Bowling Green State University Athletics
BG Hosts UT Tuesday To Open MAC Play
March 26, 2001 | Softball
March 26, 2001
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
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FALCONS OPEN MAC SLATE TUESDAY, PLAY SEVEN GAMES THIS WEEK: The Bowling Green State University softball team, after playing in a tournament last weekend, now prepares to begin Mid-American Conference play. The Falcons (10-10) are set to begin both the league slate and the home schedule with a Tuesday (March 27) doubleheader against the University of Toledo. First pitch is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. at the BGSU Softball Field.
Following the UT games, the Brown and Orange will return to the road for five games, beginning with Wednesday's (March 28) non-league twinbill vs. Cleveland State University. Game one is scheduled to begin at 2:00 p.m. at CSU's Viking Field.
The Falcons then travel to Huntington, W.Va., for a three-game weekend series with Marshall University. The Falcons and Thundering Herd, who deadlocked for the MAC's East Division title last season, will play a single Friday (March 30) game under the lights, beginning at 6:00 p.m. at the Dot Hicks Softball Field. The teams will return to action with a Saturday (March 31) doubleheader, beginning at 1:00 p.m.
HEAD COACH LEIGH ROSS-SHAW: Leigh Ross-Shaw is in her third season as a collegiate head coach, and has an overall record of 64-55. Ross-Shaw has a Mid-American Conference mark of 28-18 after leading the Falcons to a MAC East Division co-championship last year.
Ross-Shaw assumed the top job after two years as BG's assistant coach. The Ottawa Lake, Mich., native came to the Falcon program in 1996 after serving as a high-school head coach, at Notre Dame Academy in Toledo, for four seasons.
Ross-Shaw, a 1992 graduate of the University of Toledo, still holds numerous UT and MAC records, and remains the all-time conference leader in batting average (.398), at-bats and hits. She hit a MAC-record .447 as a senior en route to All-America Second-Team honors. On February 2, she was inducted into the UT Athletics Hall of Fame.
Amy Kyler is in her third season as Ross-Shaw's assistant. Kyler, quite possibly the top pitcher in Cleveland State history, graduated from CSU in 1997. She played for the Carolina Diamonds of the Women's Pro Softball League for two years before pitching for the Akron Racers in each of the last two seasons.
THE OPPONENTS: Toledo will bring a 10-7 record to BG on Tuesday. The Rockets dropped a pair of games, to Michigan and Minnesota, at the Purdue Boilermaker Invitational Saturday (March 24). Those losses snapped a six-game winning streak. Sunday's scheduled action at Purdue was cancelled due to weather. Last year, UT went 11-26 overall and 5-15 in MAC play. Head coach Michelle Fagnant is 21-33 in her second season with the Rockets. More information on the team can be found at www.utrockets.com.
Cleveland State is 5-9 heading into Wednesday's games vs. BGSU. Last weekend, the Vikings went 1-3 in the Buzz Classic at Marietta, Ga. CSU defeated Princeton to open tourney play, but then lost to Maryland, Troy State and Connecticut. The Vikings posted an overall record of 19-37 last year, with a 4-6 Midwestern Collegiate Conference mark. Head coach Julie Jones, in her fifth season, has a record of 99-114. More information can be found on the web at www.csuvikings.com.
Marshall is 19-13 overall, and the Thundering Herd will bring a 2-2 MAC record into this weekend's BG series. Last weekend, the Herd opened the MAC slate, and the home schedule, by splitting doubleheaders with both Central Michigan and Western Michigan. Last year, MU went 25-27 overall, and tied BGSU for the MAC's East Division title with a 13-7 league mark. Head coach Shonda Stanton is 44-40 in her second year at the school. MU's athletic web site is www.herdzone.com.
THE SERIES: The Falcons lead the all-time series with Toledo by a 35-31 count, and BGSU has won the last four games between the teams. BG and UT did not meet in league play last year, but the Falcons posted a pair of wins, 10-1 and 4-0, in a pair of games in Florida last year (March 10, 2000). The Brown and Orange swept a doubleheader by 4-0 and 9-0 scores in the last games at the BGSU Softball Field (May 1, 1999). The Falcons have won seven of the last nine overall meetings, and have captured the last five games in BG.
BG holds a 14-4 lead in the series with Cleveland State, and the Falcons have a three-game series win streak. Last year, the Brown and Orange swept a home twinbill by scores of 7-6 and 4-0 (May 8, 2000). The teams split the last meetings in the Rock and Roll City, with the Vikings taking a 1-0 decision despite a Jessie Milosek one-hitter, and the Falcons rallying for a 16-8 win in the nightcap.
BGSU leads Marshall, 10-1, in a series that began in 1998, and the Falcons are 6-1 in games played in Huntington. The Brown and Orange won three of last year's four meetings. BGSU captured a 2-1, 10-inning decision on a Nikki Rouhana homer (April 28, 2000) before the teams split a doubleheader the next day (Marshall 4-3 in the first game, BGSU 5-0 in the nightcap). In a MAC Tournament elimination game in DeKalb, Ill., BG knocked the Herd out of the tourney with a 4-3 decision (May 12, 2000).
RECAPPING LAST WEEK: The Falcons went 3-3 at last weekend's Who's Hoo Tournament, hosted by the University of Virginia (March 23-25) ... the Brown and Orange split with Penn State in Friday action, losing a 4-3 decision before winning by a 4-0 count in the second game ... the next day, host Virginia swept the Brown and Orange by scores of 12-2 (six innings) and 5-1 ... on Sunday, BG posted a sweep of Liberty, winning 2-1 and 9-0 (six innings).
FALCONS BY THE NUMBERS: The Falcons are hitting .215 as a team this year, while the opponents are batting .285 ... BGSU has a team ERA of 3.12, while the foes also have a 3.12 ERA ... when the Falcons' 29-0 loss to #2-ranked Arizona is taken out of the equation, BGSU is hitting .222 to the opponents' .266, and the team ERA drops to 1.96 ... senior Nikki Rouhana (.333), freshman Jenifer Kernahan (.310) and senior Jen Domschot (.302) are the team's top-three in batting ... junior Holly Frantz hit .400 last weekend to move her season average to .295 ... Jen Domschot and her sister, senior Angie Domschot, lead the Falcons with 13 and 10 runs scored, respectively ... Jen Domschot and sophomore Libby Voshell have two homers apiece, while junior Renee Rosemeier leads the Brown and Orange with six doubles and 11 RBI ... senior Lynsey Ebel has 10 RBI on the year ... junior Andrea Genter paces the pitchers with a 3-1 record, while classmate Jessie Milosek has a 1.89 ERA and 27 strikeouts to lead the team in both categories.
ANGIE DOMSCHOT TIES BGSU TRIPLES MARK: Senior Angie Domschot had a triple in the Falcons' 9-0 win over Liberty Sunday (March 25) ... the three-bagger was her first of the year and the 17th of her career ... she is now tied with Amy Lienhardt (1985-88) for the BGSU career lead.
MILOSEK AN OFFENSIVE THREAT, TOO: Junior Jessie Milosek aided her own cause in Sunday's (March 25) 2-1 win over Liberty ... she threw a complete-game five hitter to pick up her third win of the year ... she also appeared in the batting order for the first time since her freshman year ... Milosek went 1-for-2 at the plate, driving in a run with her single ... she also laid down a sacrifice bunt in another plate appearance ... Milosek was 2-for-10 at the plate as a freshman in 1999.
KERNAHAN HITS, AND HITS, AND HITS...: Freshman Jenifer Kernahan had the Falcons' first four-hit game of the year, and her first collegiate four-hit game, in the 9-0 win over Liberty ... she was a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate, with a double among her hits ... Kernahan entered the game with a season batting average of .200, and raised her average 110 points in that game alone.
FRANTZ CAN HIT, TOO: Junior Holly Frantz entered last weekend's action with career totals of four multiple-hit games and one double ... she had three two-hit games and three doubles in the Who's Hoo Tournament ... Frantz was 2-for-3 with a double in each of the last three games on the weekend ... on the year, she is hitting .295, and has a fielding percentage of .990.
HOMER LIST: Senior Jen Domschot has two homers this season and 10 in her career ... her next homer will tie her with Colleen Bates (1997-2000) for the BGSU career record ... another senior, Lynsey Ebel, had her first homer of the season in the North Carolina A&T game ... Ebel now has nine in her career, good for third in school history.
FEAST OR FAMINE: The Falcons have scored six or more runs in seven of this year's 20 games, but has scored three or fewer in 12 contests ... BGSU has been shut out three times this year, getting no-hit once and one-hit on two occasions ... the Falcons had at least two hits in every one of last season's 51 games, and BG was shut out six times last year.
HOMER HAPPY: Entering the Leigh Ross-Shaw (head-coaching) Era, the BGSU single-season record for homers was eight ... Ross-Shaw's first team obliterated that mark by hitting 19 round-trippers in 1999 ... not to be outdone, the 2000 squad matched that record ... this year, BGSU has a total of seven homers in 20 games.
