Bowling Green State University Athletics
Baseball Hosts Kent State in Pivotal MAC East Division Series
April 17, 2008 | Baseball
April 17, 2008
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - After downing arch-rival Toledo on Wednesday afternoon to wrap-up its' fifth win in the last six games, the Bowling Green State University baseball team will return home this weekend to do battle with Mid-American Conference East Division rival Kent State in a three-game weekend series at Warren E. Steller Field. Game one will start at 3 p.m. on Friday with game two on Saturday and game three on Sunday both slated for a 1 p.m. first pitch time. Live statistics for all three match-ups will be available at www.bgsufalcons.com, via gametracker, which can be found on the team's schedule page.
Complete Release in PDF Format
THE OPPONENT
Kent State comes to Steller Field as winners of its' last eight games and 10 of its' last 12 as they are 18-15 overall and 4-5 in the MAC ... On Wednesday, the Golden Flashes posted a 16-15 non-conference win over arch-rival Akron at Akron's Canal Park, home of the Akron Aeros ... on Tuesday then, they posted an 8-4 win at Cleveland State, following a weekend MAC sweep at home over Toledo ... KSU is hitting .304 as a group and has a team ERA of 5.77 ... Junior infielder Chris Tremblay has paced the Flashes at the plate with a team-best .353 average, while junior infielder Greg Rohan has a team-high 30 RBI and is tied with freshman outfielder Ben Klafczynski for the team lead in homers with seven ... on the mound the Flashes are led by weekend starters Brad Stillings (1-5, 5.58 ERA, 30 K), Chris Carpenter (2-2, 5.22 ERA, 45 K) and Kyle Smith (5-1, 6.00 ERA, 35), while in the bullpen Reid Lamport has a 1.15 ERA in 15.2 innings of work with three saves ... Jon Pokorny has a team-high 15 appearances out of the pen with a 3.38 ERA and four saves....in the field, KSU has committed 54 errors for a team fielding percentage of .957 ... KSU is coached by fourth-year head coach Scott Stricklin, who owns a career record of 104-65.
THE ALL-TIME SERIES AGAINST KSU
Friday's match-up with Kent State will mark the 157th all-time meeting between the Falcons and Golden Flashes ... KSU leads the all-time series 97-59-0 and have won six-straight games against the Falcons going back to 2004 ... BG last beat the Flashes at Steller Field in 2001 as KSU has won three-straight in the series at Steller Field ... last season, the two squads met in a three-game series at KSU's Schoonover Stadium where the Flashes earned a three-game sweep, winning 8-4 in game one, 3-2 in game two and 8-3 in the series finale ... Derek Spencer was 4-for-8 in the series for the Falcons, recording three doubles and an RBI ... Marty Baird led BG though hitting .700 in the three games going 7-for-10 with a double, two triples and three RBI.
FALCON QUICK HITS
• When you mix in the 16 runs the Falcons scored in Tuesday's 16-8 win over Tiffin and the 15 they scored against Toledo, you'd see that the Falcons have scored 82 runs in the last six games and collected 95 total hits with 22 of those being home runs. BG collected eight runs in an 8-2 win at Xavier last Wednesday then followed that up with back-to-back 18-run performances in wins at Ball State, before being held to just seven runs in the series finale. The last time BG scored as many runs in a six-game stretch came back in 2002 when they scored 91 runs in a six-game stretch against Akron, Miami and Ball State. Below is a breakdown of some of the offensive numbers the Falcons have put up in that six-game stretch.
Team AVG: .377
AB: 252
R: 82
H: 95
2B: 18
3B: 3
HR: 22
RBI: 72
TB: 185
Team Slg%: .734
Team OB%: .440
• During this six-game stretch that has been filled with big offensive displays, opposing pitching staffs have owned a 1-5 record and 10.87 ERA as the Falcons hit .377 against them.
• With their 6-3 Mid-American Conference record, BGSU is off to its' best conference start since the 2001 season when it started 6-3 in its' first nine conference games.
• Thanks to a 10-for-19 week at the plate this past week, junior first baseman Brian Hangbers was named the Mid-American Conference East Division Player of the Week as he helped BG to a 3-2 record for the week. A native of Hamilton, Ohio, Hangbers hit .529 this past week, recording 10 hits, three homers and 11 RBI as he helped the Falcons to a mid-week win at Xavier and a series win at Ball State over the weekend. The left-handed infielder and pitcher went 10-for-19 at the plate for the week and had a slugging percentage of 1.000, while he also recorded 44 putouts in the field. On the year, Hangbers has a team-best .400 average as he leads BG with six homers and is second on the team with 24 RBI. With his Player of the Week honors, he became the first Falcon to earn the honors since sophomore Derek Spencer earned the honor for the week of May 20th last season.
• Former Falcon-star Burke Badenhop was called up to the Florida Marlins last Monday, as the former Perrysburg High School standout made his major league debut last Wednesday and then made his first start for the Marlins on Sunday in Houston. The right-hander tossed a scoreless ninth inning for the Marlins in a 10-4 win at Washington in his debut as he retired all three batters he faced with two coming on strikeouts. In his first MLB start then at Houston, he tossed five innings, allowing just four runs on seven hits as he recorded three strikeouts. Badenhop was Double-A Carolina's Opening Day starter, and he worked 6 1/3 innings, allowing one unearned run on six hits. He struck out three and didn't walk a batter. For Badenhop, this will be his first opportunity at the big league level. A former All-Academic performer at Bowling Green, he was a 19th-round draft pick in 2005. The Marlins acquired Badenhop from the Tigers in December in the deal that sent Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis to Detroit.
• With two wins this weekend, the Falcons will surpass last season's MAC win total of seven as they are also just five wins shy of last season's overall win total.
• BG is 5-3 against the state of Ohio this year with wins over Cincinnati, Findlay, Tiffin, Toledo and Xavier.
• With his two-hit effort off the bench Tuesday against Tiffin and his two hits at UT on Wednesday, junior Ryan Shay now has recorded 18 multiple-hit efforts on the year. That total is already three multiple-hit efforts better than last season's multiple-hit leader, Kurt Wells, who had 15.
• Ryan Shay has now recorded a hit in 27 of the Falcons' 30 games this season.
• Over the course of the last 12 games, sophomore Derek Spencer and junior Brian Hangbers have combined for 41 total RBI as Spencer had 22 RBI and Hangbers had 19. Spencer had a .477 average (21-for-44) in those games, while Hangbers hit .442 (19-for-43).
• Senior outfielder Andrew Foster has 15 hits in the last six games with nine RBI, including a four-hit effort on Tuesday against Tiffin. The Bowling Green native is currently riding a career-long 12-game hitting-streak as he has helped the Falcons to a 5-1 record during that time.
• In 17 wins this season, the Falcons have hit .486 (72-for-148) in leadoff situations.
• In eight mid-week games (doesn't include Florida trip), the Falcons own a 5-3 record as they've hit .358 as a unit and out-scored their opponents 85-68 in those games.
• Over the course of the last 23 games, opposing starting pitchers own a 5-13 record and an 8.05 ERA against the Falcons as the Falcons have hit .342 against them and scored 123 total runs, while collecting 161 hits.
• BG has hit .332 as a team the past 23 games as they've collected 89 extra-base hits, 32 homers and 175 total RBI during that stretch.
• BG is 9-3 this season when hitting a home run and 8-10 when they don't hit a long ball. On the flip side, they are 10-7 when holding the opposition without a homer and 7-6 when they allow their opponent to go yard.
• Since 2001, the Falcons are 146-4 when leading a game after the eighth inning, including a 16-0 mark this season.
• BG has hit .341 as team this season with runners in scoring position as they have seven batters with 10 or more hits in those situations. Leading the way is Derek Spencer, who has 18 hits with runners on second and third. Mark Galvin then has 14 hits with runners in position, while T. J. Blanton has 13.
• Derek Spencer has collected 15 two-out RBI this season. That total alone would place him tied for seventh on the team in RBI.
• BG has hit .362 as a team this season in the ninth inning and .344 in the eighth.
• In pinch hitting situations this season, BG is 15-for-33 (.455). Pacing the pinch hitters is Marty Baird, who is a perfect 3-for-3 on the year when pinch hitting. David Borcherdt then is 3-for-5 (.600), while Dennis Vaughn is 2-for-4 (.500).
• The Falcons have hit .326 this season in non-conference play, but their opponents have been just as effective hitting .316. Ryan Shay has a team-best .460 clip in non-conference tilts, while Derek Spencer leads the Falcons in non-conference RBI with 25.
• The Falcons are 11-10 this season in non-conference action as they are 2-2 at home, 7-4 on the road and 2-4 at neutral sites.
BOMBS OVER MUNCIE
BGSU hit 13 homers in its' April 11th weekend series win at Ball State, including a school-record eight homers in their 18-12 game one win. Recording three of those homers was sophomore Derek Spencer, who finished one homer shy of Andy Tracy's school-record of four homers in one game, which he did back in 1995. Adding two homers then was Brian Hangbers, while Marty Baird, Andrew Foster and Mark Galvin added the others. BG's previous school-record for homers in a game, before Friday was seven, which they accomplished on three occasions with the last coming back on April 19th of 2002 against Marshall.
WHY TURN ONE? TURN TWO!
Entering Friday's contest with Kent State, the Falcon defense has combined to turn 26 double plays on the year in their 30 games. However, that total was due in large part to this past three weeks where the Falcon defense averaged 1.18 double plays per contest, turning 19 in their 16 games. Twelve of those 19 double plays were credited to shortstop Ryan Shay, while second baseman Logan Meisler was also apart of 12 with first baseman Brian Hangbers getting credited for 18. In last Wednesday's win at Xavier, the Falcons turned a season-high three double punch-outs.
NO ERRORS = WINS
The Falcons have had trouble fielding the ball at times this season as they've had 10 games this season with three or more errors, including four games with four or more. In those 10 games, the Falcons owned a 4-6 record as in most cases, their errors came back to bite them. However, when not committing an error this season, BG is 6-1 as they've had seven total games where they went perfect in the field. In games then where they've committed one or two errors, the Falcons are 7-6. Overall, the Falcons are 11-12 on the year when committing an error in a game.
RBI MACHINE
Sophomore Derek Spencer has been an RBI machine for the Falcons this season, platting 38 Falcon runners in the first 30 games of the year. The Oregon, Ohio native averages 1.26 RBI per game as he has already upped his career-best total by 14. Last season as a freshman, Spencer drove in 24 runs in 21 games as he had a team-best .405 average. With his 38 RBI, Spencer now stands just 15 RBI shy of entering the Falcons' top-10 list for RBI in a single-season. Former Falcon-great, Kelly Hunt, holds the all-time single-season mark for RBI with 84, which he did back in 2002. If Spencer were to continue his current 1.26 RBI per game average, he would threaten the top-5 which starts at 57 RBI.
SACRIFICES LEAD TO RUNS
In their first 30 games on the season, the Falcons have recorded 30 sacrifice hits to move runners into scoring position at second or third base. Of those 30 sacrifices, 70 percent of them have resulted in the moved runner or runners coming home to score as 21 of the 30 sacrifices resulted in the moved runners scoring. Leading the way in sacrifice hits is sophomore Derek Spencer, who has sacrificed himself six times to move runners with a bunt.
LATE INNING POWER
Though the Falcons haven't always had to worry about batting in the ninth inning, they wouldn't have minded if it were necessary every game. When batting the ninth inning this season, BG owns a team batting average of .362 as they are 34-of-94 at the plate in the game's last inning and have platted 27 runs. Sophomore outfielder T. J. Blanton, sophomore catcher David Borcherdt and sophomore infielder Derek Spencer lead the Falcons with four ninth inning hits. Blanton is 4-for-12 at the plate in the ninth and has driven in three runs, while Borcherdt is 4-for-5 and has driven in two runs and Spencer is 4-for-8 and accounted for five runs driven in.
SHAY IS HIS NAME AND HITTING IS HIS GAME
Few players in the MAC have been as hot at the plate as Bowling Green's Ryan Shay in the first 30 games of the season. Shay, who comes into the weekend hitting .388, has 50 hits on the season in 129 at bats as he is already just one hit shy of his hit total from last season. The Garden City, Mich. native has hit safely in 27 of BG's 30 games this season and has 18 multiple-hit efforts, including four games with three or more hits. Shay also led the MAC coming into the week in hits per game as he averages 1.66 base knocks per contest.
CANTRELL CLOSING IN ON FALCON RECORD BOOKS
With his 75th appearance on Wednesday, Falcon senior right-hander Nick Cantrell, who is currently fourth on the all-time BGSU career appearances list, moved to within three appearances of Derek Common (1989-92) for third place on the list with 78 appearances. The Waldo, Ohio native stood tied for ninth entering the season and now is just 17 appearances behind all-time Falcon appearance leader, Neil Schmitz (2001-04) who saw the Falcon hill 91 total times in his four-year career.
BIG HITTING CLASS
A big reason why the Falcons have hit a MAC-best .311 this season is due in large part to their sophomore class and its' seven hitters. The seven sophomores: Frank Berry, T. J. Blanton, David Borcherdt, Mark Galvin, Logan Meisler, Derek Spencer and Dennis Vaughn, have combined for an average of .325 (172-for-528), along with combining for 116 total RBI and 56 total extra-base hits. Spencer leads the group with his .388 average and team-best 38 RBI.
BAIRD CLEARS THE BASES
Falcon junior Marty Baird had a moment to remember on Mar. 13 in the Falcons' 9-3 win at Cincinnati. With the bases loaded full of Falcons in the second inning, the Findlay, Ohio native hit his first career grand slam over the wall in left to give BG a commanding 8-1 lead. It marked the first time the Falcons have recorded a four-RBI homer since Kurt Wells did so last season on Feb. 25th in the Falcons' 8-6 win at Middle Tennessee State.
THE WIN STREAK THAT REACHED FIVE
With their game one victory at Murray State, the Falcons accomplished something already in 2008 that they hadn't done in 2007 - win five-straight games. They just recently re-accomplished that feat this past weekend with a series sweep over Northern Illinois to give them 10 wins in their last 11 tilts. BG last won five-straight games during the 2006 season during late March and early April (Mar. 29-Apr. 8) when they won seven-straight contests. Last season, the Falcons longest win streak was four games (Feb. 24 - Mar. 4) as they also won three-straight on two separate occasions. Under head coach Danny Schmitz, BG's longest win streak is 11 games, which they accomplished during the 1999 season when they won 11-straight from May 8th to May 21st.
For more information and statistics, see the complete releeae at the top of the page.
