BOWLING GREEN, Ohio — Momentum continues to build in the push to save Bowling Green State University baseball. Monday might be the biggest day yet as the university acknowledged that conversations are underway. There is now a structure in place, and the alumni that are trying to save the program are very excited about where this is going.
“We’ve clearly put a lot of effort into this to get to that point,” said Dave Litzenberg, a 1981 BGSU baseball alum. “We felt we needed to come to the table with something other than, can we get something done? We were very excited that they were receptive to some conversations about how we could make this work.”
Monday, BGSU released its first public statement on the situation saying in part that, “While no decision has been made at this time, the goal is to find short and long-term funding solutions to sustain the program for the first three years and beyond.”
Even though no final agreement has been made to bring the program back, this is certainly a very positive step.
“There was some give and take about how it might work, how it could work,” said Litzenberg. “And it finally fell that if we could get funding on an ongoing basis for $500,000 a year and could get a three-year commitment upfront, that they are willing to bring the program back.”
For Dave Litzenberg, BGSU has been a huge part of his life, and his connection goes way back.
“A little more personal for me as well. My grandfather Howard Yawberg played for the Falcons back in the late 1920s, early 30s,” said Litzenberg. “Fifty years later I got the chance to play for BG, so it’s a family thing, in addition to a Bowling Green thing, for me.”
They’ve made a lot of progress, but the job is not done yet. If you’d like to help, you can send an email to savebgsubaseball1@gmail.com.