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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcon Baseball Preview
February 19, 2007 | Baseball
Feb. 19, 2007
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - After a Jekyll and Hyde '06 season that consisted of many ups and downs, the Bowling Green State University Baseball team will lean on their eight seniors to establish consistency this season.
"We had some very good streaks, but we also had a number of poor ones too," said Head Coach Danny Schmitz. "The biggest key to this year is our senior class, led by the tri-captains."
Senior captains Eric Lawson, Tyler Johnson and Josh Dietz bring a lot of game experience to the table, combining for 288 games played during their Falcon careers. Lawson leads the troops once again after being anointed a captain for the second consecutive season.
Schmitz begins his 17th season at the helm for the Falcons with a career record of 435-389-4. Pitching coach and recruiting coordinator, Tod Brown, remains Schmitz's right-hand man as he enters his eighth season at BGSU while assistant coach Dave Whitmire returns for his sixth season to mentor the outfield and handle first-base coaching duties. Former major-leaguer Chris Hoiles is back to reassume his role of volunteer assistant coach that he held from 2002-04.
Johnson is expected to sit atop the pitching rotation, serving as the Falcons ace in the spring. Before suffering an injury in 2005, the Tipp City, Ohio native tormented the Mid-American Conference by posting a league-low 2.49 ERA with three times as many strikeouts as walks his sophomore season.
"He (Johnson) is the guy that is going to anchor our staff," said Coach Brown. "We are looking forward to seeing him after he's come back from surgery a couple years ago. We are expecting some big things out of Tyler."
If his performance during the summer is any indication, Johnson looks to be fully recovered. "TJ" was named to the NBC World Series All-American Team after leading the Hays Larks to the Jay Hawk Collegiate League Championship.
A cluster of seven to eight Falcon hurlers will compete for time in the starting rotation. Juniors Brett Browning, Nick Cantrell and Dan Horvath each logged 20 innings or more last season. A quartet of sophomores in Marty Baird, Brian Hangbers, Dusty Hawk and Kevin Leady are also in the mix for slots in the starting rotation. Senior Adam Gumpf rounds off the competition.
Browning looks to make the transition from reliever to full-time starter as he was nearly automatic out of the bullpen last season, refusing to allow a run scored in his first 18 relief appearances, finishing with a 1.87 ERA in 20 relief showings. Cantrell paced the Falcons with 27 appearances, including a win in his lone start. His six wins were also tops on the team. Horvath captured the "W" in his only start of '06 as well.
"All three of those guys have the experience that we are looking for," said Brown. "Look for them to get some innings, either as starters or relievers."
Hangbers and Baird are two more strong candidates to log some time in the rotation as they both occupied spots in the rotation at season's end a year ago. Even if they are not pitching, there is a chance that Hangbers, Baird and Leady will still be in the lineup as they are all "dual" players that pitch and play the field. Hawk's most impressive performance as a freshman was a scoreless three-inning start in Bowling Green's win over nationally-ranked Notre Dame which snapped the Irish's 23-game winning streak.
"Baird and Hangbers were in the rotation a lot for us as freshmen and Hawk was a mid-week starter," said Brown. "And with Leady becoming one of our best pitchers during the off-season, these are guys that we really feel are going to anchor our pitching staff."
Bullpen depth will not be a problem for the Falcons this season. In addition to the pitchers above that do not win starting spots, Bowling Green will also have Senior Greg Mentrek, Junior Kurt Wells, redshirt Sophomore Chad Albright and six freshman pitchers available for use out of the pen. Wells has the inside track for the closer position. Don't be surprised to see the Perrysburg, Ohio native make the sprint from center field, where he made 48 starts last season, to the mound in an effort to cap off a Falcon victory.
"It's going to be a battle, these guys are competing with each other to earn some innings," said Brown. "Hopefully, the competition brings out the best in them."
First base will be another crowded position for the Falcons in '07. Dietz is expected to handle much of the first base duties after hitting .325 with 20 RBI in just 25 games due to injury that cut his season short last season. Power production should not take a drop when six-foot-four, 225-pound Sophomore Brandon McFarland steps into the lineup. McFarland will also serve some time as the Falcon designated hitter. The versatile duo of sophomores, Baird and Hangbers, are also going to challenge Dietz for time at first. Sophomore Bryan Simon is the final contender for the first base position.
"First base is a position we expect to see some power production from," said Schmitz. "Dietz, one of our tri-captains, played well over the summer and needs to lead our group of first basemen."
Second base will be manned by 2006 All-Mideast Region first team and All-MAC second team member, Eric Lawson. Bowling Green's leadoff hitter led the Falcons in batting average (.355), doubles (14), homeruns (5), slugging (.511), on base percentage (.469) and walks (32) last season. He will be backed by Freshman Logan Meisler out of Port Clinton, Ohio.
"Eric has been getting some preseason recognition for conference player of the year," said Schmitz. "In the middle of the diamond, we feel like we have a couple of veterans there."
Sophomore Ryan Shay may be young in regards to eligibility, but he garnered a load of experience last season by playing in 49 games, including 38 starts at shortstop. Freshman Derek Spencer is another candidate to accompany the middle of the diamond for the Brown and Orange this season.
In addition to replacing 2006 graduating senior Tyler Wasserman's .345 batting average and 24 RBI, the Falcons must also sustain the excellent defensive play that Wasserman provided. The hot corner is a wide open battle with Baird and Sophomore Chris Gacom as the leading candidates. Freshman Robbie Moffett will get some looks at third base as well. "One of the biggest holes that we need to fill from last year is at third base," said Schmitz. "Tyler was the best defensive third baseman in the conference over the past couple of seasons. These young guys are capable of stepping it up and filling those big shoes vacaated at third base."
Roaming the outfield for the Brown and Orange will be a group of veterans with Seniors Jeff Telmanik and Kurt Wells playing in left and center field, respectively, along with Junior Andrew Foster staking claim in right field. Telmanik joined the Falcons last season after two seasons as a first team JUCO All-Region player at Owens Community College and contributed a .272 batting average in 34 games played. Wells was voted Most Improved Player a year ago by swinging at a .326 pace with 29 RBI. As mentioned before, Wells is also expected to toe the rubber in the late innings. Foster, a Bowling Green, Ohio native, comes off a season in which he drove in the second most runs on the team.
"Having a group of veteran, experienced guys there in the outfield will be big defensively, and they all can swing the bat," said Schmitz.
Sophomore Kevin Leady will also see some significant action in the outfield due to his ability to play all three outfield positions. As a freshman, Leady made several highlight reel worthy snags covering the outfield. Sophomore Julian Bostelman and Freshman Mark Galvin will pressure Foster for time in right while Freshman Denny Vaughn is expected to get some looks in left field.
Bowling Green has plenty of options to choose from at the catcher position. Senior Mike Barnard is an excellent defensive catcher and made 29 starts behind the dish last season. Sophomores Travis Owens and Greg Feldkamp got their feet wet as freshman and will battle for their time at catcher. Freshman David Borcherdt, out of Archbold High School, is a highly-touted newcomer that will also compete for innings as the Falcon backstop.
"This is a fine group of catchers," said Schmitz. "We feel confident that catching will be a strong position for us defensively."
"The big key for us is the leadership of our seniors, in particular, the tri-captains," said Schmitz. "We have some a number of juniors that have played a lot, now they need to step it up and play a major part. Our sophomores need to use the experience they got last year as freshman and put it to good use this year."
