Bowling Green State University Athletics
Baseball Heads To Akron To Close-Out Regular-Season
May 14, 2008 | Baseball
May 14, 2008
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - With its' first Mid-American Conference Tournament berth since 2005 already clinched, the Bowling Green State University baseball team will set its' sights on an East Division Championship when they head to Akron, Ohio on Thursday for a three-game series against East Division rival Akron at Akron's Lee Jackson Field. Game one of the final MAC series for both squads will start at 3 p.m. on Thursday, with game two and three both tossing the first pitch at 1 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. BG, who trails East Division leader Kent State by a game can win the East Division with two wins and a Miami sweep of KSU in Oxford, or by sweeping the Zips and seeing the Golden Flashes fall twice to the RedHawks. A Falcon win over Akron will guarentee the Falcons a finish of no lower than second in the division as they are currently two and a half games ahead of third-place Ohio University.
Complete Release in PDF Format
LIVE STATS
Live statistics for the Falcons' series at Akron will be available by visiting www.bgsufalcons.com.
RADIO BROADCAST
All three games of the series will be simulcast live locally on Sports Radio 1350 AM (WARF) in the Akron area and GoZips.com as part of the Zips Zone subscription package. Bill Morgan, who is in his second season broadcasting Akron baseball, will have the call.
THE OPPONENT
Akron comes into this weekend's series currently sitting at 25-21 overall and 8-10 in the MAC, where they sit in fourth-place in the MAC East Division ... the Zips are 3-2 in their last five games and 6-4 in their last 10 ... on Tuesday, UA won 4-2 at Pittsburgh in non-conference play, after falling in 2-of-3 at home last weekend to Kent State ... the Zips out-scored KSU, 15-7, in game one, but were out-scored, 30-7, the remainder of the weekend, falling 11-2 and 19-5 ... the Zips are currently hitting .307 as a team as they entered the week as the MAC's fifth-best hitting team ... on the mound, UA owns a 6.03 ERA, as they came into the week as the eighth-best staff in the MAC with a 6.19 ERA ... sophmore Kevin Haas owns a team-best 3.42 average, while on the mound Friday starter Frank Turocy leads the way with a 6-2 record and 3.89 ERA ... UA is coached by third-year head coach Pat Bangtson.
SERIES INFORMATION
ALL-TIME SERIES: BG Leads 25-22-0
LAST MEETINGS: BG 3-0, UA 7-3, BG 16-15 in Bowling Green, Ohio (Steller Field)
FIRST MEETING: 1983
IN AKRON: UA Leads 11-8
IN BOWLING GREEN: BG Leads 15-9
THIS SEASON'S MAC TOURNAMENT
For the first time since 1982, and for only the second time in league history, the MAC baseball tournament will be held at a neutral site when this year's event is staged at VA Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe, Ohio.
The tournament field has also been expanded to eight teams for the first time ever. The prior tournament field consisted of six teams in a double-elimination tournament. The new format will feature a bracket of two pools, with the winner of each double-elimination pool meeting in a one-game, winner take all championship game. The bracketing reflects the College World Series format as played in Omaha.
The top three teams from each division will qualify for postseason play. The two remaining bids will be granted to the teams with the next-best winning percentages in league play regardless of division.
CURRENT MAC TOURNAMENT LOOK
No. 1 Seed: Eastern Michigan
No. 8 Seed: Central Michigan
No. 4 Seed: Northern Illinois
No. 5 Seed: Ball State
No. 3 Seed: Bowling Green
No. 6 Seed: Western Michigan
No. 2 Seed: Kent State
No. 7 Seed: Ohio
BGSU AND THE MAC TOURNAMENT
APPEARANCES: 7 (8 this year)
CHAMPIONSHPS: 2
LAST APPEARANCE: 2005 at Miami
LAST TOURNAMENT WIN: 5-22-02 - 15-6 over Miami at Bowling Green
LAST TOURNAMENT TITLE: 1999 at Ball State
FALCON QUICK HITS
• Bowling Green's six-game turnaround in Mid-American Conference play ties for the biggest single-season conference turnaround in school history. The Falcons, who are currently 13-8 in conference play, finished 7-20 in the MAC last season. The last time BG had a six-game turnaround in conference play happened in 1995 when it won 22 MAC games on way to a regular-season crown. The Falcons had won 16 conference games the year prior, as that six-game turnaround was 1-of-4 all-time in the program history. A win this upcoming weekend at Akron would set the new single-season school mark for biggest winning total improvement in conference play in a single-year. For more on the turnaround see the note on page three.
• Bowling Green's six-game conference win turnaround ranks tied for the 11th-best nationally this season, as they are 1-of-7 teams in Division I baseball to improve their conference win total by six games. Ranking first nationally is Dartmouth, who has had a 10-game turnaround in the Ivy League this season. In a three-way tie for second with a nine-game improvement then is Maryland-Baltimore County, Missouri State and Texas-Arlington.
• The Falcons' 13 road wins this season are the most since the 2002 season when they also won 13 games away from Warren E. Steller Field. That total is second all-time under 18-year head coach Danny Schmitz, only to the 1999 squad that won 17 road games.
• Bowling Green's current eight-game win-streak marks the first time the Falcons have won eight-straight games since the 2005 season. That year, the Falcons fell in their season-opener at Murray State, before going on to win eight-straight games.
• With Brian Hangbers back-to-back walk-off homers in the ninth inning, BG now has seven ninth inning homers on the season, as they've hit .346 in the game's final frame.
• Junior Brian Hangbers has five homers and 15 RBI in the Falcons' last 10 games. Overall the Falcons have 17 homers and 77 RBI in the last 10 games, as they've out-scored their opponents 80-54 during that stretch.
• Senior left-hander Brett Browning has allowed just eight hits in his last 12.2 innings of duty with a 0.00 ERA. Both runs he allowed in that time period were unearned runs.
• Brett Browning has yet to allow a run this season in 8.2 innings of work past the sixth inning.
• Senior right-hander Nick Cantrell has a 1.59 ERA for the month of May, as he is 1-0 in the month and allowed just two earned runs in 11.1 innings of work with six strikeouts.
• Opponents are hitting just .203 for the month of May against Kevin Light, as the junior transfer owns a 2.30 ERA for the month in two starts, as he is 2-0 in team-best 15.2 innings or work during the month's eight contests.
• Sophomore outfielder Mark Galvin leads the Falcons with 15 hits in the month of May, as he has a .500 average for the month with five doubles, two homers and seven RBI.
• BG's bullpen has 3-0 record and 2.82 ERA during the Falcons' eight-game winning streak, as opponents have hit just .208 against it.
• In eight non-conference games at Steller Field, the Falcons were 6-2 and hit .371, while they had a 4.12 team ERA on the mound.
• Ryan Shay, Marty Baird and Logan Meisler all hit higher than .500 in non-conference play at Steller Field this season.
• BG has hit .342 this season with runners in scoring position, as nine players have 10 or more hits in that situation. Derek Spencer leads the team with 23 hits with runners in scoring position, hitting .329 with runners on second and third, while Ryan Shay is hitting .385 and has 20 hits with runners in position.
• Ryan Shay's 17 doubles are just two shy of the all-time BGSU single-season mark of 19. Len Elias (1999), Tim Newell (2002), Eric Lawson (2005) are all tied for the all-time mark.
• The Falcons have a .331 batting average and a 3.50 team ERA for the month of May where they are a perfect 8-0.
• In their 18-4 game one victory at Ohio, BG hit eight homers, which tied the school record they set just three weeks earlier in their game one win at Ball State. The Falcons now have three games this season where they've hit five or more homers in a game as they've hit 47 of their 57 homers in the last 22 games. That includes four homers against Eastern Michigan last Tuesday and three against Xavier this past Tuesday.
• Bowling Green has hit .336 this season on the road and out-scored their opponents, 187-164. Ryan Shay has hit .438 on the road, while Derek Spencer has hit .405 with eight homers and 29 RBI.
• The Falcons hit .335 this season in non-conference play. Ryan Shay had a team-best .459 clip in non-conference tilts, while Derek Spencer led the Falcons in non-conference RBI with 25.
• In 12 mid-week games this season (doesn't include Florida trip), the Falcons owned a 9-3 record as they hit .365 as a unit and out-scored their opponents 141-85 in those games.
• In those 12 mid-week games this season, opposing starting pitchers had a 1-5 record and 11.80 ERA, while BG's starters had a 4-1 record and 4.59 ERA.
• The Falcons were 15-10 this season in non-conference action as they were 6-2 at home, 7-4 on the road and 2-4 at neutral sites.
• BG is 15-6 this season when hitting a home run and 13-12 when they don't hit a long ball. On the flip side, they are 18-8 when holding the opposition without a homer and 10-10 when they allow their opponent to go yard.
• Since 2001, the Falcons are 155-4 when leading a game after the eighth inning, including a 25-0 mark this season.
• BG has hit .341 as team this season with runners in scoring position as they have nine batters with 10 or more hits in those situations. Leading the way is Derek Spencer, who has 23 hits with runners on second and third.
• Derek Spencer has collected 17 two-out RBI this season. That total alone would place him ninth on the team in RBI.
• In pinch hitting situations this season, BG is 20-for-52 (.385). 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-8 (.375).
LIGHT NAMED MAC EAST PITCHER OF THE WEEK
For the first time in his Falcon career, Bowling Green State University pitcher Kevin Light has been named Mid-American Conference East Division Pitcher of the Week, as announced by the league office on Monday. Light, a junior transfer from Longwood University, tossed just the second complete-game of his collegiate career in the Falcons' 6-2 win in game one of Saturday's doubleheader sweep of the University at Buffalo.
The Mechanicsville, Va. native allowed just two runs on four hits and recorded four strikeouts on way to his fourth win of the season. At one point, he retired 13-straight hitters, before allowing a hit, as he allowed the Bulls just two hits in the game's final seven innings.
Right-handers hit just .133 on the day against the southpaw in 15 at bats, as he allowed just one hit with runners on base and was a perfect 8-for-8 in retiring hitters with two outs.
TURNING IT AROUND
The 2008 season for the Falcon baseball team has been one that may have surprised many people around the Mid-American Conference. BG, who was picked to finish sixth in the MAC East Division preseason polls, not only has clinched a spot in the MAC Tournament for the first time since 2005, but they also still have an outside shot at the East Division championship entering the weekend. The Falcons have upped their conference win total by six games in 2008, improving to 13-8 entering the final league weekend. That turnaround ranks them tied for 11th -nationally in improving their conference win total. Below is a look at some of Division I's biggest conference win improvements from 2007 to 2008.
Ranking Team Improvement
1. Dattmouth 10
2. Missouri St. 9
Texas-Arlington 9
Maryland-Baltimore Cnty. 9
5. Georgia 8
6. Hawaii 7
James Madison 7
New Mexico St. 7
Purdue 7
Southern Utah 7
11. Bowling Green 6
Campbell 6
Cincinnati 6
Grambling State 6
Lipscomb 6
Niagara 6
Texas A&M 6
EIGHT IN-A-ROW IN THE WIN COLUMN
With their bottom of the ninth victory on Tuesday against Xavier, BG picked up its' eighth-straight victory and ninth win in its' last 10 contests. The eight-straight wins mark a new season-high for the Falcons, passing their old streak of five in-a-row, which they set on two seperate occasions back in March. The Falcons have won 11 of their last 13 games entering this weekend, placing them second overall in the East Division with a 28-18 overall mark and 13-8 mark in league play. 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.
TWO WALK-OFFS FOR HANGBERS
Falcon junior first baseman Brian Hangbers found himself in a spot that every baseball player growing up dreams of twice in back-to-back games. With his team trailing in the bottom of the ninth, he came to the plate as the game-winning run and a chance to win the game. He wouldn't let either of those opportunities go to waste however, as he hit walk-off home runs in back-to-back games to lead the Falcons to victory. The first, came in the series finale with Buffalo, where he hit a three-run homer to right center to give BG a 9-8 victory, as they trailed 8-6 prior to his at bat. The second happened then on Tuesday, where he stepped to the plate with a runner on and two outs and his team trailing 5-4 to Xavier. The Hamilton, Ohio native took a 2-2 offering and sent it over the fence in left center for his 12th homer of the season, as the hit was his fifth game-winning RBI of the year. Both walk-off homers were the first and second times this season that BG has won a game by scoring a run on the last play.
IS THIS THE BEST YOU GOT?
Normally when a team puts their Friday ace pitcher on the mound, they're expecting to be able to hold the opposition's offense in check to allow their offense the chance to win the game. However, for BG's MAC opponents, this hasn't been the case, as the Falcons haven't been the least bit intimidated by the other team's "Friday guy". Thus far in weekend conference series, opposing Friday starters are just 1-4 against BG as they own a 7.99 ERA. BG has hit a collective .351 against their opponent's Friday starter as they've pounded 11 homers and 26 extra-base hits against them. When comparing that to Saturday, opposing Saturday starters have a 2-4 record and 5.67 ERA, while Sunday starters have a 4-2 record and 4.43 ERA.
SHAY'S STREAK REACHES CAREER-BEST SEVENTEEN
With his hit in last Tuesday's win over Eastern Michigan, Ryan Shay recorded a hitting-streak of 16 games for the second time this season. That tied the right-handed batter with his career-long hit streak, which he had set earlier in the year with a 16-game stretch from Mar. 3rd to Apr. 9th. With a hit in BG's game one win then against Buffalo, he set a new career mark of 17-straight games with a base knock. That streak began back on Apr. 12th when the junior tallied a hit in game two at Ball State. That streak put the junior within reach of BG's all-time career hitting-streak leaders. Below is a look at the Falcons' all-time longest hitting-streaks
Player Hitting Streak Season
1. Mike Combs 25 1995
2. Lee Morrison 20 2001
3. Chuck Black 19 1978
Ryan Shay 17 2008
SHAY'S RECORD WATCH
Few players in BG history have had the kind of season that Falcon junior Ryan Shay has had at the plate, as the Garden City, Mich. native is closing in on numerous single-season school offensive lists. Here is a look at where he stands on the different lists.
Hits
Shay - 7th - 75
Leader: Aric Christman - 86 (2001)
Runs
Shay - 43
Leader: Aric Christman - 73 (2001)
Doubles
Shay - T-5th - 17
Leader: Len Elias (1999), Tim Newell (2002), Eric Lawson (2005) - 19
Total Bases
Shay - 107
Leader: Kelly Hunt - 168 (2002)
Batting Average
Shay - .410
Leader: Corey Loomis - .404 (2002)
MULTIPLE-HITS AGAIN AND AGAIN
Multiple-hit games have become a common occurence for junior shortstop Ryan Shay this season. Through the Falcons ` 46 games this season, the Garden City, Mich. native has recorded multiple-hits in 27 of those 46 games, as teams have held him below two hits just 19 times. In the 27 games that Shay has collected multiple-hits, BG is 18-9. Those 27 multiple-hit efforts are the most by a Falcon player since Kelly Hunt recorded 26 multiple-hit games in 2003. Below is a look at the top multiple-hit contributers for BG since 2001.
Player Multiple-Hit Games Season
Corey Loomis 29 2001
Aric Christman 27 2002
Ryan Shay 27 2008
Len Elias 26 2002
Kelly Hunt 26 2002
Kelly Hunt 26 2003
Lee Morrison 26 2002
More information can be found in the complete release at the top of the page.
