Bowling Green State University baseball had three players receive a total of five Mid-American Conference recognitions.
D.J. Newman was named the Freshman Pitcher of the Year as well as First Team All-MAC as a designated hitter.
Nathan Archer collected two awards as well, being named Second Team All-MAC and All-Defensive Team, both as an outfielder.
Kyle Gurney rounded out the recognitions, being named Second Team All-MAC as a catcher.
Newman’s two-way abilities were on full display this season, earning Freshman Pitcher of the Year on the mound and First Team All-MAC at the plate.
Newman is the second player in program history to win Freshman Pitcher of the Year, joining Zac Carey’s 2015 campaign. As for at the dish, he’s the first Falcon since 2021 to be named First Team All-MAC and the second since 2015.
As a hitter, Newman led the Falcons and all MAC freshmen while finishing fourth in the MAC overall for batting average (.383).
Similarly, he led the team and finished third in the MAC, second among freshmen, for on-base percentage (.481). Newman filled out his stat line at the plate by finishing second on the team in slugging percentage (.495), fourth in hits (41) and fifth in runs scored (28).
As for on the mound, Newman made 15 appearances with three starts, including eight innings of shutout baseball against Toledo in his final start of the season (May 18). In the start against the Rockets, Newman struck out a season-high eight, gave up just two hits, faced only three batters over the minimum and retired the final 17 batters he faced.
Over the course of the season, he maintained a 3.49 ERA, third on the team and second among pitchers with at least 10 plus innings pitched. He struck out 33 batters over 28.2 innings of work and walked just five batters, the fewest among pitchers with 10 plus innings on the team.
Archer’s All-Defensive Team recognition continues a streak of seven consecutive seasons for BGSU with a player named to the team, dating back to the 2015 season.
Over the time, BGSU has had 11 players named to the All-Defensive Team. Last year, Ryan Johnston was named as the shortstop for the team.
Archer was the only Falcon to not only start but play in all 50 games for BGSU this season. He posted a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage in center field, being one of just eight players in the MAC to do so. Archer achieved the mark on 137 chances, the most among non-pitchers of the eight in the conference.
At the plate, Archer was one of the most dangerous bats in the Bowling Green lineup. He led the team in home runs with a career-high nine as well as at-bats (181) while being second on the team in hits (51).
Archer added seven sacrifice flies to his stat line, leading the team and second in the MAC. Over the course of the season, Archer maintained a .497 slugging percentage, .282 batting average and .854 OPS.
He wrapped up the season second on the team in runs scored (32), second in RBI (39), second in stolen bases (10), second in triples (2) and third in doubles (8).
For the second consecutive season, Gurney earned Second Team All-MAC honors, becoming the first back-to-back All-MAC recipient for the Falcons since T.J. Losby was named First Team All-MAC in both 2013 and 2014.
Gurney was also named MAC Freshman of the Year in 2021, giving him a MAC award each season as a Falcon.
Gurney appeared in and started 49 of Bowling Green’s 50 games this past season, second on the team. He paced the Falcons in both hits (56) and runs scored (38) over the course of the season while putting together a team-best 14-game hitting streak from March 17-April 9.
Gurney finished the regular season with an on-base percentage of .439, second on the team and 11th in the MAC. This was due partially to leading the team in walks (37) while being tied for eighth in the MAC.
Gurney’s stat line at the end of the season included being second on the team in OPS (.914), at-bats (179), total bases (85) and doubles (12) while being third on the team in RBI (30) and fourth in slugging percentage (.475).
Defensively, Gurney was a mainstay behind the plate for much of the season for the Falcons. He put together a .992 fielding percentage, including 321 putouts.
The career-high in putouts raised his career total to 800 by the season’s conclusion, placing him ninth all-time in program history for career putouts.
