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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Final 2001 Baseball Release
May 23, 2001 | Baseball
May 23, 2001
Final 2001 Baseball Release in PDF Format
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BGSU Ends Season With Third East Division Title In Four Years: Bowling Green State University entered the 2001 Mid-American Tournament as the No. 2 seed after capturing its third East Division title in four years. BGSU has been regular season conference champs five times since joining the MAC 48 years ago.
Final BGSU Report: Bowling Green lost its first two games of the 2001 MAC Tournament to Central Michigan (20-15) and host Ball State (8-2) and were eliminated.
BGSU Among the Nation's Best: Bowling Green finished the regular season tops in the country in batting average (.360) and runs scored (9.94 per game) among Division I schools. The Falcons were the best in the nation over the past six weeks of the regular season heading into the Mid-American Conference tournament in each of the two categories and were hitting .370 as a team at one point. BGSU scored in double digits in nearly half of their 54 contests (26 times), including 13 of their last 23 games. The Falcons scored over 20 runs five times.
Team One Away from Season Record Win Total: Bowling Green finished the 2001 season one win away from setting a new school record. The Falcons tied the school record for wins in a season with 36 victories. BGSU also recorded 36 wins in 1977 and 1999. BGSU led all MAC schools with 36 victories this season.
The Coach: Bowling Green head coach Danny Schmitz (Eastern Michigan `79) ended his 11th year as head of the Falcons with a 36-18 record and one win away from his 300th collegiate coaching victory. Schmitz is 299-275-4 (.517 pct.) at BGSU and overall in collegiate coaching. Over a third of those victories (125) have come in the last five seasons at BGSU, including three 30+ winning seasons. Seven of the 11 years Schmitz has been with the Falcons the team has finished above .500.
Team Records Fall at Record Pace In 2001: Bowling Green set or tied eight team records during the 2001 season. Thanks to all but two players batting over .300 for the entire season, BGSU crushed the old record for team batting average (.328) set in 1999 by over 30 points (.360). Other records falling included runs scored (414 in 1999/534 in 2001), home runs (46 in 2000/104 in 2001), total bases (881 in 1999/1,187 in 2001), runs batted in (375 in 1999/492 in 2001), doubles (121 in 2000/135 in 2001), total hits (630 in 1999/712 in 2001) and wins (tied with 36 set in 1977 and 1999).
Several Falcons Among MAC Daddies: Six Falcons were recognized by their peers this year on the All-MAC first and second teams. The lone first teamer was outfielder Lee Morrison. It was the senior's first time as an all-conference selection. The others that were chosen for the second team included outfielder Len Elias, third baseman Scott Dukate, second baseman Corey Loomis, starting pitcher Craig Menke and catcher Tim Newell.
Morrison Erupts In Second Half: Senior Lee Morrison (Stow, Ohio) returned to north central Ohio in the final series of the year, ending the four games at the University of Akron with a .632 batting average (12 of 19). He smacked a home run in each of the four games, including two in game one, giving him a single-season record of 16. His fifth and final home run of the series also gave him a school-record 58 RBIs. Morrison was 3-for-3 in stolen base attempts and struck out just twice against the Zips. The right-fielder ended with three single-season school records including 18 home runs, 63 RBIs and 149 total bases thanks to 35 extra-base hits.
MAC Players of the Week: Bowling Green had four Mid-American Conference East Divsion Players of the Week this season, all during the month of April. Those players included first baseman Kelly Hunt (April 3), outfielder Len Elias (April 9). right-fielder Lee Morrison (April 16) and centerfielder Aric Christman (April 23).
Aric The Great!: Senior outfielder Aric Christman capped off a tremendous collegiate career at Bowling Green with a great senior campaign. The Leipsic, Ohio native set or tied six school records this season, including single-season records of at-bats (224), hits (86) and runs scored (73). He tied single-game records against Toledo on April 21 (five hits), Adrian on April 27 (seven at-bats), and Xavier on May 1 (six runs scored). The lead-off hitter failed to reach base in just five games and did not score in just 12 of the 54 games he played. He stole 24 consecutive bases before being caught on May 5 against Kent State and was six away from tying the BGSU single-season record for stolen bases. He ended with 26 in 29 attempts. Christman also etched his name in the BGSU career record books, finishing second in career hits (215), second in runs scored (155), tied for third in doubles (37), fourth in total bases (312), tied for fourth in at-bats (605) and fifth in batting average (.355). The 155 runs scored tie him for 20th all-time in MAC history.
Streaks End: Outfielder Lee Morrison had his 20-game hitting streak end on May 5 in game two of a doubleheader against Kent State. It was the longest of his career and second longest in school history. David Barkholz (Waterford, Mich.) ended the season with the longest current hitting streak among Falcons at 11 games.
"Steller" Game, Dude: Bowling Green defeated Xavier on Tuesday, May 1 by the unbelievable score of 29-25 at BGSU's Warren E. Steller Field. Xavier scored in each inning while the Falcons plated 15 runs in the first three innings alone. The two teams combined for 15 runs in the seventh inning (8-Xavier, 7-BGSU). The combined 54 runs are the fifth most in NCAA history. As for the combined 49 hits, that mark is the ninth highest in NCAA history.
BGSU Shuts Down Kent State: Bowling Green shut out eventual MAC Tournament champion Kent State on May 5, 1-0. It marked the first time the Golden Flashes had been shutout since May 13, 1998 against Central Michigan (8-0). That game was in the 1998 MAC Tournament, which was held...at BGSU's Warren E. Steller Field.
