Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Face Oakland to Begin Six-Game Homestand
April 17, 2006 | Softball
April 17, 2006
BGSU Softball Notes, Statistics & Records in PDF Format
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BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University softball team, leading the Mid-American Conference's East Division with just over half of the conference schedule in the books, returns home for six games this week ... the Falcons of eighth-year head coach Leigh Ross (26-16, 9-3 MAC) will step outside of league play for a Tuesday (April 18) doubleheader vs. Oakland University ... first pitch of the first game is set for 3:00 p.m. at the BGSU Softball Field ... then, a pair of Michigan foes come to town this weekend ... the Brown and Orange will play a Friday (April 21) twinbill vs. Central Michigan University, beginning at 1:00 p.m., and BG will host Eastern Michigan in a pair of single games on Saturday and Sunday (April 22-23) ... Saturday's game begins at 2:00 p.m., while Sunday's first pitch is at 1:00 p.m. ... following this week's action, the Falcons will have just two more home dates this season.
FALCONS SWEEP LEAGUE WEEKLY HONORS
A pair of Falcons, junior Ashley Zirkle and senior Liz Vrabel, have swept the MAC weekly honors, the league office announced Monday (April 17) ... Zirkle was named the MAC Player of the Week for the East Division, while Vrabel is the league's Pitcher of the Week ... Vrabel earned the honor for the third time this season and the ninth time in her storied career, while Zirkle picks up the first weekly award of her BGSU tenure ... Zirkle hit .467 last week, including a team-high .583 in the Falcons' four MAC games ... Vrabel had a 3-0 record and a perfect 0.00 ERA in 17 1/3 innings, appearing in all four league contests.
FALCONS TIED FOR FIRST
Just past the halfway point of the MAC schedule, the Falcons are alone in first place in the league's East Division ... BGSU sports a 9-3 record, with Akron (8-4) and Kent State (7-4) close behind ... after a 2-1, non-conference loss at Michigan State in which both MSU runs were unearned, the Falcons headed to Ball State and posted a pair of shutout wins on Friday (April 14), 4-0 and 7-0 ... BGSU then split a two-game series at Miami, falling by a 3-2 count before exploding for a 10-0 win.
LEADING OFF
GAMETRACKER / RADIO
It'll be another multi-media frenzy at the BGSU Softball Field this week ... all six of this week's home games are scheduled to have live statistics on the web via GameTracker ... in fact, if all goes well, 14 of the remaining 16 regular-season games will have live stats ... GameTracker can be accessed, live and free of charge, right here at BGSUFalcons.com ... additionally, four of this week's six games can be heard on the campus student station, WBGU-FM (88.1) ... the first game of the Oakland and Central Michigan doubleheaders, along with both contests vs. Eastern Michigan this weekend, are slated for broadcast.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
The Falcons enter the week with a record of 26-16 on the season ... BGSU has a MAC record of 9-3, good for first place in the league's East Division ... the Falcons went 3-1 on the road last weekend, sweeping Ball State and splitting with Miami ... BG participated in four tournaments this spring, winning two of them -- the USF Speedline Invitational in Tampa (March 17-19) and the Panera Bread Challenge in Chattanooga, Tenn. (Feb. 24-26), going a perfect 6-0 in the latter ... 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 .269 as a team, while allowing opponents to hit just .202 ... senior Gina Rango, the 2005 MAC Player of the Year, is hitting .391 this season to date ... Rango has a slugging percentage of .624, and has six homeruns and 24 runs batted in ... she leads the Falcons in eight offensive categories ... freshman Desiree Miller is batting .316 with three homers and 20 RBI, while classmate Hayley Wiemer has a .310 average ... sophomore Allison Vallas and senior Abby Habicht are hitting .293 and .288, respectively ... Wiemer leads the Falcons with 17 walks, while Habicht has 15 and Vallas 14 ... junior Jeanine Baca is hitting .276 and leads the team with 24 runs scored and 10 stolen bases ... in the circle, sophomore Emily Gouge has a team-low 1.18 earned-run average and a record of 6-0, while Wiemer is 7-8 with a 1.34 ERA and a team-high three saves ... senior Liz Vrabel, the reigning MAC Pitcher of the Year, has a BG-high 13 wins (13-8) and a 1.51 ERA ... Vrabel has 144 strikeouts to pace BG in that category, and has allowed opponents to hit just .180 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 ... Friday's opponent, 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
Oakland has a record of 14-19 on the season, and the Golden Grizzlies are off to a 5-7 start in Mid-Continent Conference play ... OU split a four-game conference series at Centenary over the weekend, after sweeping a midweek doubleheader at Detroit ... the Grizzlies are 9-11 on the road this year to date ... freshman Julie Owen is hitting .324, while senior Stephanie Zellner is batting .319 ... senior captain Camie Knorr has a .284 average and team-high totals of five homers and 20 runs scored ... in the circle, senior Laura Chomokos is 9-10 with a 1.90 ERA and 114 strikeouts ... the Grizzlies have already topped last year's overall win total, having gone 12-41 overall and 6-15 in the Mid-Con in 2005 ... Glenn MacDonald is in his first season as head coach after four years as an assistant with the Grizzlies ... web: ougrizzlies.com.
Central Michigan is 13-19 overall, entering a Tuesday (April 18) doubleheader at Michigan, and the Chippewas are 4-4 in MAC action ... CMU played just twice last week, with a pair of one-run wins over visiting Eastern Michigan ... Central is 0-5 on the road, and 0-2 in road MAC games to date ... individually, sophomore Amy Hudson leads the team with a .385 batting average and 21 runs scored ... senior Brittany Decker is hitting .287 and sophomore Suzie Giroux .286 this season to date ... in the circle, senior Jessica Garvin is 5-4 with a 3.11 ERA, while junior Jill DeRoche has a 5-7 record and an ERA of 3.71 ... last year, the Chippewas finished 29-16 overall and won the MAC's West Division with a 16-6 league ledger ... head coach Margo Jonker is in her 27th season in Mount Pleasant ... web: cmuchippewas.com.
Eastern Michigan currently has an overall record of 18-21, and the Eagles are 6-4 in MAC action ... EMU will play a Friday (April 21) twinbill at Toledo prior to heading to BGSU ... Eastern saw a three-game win streak come to an end with the two one-run losses at Central Michigan, 2-1 and 3-2 ... individually, junior Lauren Clark is batting a team-high 328 with nine homers and 22 RBI, while classmate Lindsay Schmid is hitting .324 ... Aimee Woodrum has a 5-5 record and a team-low 2.48 ERA, while Nikki Denman, primarily used in relief, is 7-6 with four saves and a 2.56 ERA ... a year ago, the Eagles went 17-24 overall and finished 11-13 in the MAC ... head coach Karen Baird is in her fourth season in Ypsilanti ... web: www.emueagles.com.
THE SERIES
BGSU leads Oakland, 7-2-1, in the all-time series between the teams, and the Falcons have captured each of the last five meetings ... a year ago, the Brown and Orange swept a twinbill in Rochester, 8-1 and 3-2 (April 11, 2005) ... BGSU is 3-0-1 all-time in home games vs. the Grizzlies, including a DH sweep in the teams' last meetings in Ohio ... the Falcons won by scores of 2-0 and 10-2 on April 12, 2004, with Lindsay Heimrich throwing a no-hitter in the opener.
Central Michigan holds a commanding 59-14 lead over the Falcons in that series, and the Chippewas took two of last season's three meetings in Mount Pleasant ... BGSU won the final game of that series, 4-2 (May 8, 2005) ... Central holds a 24-6 lead in games played in BG, and the Chippewas took two of three games the last time they ventured to the BGSU Softball Field (May 8-9, 2004) ... BGSU won the middle game of that series to snap a 30-game losing streak to Central that dated to the 1994 season ... since that 30-game slide, the Falcons are 3-3 in the series.
The Falcons lead Eastern Michigan, 42-30, in that series, and BG went 3-1 in the four meetings last season ... BG downed Eastern in two of three regular-season games at the BGSU Softball Field (April 16-17, 2005), before capturing a narrow, 2-1 decision in the MAC Tournament (May 12, 2005) ... the Falcons have a 25-9 advantage in home games vs. the Hurons/Eagles, and last year's EMU win broke a 13-game BG home winning streak in the series, dating to 1994.
TOP OF THE CHARTS
The Falcons lead the MAC in both hitting and pitching in conference games ... entering this week's action, BGSU has a team batting average of .318 in league play, and a team earned-run average of 1.51 ... overall, the Falcons are hitting .269, good for second in the conference behind Miami (.280), and BGSU's overall team ERA of 1.45 leads the league by over half a run ... Western Michigan is second with an ERA of 1.96.
