked a solo home run as the punctuation on a 9-3 win by the Falcons over host Ohio State University at Bill Davis Stadium in Columbus. The win marked the first for BGSU over the Buckeyes since April 20, 2011. It was the first win over a Power Conference opponent since a win over No. 5-ranked Louisville on Feb. 25, 2023. Seidel is a 2022 South Central graduate and is making the most of his final season in the orange and brown. He finished 3 for 5 with a double, the solo home run, and a stolen base, and drove in two runs while scoring four of the team's nine runs. He matched his career high for runs scored, and Tuesday's win over the Big Ten opponent was his fifth three-hit game of the season. "That swing in the ninth reminded me of another South Central graduate, Doug Dendinger, who used to put them over the fence in Columbus," Hallock said of the 1997 SC graduate and former star for both the Trojans and Buckeyes. After the greatest male athletics career in SC history, Dendinger played at Ohio State from 1999 to 2002 and is still the all-time walks leader (140) in program history for the Buckeyes. He had a .295 career batting average in 181 games and helped the Buckeyes to the NCAA Tournament three times. Dendinger was named to the All-Big Ten tournament team in 2002, and his 55 RBIs still rank in the top 20 in a season at Ohio State. In 29 starts this season for BGSU (12-17), Seidel is batting .286 with 10 doubles, four home runs, and 17 RBIs. He has walked 18 times and has 54 total bases and is also 14 for 17 on stolen base attempts. Further, Seidel carries a .482 slugging percentage, a .398 on-base percentage, and an .880 On-base Plus Slugging percentage. Seidel — a 2024 All-MAC first-team selection — currently leads the Falcons in at-bats, hits, runs, walks, stolen bases, total bases, and both OBP and OPS. He is second in batting average, home runs, RBIs, and slugging percentage among players who have played in 18 or more games for the Falcons. Immediately after the game, Hallock presented Seidel with the game ball. "Sam may be from a small town, and he takes a lot of pride in that, but he plays just as well in the big cities when the lights are brightest," Hallock said. "Our win was a culmination of our team coming together for a greater purpose. "It was an experience that Sam and his teammates will remember for the rest of their lives," he added. "Sam's role in that win should make Greenwich and the Firelands Conference very proud." Last season, Seidel was limited to 35 games because of a hand fracture. He still managed to bat .324 with six doubles, five home runs, and a career-high 35 RBIs. As a freshman in 2023, he batted .260 with five doubles, six home runs, and 19 RBIs over 47 games (42 starts). His All-MAC first-team season as a sophomore in 2024 saw him hit .319 with 12 doubles, three triples, four home runs, 31 RBIs, and 44 runs scored while starting 45 of 53 games for the MAC regular season champions. With another 20-plus games remaining in his career, Seidel is already among the top 10 all-time at BGSU in walks and hit-by-pitches. He is near the top 10 in several other categories. In high school, Seidel was a multi-time All-FC first team selection and earned Player of the Year honors in the league in 2021 for the Trojans. The Falcons have played just eight home games at Steller Field and played their first 17 games of the season on the road. That was the result of their home facility receiving a full facelift over the offseason. The 17-game road swing to start the season was also the fourth-hardest schedule in the nation, according to the NCAA's strength of schedule metric. In the season opener against Georgia Tech — currently ranked No. 3 in the country — Seidel homered against the Yellow Jackets in Atlanta on Feb. 13. At 7-8 in Mid-American Conference play, the Falcons are in fourth place in the loss column in a tightly contested league race that has four teams currently sitting at 10-5. BGSU will host Central Michigan (11-17, 5-10) this weekend. The MAC tournament will again be held in Avon from May 20-24.