BOWLING GREEN, Ohio β Bowling Green State University's DJ Newman capped off a stellar first season with the Falcons by earning Mid-American Conference Freshman Pitcher of the Year and first-team All-MAC honors.
The Archbold High School alum starred as a two-way player for BGSU. At the plate, Newman led the Falcons and all the conference freshmen in batting average at .383.
He finished second on the team with a .495 slugging percentage, tallying 41 hits and 28 runs scored on the 2023 campaign.
Meanwhile on the mound, Newman appeared in 15 games, starting three of them, maintaining a 2.39 earned-run average, which was good for third on the team and second among pitchers with more than 10 innings pitched.
He finished with 33 strikeouts on the year and walked just five batters, with his best outing coming against rival Toledo.
Newman pitched eight innings of shutout baseball, striking out a season-high eight batters and only giving up two hits.
He becomes just the second player in program history to win Freshman Pitcher of the Year, joining Zac Carey in 2015.
Newman is also the first BGSU player to be named to the first team All-MAC since 2021 and just the second since 2015.
Others receiving MAC honors for the Falcons were Nathan Archer and Kyle Gurney, both earning second-team All-MAC. Archer was also named to the MAC all-defensive team.