Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Begin Busy Week with Tuesday Trip to East Lansing
April 11, 2006 | Softball
April 11, 2006
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BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University softball team, currently in a tie for first place in the Mid-American Conference's East Division, will step outside of league play for a Tuesday (April 11) contest at Michigan State University ... the Falcons of eighth-year head coach Leigh Ross (23-14, 6-2 MAC) will face the Spartans in a 4:00 p.m. single game at Old College Field ... then, the Falcons will return to MAC play, with a Friday (April 14) twinbill at Ball State University ... the Falcons and Cardinals will begin that double-dip at the BSU Softball Complex at 1:00 p.m. ... please note: this start time is different than the one listed on most BGSU season schedules ... the Brown and Orange will continue on to Oxford for a pair of weekend games vs. Miami University ... the Falcons and RedHawks will meet in a pair of single games at the Miami Softball Field, on Saturday (April 15) at 2:00 p.m. and Sunday (April 16) in a 1:00 p.m. start.
FALCONS TIED FOR FIRST
Through two weekends of MAC action, the Falcons are tied for first place in the league's East Division ... BGSU and Akron each sport 6-2 marks in conference action ... last week, the Falcons dropped a non-league doubleheader at Ohio State, before splitting two-game series vs. both Akron and Ohio at the BGSU Softball Field ... the Brown and Orange dropped a 3-1 decision to the Zips on Friday (April 7), before rallying for a 3-0 win in the nightcap ... on Saturday (April 8), in the Falcons' longest game of the year to date, visiting OU scored twice in the 12th inning for a 3-1 win over the Brown and Orange ... BGSU bounced back with a 3-2 victory over the Bobcats on Sunday afternoon (April 9).
TOP-TWO COACHES MEET
BGSU's Leigh Ross is the winningest coach in school history ... on Tuesday, Ross and the Falcons will go up against the coach who owned many of the coaching marks prior to her arrival in BG ... Michigan State's Jacquie Joseph, in her 13th season with the Spartans, went to East Lansing after five seasons with the Falcons ... Joseph guided the Falcons to a 136-123 record during her five seasons (1989-93), including a MAC mark of 78-71 ... she held the BGSU coaching records for most wins, both overall and in the conference, until Ross surpassed them in 2003 (overall wins mark) and 2004 (MAC wins), respectively.
LEADING OFF
GAMETRACKER
The Falcons' next three games are scheduled to have live statistics on the web via GameTracker ... Tuesday's Michigan State game and Friday's twinbill at Ball State can be accessed, live and free of charge, at BGSUFalcons.com ... note: veteran attendees at the BSU Softball Complex warn that wireless availability at the BSU Softball Complex is sometimes sporadic, making the possibility of periodic interruption to the GameTracker availability on Friday very, very real.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
The Falcons enter the week with a record of 23-14 on the season ... BGSU has a MAC record of 6-2, good for a first-place tie in the league's East Division ... BG participated in four tournaments this spring, winning two of them ... the most recent tourney title came at the USF Speedline Invitational in Tampa (March 17-19) ... BG also won the Panera Bread Challenge in Chattanooga, Tenn., going 6-0 in the season's opening weekend ... the Falcons went 1-5 at the Compass Bank Invitational in Waco, Texas, a tourney that pitted BGSU against teams either ranked or receiving votes in the national polls in all six games ... the win in that tourney came vs. #13/15 Washington ... the next weekend (March 10-12), BG went 3-2 at the Worth Classic, hosted by Florida Atlantic ... BGSU is hitting .260 as a team, while allowing opponents to hit just .209 ... senior Gina Rango, the 2005 MAC Player of the Year, is hitting .365 this season to date ... Rango has a slugging percentage of .600, and has five homeruns and 21 runs batted in ... she leads the Falcons in seven offensive categories ... freshman Desiree Miller is batting .333 with two homers and 17 RBI, while classmate Hayley Wiemer has a .309 average ... sophomore Allison Vallas and junior Jeanine Baca are hitting .299 and .292, respectively ... Wiemer leads the Falcons with 13 walks, while Baca has a BG-best 10 stolen bases and has scored 21 runs ... in the circle, sophomore Emily Gouge has a team-low 1.26 earned-run average and a record of 6-0, while Wiemer is 7-6 with a 1.37 ERA and a team-high three saves ... senior Liz Vrabel, the reigning MAC Pitcher of the Year, has a BG-high 10 wins (10-8) and a 1.74 ERA ... Vrabel has 132 strikeouts to pace BG in that category, and has allowed opponents to hit just .188 against her ... head coach Leigh Ross has 13 letterwinners, including a total of seven positional starters, back from last year's team that went 29-30 and finished with a Mid-American Conference mark of 12-10.
BGSU PICKED TO WIN EAST DIVISION
Bowling Green was picked to win the MAC's East Division in 2006 ... the poll is a result of voting by the league's 12 head coaches ... Central Michigan was the coaches' choice to win the West Division and the MAC Tournament ... with the departure of Marshall from the conference, the Falcons were moved from the West to the East Division prior to the 2005-06 academic year.
NOTING THE OPPONENTS
Michigan State has a record of 27-11 on the season, and the Spartans are off to a 6-0 start in Big Ten Conference play ... MSU has won five consecutive games, including four shutouts ... over the weekend, the Spartans swept a two-game series against both Purdue and Indiana ... sophomore Nikki Nicosia leads the team with a .344 batting average, while her twin sister, Traci, is batting .316 ... soph Lesley Noel has a team-low ERA of 0.85 and an 8-3 mark ... freshman Megan Hair is 6-3 with a 1.80 ERA, while junior Rachel Turney has a team-high 12 wins (12-5) and a 1.86 ERA ...the Spartans have already topped last year's overall win total, having gone 25-28-1 overall and 7-9 in the Big Ten in 2005 ... head coach Jacquie Joseph, as mentioned, is in her 13th season in East Lansing ... web: msuspartans.com.
Ball State enters the week with an overall record of 9-16, and the Cardinals are 3-5 in MAC play to date ... the Cards split a pair of games at Northern Illinois over the weekend, before falling victim to two late-game comebacks by Western Michigan ... BSU plays a Tuesday game at Notre Dame before hosting the Falcons Friday ... the Cards, 3-3 at home to date, are led both at the plate and in the circle by Amanda Pick ... the sophomore is hitting a team-high .347, and has a 4-4 record and a 1.81 ERA ... last year, the Cardinals were 19-37 and 6-16 in league action ... head coach Terri Laux is in her 10th season in Muncie ... web: www.ballstatesports.com.
Miami currently has an overall record of 14-26, and the RedHawks are 1-7 in the MAC ... MU will host Toledo for a doubleheader on Friday, looking to snap a seven-game losing streak ... last weekend, the RedHawks dropped two games each to WMU and NIU on the road ... sophomore Halle Popson paces the team with a .414 batting average and six homeruns, as the 'Hawks are hitting .286 as a team ... MU has a team ERA of 5.74, however ... freshman Kelly Cabana has pitched every inning of all eight MAC games ... overall, she is 4-15 with a 6.48 ERA ... last year, Miami went 34-26, finished 13-8 in MAC regular-season action and won the MAC Tournament ... head coach Angie Jacobs is in her eighth year with the RedHawks ... web: www.muredhawks.com.
THE SERIES
BGSU leads Michigan State, 10-5, in the all-time series between the teams, and the teams' Tuesday meeting will be the first in a decade ... MSU captured a 6-2 decision at a tournament in Sacramento, Calif., in 1996 ... BGSU has a 4-3 advantage in games in East Lansing, and the teams split the last two meetings there, nearly 15 years ago (April 24, 1991) ... MSU coach Jacquie Joseph was the Falcons' head coach at that time.
BGSU leads Ball State, 40-27, in that series, and the Falcons have won nine consecutive games vs. the Cardinals ... last season, BG swept a doubleheader in Muncie with a pair of shutout wins, 2-0 and 4-0 (April 9, 2005) ... the Falcons are 19-17 in road games vs. BSU, and BG has won six-straight road contests in Muncie since the teams split a 2002 twinbill (April 24, 2002).
The Falcons hold a 45-34 lead over Miami in that series, but the RedHawks won all five of last year's meetings, including two in the MAC Tournament ... BG trails the Redskins/RedHawks, 21-9, in games played in Oxford, and Miami took the first two games in a three-game series the last time they hosted the Falcons, four years ago (April 13 and 15, 2002).
