Bowling Green State University Athletics
Baseball Heads To Miami For Yet Another Key MAC East Weekend
April 24, 2008 | Baseball
April 24, 2008
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Just twelve Mid-American Conference games remain for the Bowling Green State University baseball team as the conference tournament in Chillicothe looms less than a month away. The Falcons, who currently sit third in the MAC East Division at 6-6, sit just one game behind East Division leader Kent State as they get ready to enter yet another pivotal MAC East weekend series against the Miami RedHawks. MU currently sits at the bottom of the East Division with a 4-11 conference mark, but are just three and a half games behind the Falcons for third-place. This season, the top-four teams in each division will qualify for the tournament as the Falcons are currently a half game ahead of fourth-place Akron for the final qualifying spot in the their division. However, only three games sit between the fourth-place Zips and fifth-place Buffalo as one weekend can change everything. With that said, BG will look to only solidfy their standing in the tournament and keep themselves from getting into a dog-fight for the final qualifying spot when they face-off with the RedHawks in game one of their three-game weekend set on Friday at 6 p.m. from MU's Stanley G. McKie Field. Game two will feature a 6 p.m. first pitch time on Saturday with game three tossing the first pitch at 1 p.m.
Complete Release in PDF Format
COVERAGE
Radio: MSNi (www.MURedHawks.com)
Live Statistics: Gametracker (www.bgsufalcons.com)
THE OPPONENT
Miami comes into this weekend's series with the Falcons having gone 5-5 in their last 10 games ... they sit at 13-26 overall with a 4-11 record in MAC play ... MU is 5-8 at home, 5-13 on the road and 3-5 in neutral site contests ... They are hitting .269 as a team and have a team ERA of 5.36 ... Leading the way at the plate is junior left fielder Chris Nadeau, who is hitting .340 on the year with a team-high 51 hits as he has collected six doubles, three homer and 23 RBI ... Shortstop Jordna Petraitis leads the RedHawks with six homers and has a team-best 32 RBI ... on the mound, MU has been led by Friday starter, left-hander Matt Erwood, who ranks seventh in the MAC with a .359 ERA and is fourth in innings pitched per game, averaging 6.41 innings per outing, while also leading the RedHawk staff with 46 strikeouts ... in the field, MU ranks fifth in the MAC with a .960 fielding percentage as they've turned 27 double plays ... Miami is coached by third-year head coach Dan Simonds, who has a career record of 78-75.
THE SERIES WITH THE REDHAWKS
This weekend's meetings between the Falcons and RedHawks will be the 134th, 135th and 136th all-time meetings between the two programs in a series that first started in 1953 ... BG trails the all-time series 54-79-0 as the RedHawks have won eight-straight in the series going back to 2004 and five-straight over BG at McKie Field ... BG last won a season series from the RedHawks in 2004 when they took 2-of-3 games from the RedHawks at Warren E. Steller Field ... last season the two teams met at McKie Field with MU sweeping a three-game weekend set, winning 12-2, 5-3 and 2-1 ... BG last won in the series back on May 6th, 2005.
FALCON QUICK HITS
• In their two mid-week victories over Albion and Oakland, the Falcons hit. 410, out-scoring their opponents 35-7 and out-hitting them 34-17. BG recorded seven doubles in the two games, two triples, four homers and 31 total RBI as their pitching staff had a 2.00 ERA compared to their opponents' staffs who had a combined ERA of 14.62.
• The 21 runs scored by the Falcons in Tuesday's win over Albion were the most runs they've scored in a game since 2003 when they scored 23 runs against the Pennsylvania Quakers. It was the 11th time BG has hit the 20-run plateau in the last 10 seasons and the 12th time this season that they've scored double-digit runs.
• In Tuesday's 21-1 win over Albion, the Falcons received a combined 5-for-6 effort from their two five-hole hitters (Logan Meisler and Chris Gacom) who also combined for 11 of the Falcons' season-high 19 RBI in the game. Meisler, who started the game in the five-spot went 3-for-3 with three runs scored and five RBI. He finished just a double short of hitting for the cycle and he had a two-run homer in the first inning and a three-RBI triple in the third. Pinch hitting for Meisler then in the fifth was Gacom, who came in and went 2-for-3 with two homers and a game and career high six RBI. Included in the effort was a sixth inning grand slam. The two are part of a Falcon five-slot that has hit a combined .355 (53-for-149) on the season. In comparison, the three-hole spot has hit .321, while the clean-up spot has hit .349 and the leadoff spot has hit .371.
• With his two-hit effort off the bench Tuesday against Albion and his two hits on Wednesday against Oakland, junior Ryan Shay now has recorded 20 multiple-hit efforts on the year. That total is already fivemultiple-hit efforts better than last season's multiple-hit leader, Kurt Wells, who had 15.
• Ryan Shay has now recorded a hit in 31 of the Falcons' 35 games this season and in 31 of the 34 games he has played in.
• The Falcons have hit .334 this season in non-conference play, but their opponents have been just as effective hitting .311. Ryan Shay has a team-best .458 clip in non-conference tilts, while Derek Spencer leads the Falcons in non-conference RBI with 25.
• In 19 wins this season, the Falcons have hit .494 (81-for-164) in leadoff situations.
• In 10 mid-week games (doesn't include Florida trip), the Falcons own a 7-3 record as they've hit .368 as a unit and out-scored their opponents 120-75 in those games.
• The Falcons are 13-10 this season in non-conference action as they are 4-2 at home, 7-4 on the road and 2-4 at neutral sites.
• With their 6-6 Mid-American Conference record, BGSU needs just one more win to tie their MAC win total from 2007.
• In 19 wins this season, senior outfielder Andrew Foster has hit .417 and driven in 13 runs. In the last 10 games, the Bowling Green native has a .435 average and a team-best 20 hits with four doubles, a triple, a homer and 12 RBI.
• Over the course of the last 28 games, opposing starting pitchers have owned a 8-14 record and a 6.94 ERA against the Falcons as the Falcons have hit .318 against them and scored 131 total runs, while collecting 181 hits.
• BG is 10-5 this season when hitting a home run and 9-11 when they don't hit a long ball. On the flip side, they are 12-7 when holding the opposition without a homer and 7-9 when they allow their opponent to go yard.
• Since 2001, the Falcons are 148-4 when leading a game after the eighth inning, including a 18-0 mark this season.
• BG has hit .344 as team this season with runners in scoring position as they have eight 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 15 hits with runners in position, while Andrew Foster has 14.
• 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 .337 as a team this season in the ninth inning and .345 in the eighth.
• In pinch hitting situations this season, BG is 19-for-44 (.432). Pacing the pinch hitters is Marty Baird, who is a perfect 4-for-4 on the year when pinch hitting. David Borcherdt then is 3-for-7 (.429).
• Despite being a right-handed pitcher, Nick Cantrell has held his left-handed opponents to just a .228 average in 57 at bats, while he has allowed his right-handed opponents to hit .313 against him in 112 at bats.
• Despite being a right-hand dominated lineup, BG has hit .314 against left-handed pitching, collecting 103 hits.
• Friday night starter Frank Berry leads the Falcon pitching staff with 62 ground-ball outs this season as team's have flown out against him just 27 times for 0.4 fly-out to ground-out ratio.
• Leading the way in fly ball outs for the Falcon pitching staff is Sunday starter Kevin Leady. Leady has a 1.2 fly-out to ground-out ratio as he has 37 fly ball outs and 30 ground-outs.
• BG has been out-scored by its' opponents, 35-17, in the game's first inning, but hasout-scored its' opponents, 186-152. in innings two through six.
TWO AT BATS, TWO HOMERS FOR GACOM
The Falcons' 21-1 win over Albion on Tuesday will go down as a very memorable game for BG's Chris Gacom. The junior infielder pinch hit for starting second baseman Logan Meisler in the fifth inning and slugged just his second and third career homers in back-to-back at bats on way to collecting a career-high six RBI. Gacom's first at bat in the fifth inning resulted in a two-run shot to left center for his first homer of the season, while his second at bat in the sixth emptied the bases as became the second Falcon this season to hit a grand slam, joining fellow junior, Marty Baird.
ANOTHER FIVE-SPOT IN THE BOOKS
In Wednesday's victory over Oakland University, the Falcons exploded for seven runs in the sixth inning, which helped them blow the game wide-open on way to a 14-6 win. That seven-run sixth was the 12th time this season that BG has scored five or more runs in an inning and the eighth time that they scored seven or more runs in one frame. Below is a list of the Falcons' big innings this season.
Date Opponent Inning Runs Scored
3/2 Northeastern 9th 7
3/12 at Cincinnati 2nd 8
3/15 at Murray State 3rd 9
4/1 at Youngstown State 5th 7
4/11 at Ball State 6th 5
4/12 at Ball State 2nd 9
4/13 at Ball State 7th 6
4/15 Tiffin 3rd 6
4/16 at Toledo 2nd 7
4/22 Albion 3rd 7
4/22 Albion 6th 5
4/23 Oakland 6th 7
A CAREER SEASON FOR MEISLER
No one player on the Falcon roster has been hotter at the plate than sophomore Logan Meisler during the past 10 games. The Port Clinton, Ohio native has hit .567 over the last 10 contests, going 17-for-30 at the dish with four doubles, one triple, three homers and 11 RBI as he had a slugging percentage of 1.067 during that stretch. On the season, the second baseman has a .357 average, which is currently fourth-best on the team as he already has career-highs in triples (2), homers (3), RBI (18), hits (35) and stolen bases (5). He is also well on pace to besting his .289 average of a year ago with his .357 average. Meisler has played in 29 of the Falcons' 35 games this season, starting 25 games at second base.
HANGBERS NAMED PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Thanks to a 10-for-19 week at the plate during the week of April 14th, 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 in their five games during the voting period. A native of Hamilton, Ohio, Hangbers hit .529 that 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 is second on the team with a .380 average as he leads BG with seven homers and is second on the team with 28 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.
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 that game was seven, which they accomplished on three occasions with the last coming back on April 19th of 2002 against Marshall. When you mix in the four homers that the Cardinals hit in the game, both teams combined for 12 home runs in the contest, which is just five homers shy of the all-time NCAA Division I record of 17 combined homers in a game accomplished on Mar. 23rd of 1991 when Louisville (11) and Western Illinois (6) combined for 17 long balls.
WHY TURN ONE? TURN TWO!
Entering Friday's contest with Kent State, the Falcon defense has combined to turn 33 double plays on the year in their 35 games. However, that total was due in large part to the past 20 games where the Falcon defense averaged 1.3 double plays per contest, turning 26 in those 20 games. Fourteen of those 26 double plays were credited to shortstop Ryan Shay, while second baseman Logan Meisler was also apart of 14 with first baseman Brian Hangbers getting credited for 23. In their April 9th win at Xavier, the Falcons turned a season-high three double punch-outs, which they later tied in their April 18th contest against Kent State.
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 6-3 as they've had nine total games where they went perfect in the field. In games then where they've committed one or two errors, the Falcons are 9-7. Overall, the Falcons are 13-16 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 35 games of the year. The Oregon, Ohio native averages 1.08 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 1.08 RBI per game average, he would threaten the top-5 which starts at 57 RBI.
SACRIFICES LEAD TO RUNS
In their first 35 games on the season, the Falcons have recorded 31 sacrifice hits to move runners into scoring position at second or third base. Of those 31 sacrifices, 67 percent of them have resulted in the moved runner or runners coming home to score as 21 of the 31 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 .337 as they are 35-of-104 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-6 and has driven in two runs and Spencer is 4-for-9 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 this season. Shay, who comes into the weekend hitting .390, has 57 hits on the season in 146 at bats as he is already six hits ahead of his hit total from last season. The Garden City, Mich. native has hit safely in 31 of BG's 35 games this season and has 20 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 1.63 base knocks per contest.
CANTRELL CLOSING IN ON FALCON RECORD BOOKS
With his 77th appearance on Wednesday, Falcon senior right-hander Nick Cantrell, who is currently fourth on the all-time BGSU career appearances list, moved to within a single appearance 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 14 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 .320 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 .327 (194-for-592), along with combining for 128 total RBI and 63 total extra-base hits. Spencer leads the group with his .377 average and his 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.
