Bowling Green State University Athletics
Baseball Team Heads To Northern Illinois For Three-Game MAC Series
March 26, 2009 | Baseball
March 26, 2009
BOWLING GREEN, OHIO -
BGSU Baseball Notes/Stats (vs. Northern Illinois) 
This Weekend
Fri. - Sun., March 27-29
Bowling Green at Northern Illinois
McKinzie Field - Friday (4 p.m. (EDT)); Saturday/Sunday (2 p.m. (EDT))
FALCONS PLAY FIRST MAC ROAD GAMES
The Bowling Green State University baseball team will play its first Mid-American Conference road games of the 2009 season when they travel to Dekalb, Ill. for a three-game series against Northern Illinois this weekend.
SERIES INFORMATION
BG has a 21-8-1 series edge over Northern Illinois...BG swept the Huskies at home last season in the first MAC games played by the Falcons...BG won 3-2, 4-3 and 4-1...BG has won five in a row in the series...seven of the last 12 games have been one-run decisions with only two games during that time period decided by four or more runs.
FALCONS WIN BOTH MID-WEEK GAMES BG scored 10 runs in both games this week and that was good enough for a pair of victories at home - 10-5 over Findlay on Tuesday and 10-6 over Cleveland State on Wednesday. The Falcons scored in every inning except one to post the win over Findlay. BG used four pitchers with sophomore Charles Wooten starting and getting his first win of the season while freshman Steven Barrett made his Falcon debut and pitched two perfect innings for the save. Eight different players had RBI with senior Ryan Shay and junior Mark Galvin both having two hits and one RBI. The Cleveland State game started a little over one hour late because of rain, but the Falcons scored five runs in the first inning and three in the third on their way to the win. Junior T.J. Blanton led the offense with two home runs and four RBI while sophomore Richie O'Brien picked up his second win of the season in relief and senior Brian Hangbers pitched out a jam in the eighth and had a perfect ninth to get his first save of the season.
FALCONS BEGIN ROAD SWING After starting the season with 14 games on the road, including their eight-game spring trip to Florida, the Falcons have played their last six games at home. Beginning this weekend with the series at Northern Illinois, the Falcons will play their next seven games on the road and 14 of their next 18. Nine of those road contests will be Mid-American Conference games. BG then ends the 2009 schedule with 11 of their last 14 games at home. BG plays three of its last four MAC series at home.
SMITH IS ON A ROLL
Sophomore right-hander Brennan Smith has emerged as the Falcons #1 starter, in the absence of Frank Berry II, making another strong outing last week. Smith won BG's lone game against Western Michigan going seven innings allowing two runs, both earned, on five hits with five strikeouts. Smith leads the team with three victories and a 2.83 ERA. He has 28 strikeouts in 28.2 innings while allowing only 20 hits with opposing batters are hitting only .196 against him. In his last four starts, covering 21.0 innings, Smith has allowed just three runs, all earned, for a 1.29 ERA. Smith has 24 strikeouts in his last four starts and is averaging 8.8 strikeouts per nine innings.
ELKINS KEEPS HITTING
Junior Tyler Elkins, who has started at first base, as the designated hitter, and as the catcher this season, had his 13-game hitting streak come to end on Tuesday when he went hitless in five-at-bats against Findlay. During his streak, he hit .466 (27-of-58) with nine RBI and 14 runs scored. Elkins started a new streak with a pair of hits in the Cleveland State game on Wednesday. Elkins has hit safely in 15 of the 18 games he has played this season and has nine multi-hit contests. Elkins, who transferred to BG from John Logan CC before last season and sat out the 2008 campaign after having surgery, leads the team in batting average (.429), doubles (6), hits (30) and on-base percentage (.487). Elkins was 51st in the nation in batting average according to this week's NCAA statistics.
BLANTON HAS BIG GAME
Junior outfielder T.J. Blanton had a pair of home runs in the Cleveland State game Wednesday, the first multi-homer game of his career, to lead the Falcons to the win. Blanton had a three-run homer in the third inning and a solo shot in the sixth. He is now hitting .339 for the season with 13 RBI and 13 runs scored. He leads the team with four home runs and a .645 slugging percentage. Blanton has hit safely in 13 games this season and broke out of a three-game hitless streak with his performance against Cleveland State. His 13 RBI and four home runs are career bests.
GALVIN EXTENDS STREAK
Junior outfielder Mark Galvin extended his hitting streak to a career-best 10 games hitting safely in both mid-week games. Galvin had two hits in the Findlay game and one safety in the game against Cleveland State. Galvin, who had hit safely in just two of his first eight games of the season, has hit .410 (16-of-39) during his streak with eight RBI and seven runs scored. Galvin is hitting .311 for the season with 12 RBI and 11 runs scored.
SHAY AMONG CAREER LEADERS
Senior Ryan Shay, who was a first-team All-MAC and All-Mideast selection last season, has picked up where he left off last season. He is hitting .350 with 14 RBI and 21 runs scored with five doubles and three home runs. He leads the team with seven stolen bases. Shay has hit safely in 15 of the 20 games this season, and 61 of his last 72 contests dating back to the beginning of last season. Shay has moved in among the BG career leaders in at-bats (617, 7th), hits (198, 10th) anddoubles (41, t-6th) while he needs nine runs scored to move into the 10th spot in that category. His 482 career assists is third on the BG list. He has hit from the lead off spot in all 20 games this season reaching safely leading off the game for BG in 11 of those games (eight hits (5 singles, two doubles, one home run), two walks and on hit by pitch). He hit from the top spot in the order last season 48 times and reached safely 26 times (21 hits, four walks, one error). Shay hit a home run on the first pitch of the first game this season against Western Carolina.
SPENCER IS RBI LEADER
Junior Derek Spencer, who was a first-team All-MAC selection a year ago, leads the team with 22 RBI while hitting at a .338 clip. He has hit safely in 15 of the 20 games this season and has an RBI in 11 contests. Spencer, who leads all BG players with a .367 career batting average, leads the team with 10 two-out RBI.
HANGBERS A TRIPLE THREAT
As he has done throughout his career, senior Brian Hangbers can have an affect on the game at the plate, in the field and on the mound. Hangbers is hitting .325 this season after raising his season average at least 30 points in each of his previous seasons. Hangbers is one of the top fielding first basemen in the MAC and has a .993 fielding percentage with just one error in 148 chances this season. He has a career .988 fielding percentage in 931 chances. He has pitched in four games this season and has one save and a 3.24 ERA in 8.1 innings of work. Hangbers has 39 career appearances covering 97.1 innings with a 4.44 ERA. His 24 career home runs is just two shy of moving into the BG career top 10. He has hit safely in 15 of the 20 games this season and has scored 11 runs in the last seven games.
MEISLER SECOND IN HITTING
Junior Logan Meisler is second on the team to Tyler Elkins in hitting with a .412 batting average thus far this season. A career .334 hitter, Meisler is also second on the squad with 15 RBI. He has hit safely in 15 of the 20 games this season and has an RBI in 11 contests. He is hitting .500 (13-of-26) over the last seven games with eight RBI and four runs scored.
MALEWITZ THE #2 STARTER
Sophomore Matt Malewitz has become one of the starters for the Falcons in MAC play this season and is second on the squad in ERA (3.90) and innings pitched (27.2). Malewitz was the East Division Pitcher of the Week two weeks ago for his complete game one-hitter against Northern Iowa on the spring trip. He has gone at least five innings in each of his last four starts.
BERRY TO MISS SOME TIME
Junior Frank Berry II, who was expected to be the #1 starter this season, had bone spurs removed from his pitching elbow and is expected to miss the early part of the season. Berry made 11 starts in his first year in the program last season after transferring from Longwood University. He led the staff with 70.0 innings of work and compiled a 7-1 record to go along with a 4.76 ERA. He was the opening game starter in all eight MAC series last season and he started the first game of the MAC Tournament for the Falcons. He went five or more innings in seven of his nine starts against MAC teams. His seven wins was the second-best total in the conference. He also is a career .264 hitter.
RETURNING ALL-LEAGUE
Bowling Green has two players returning this season who were All-MAC choices last season. Senior shortstop Ryan Shay and junior third baseman Derek Spencer were both first-team all-conference selections in 2008. Shay led the league and was 22nd nationally with a .412 batting average while Spencer was eighth in the league hitting .360. Shay, whose average last season was 155 points higher than his career average coming into the season, hit safely in 46 of the 52 games setting school records for batting average, hits (87) and doubles (19). He had a 16-game hitting streak and a 17-game hitting streak, fourth-best in school history. Shay was also a first-team All-Mideast selection last season. Spencer led the team with 54 RBI (third in the MAC, tied for eighth on BGSU single-season list) and in extra-base hits (25) and two-out RBI (21). He did not go more than two games at any point in the season without getting a hit.
FALCON CAPTAINS
Seniors Ryan Shay (SS), Dusty Hawk (RHP), Brian Hangbers (1B) and Kevin Leady (RHP) will serve as captains of the 2009 team. Leady will not play this season after having surgery in November.
EARLY SEASON HONORS
Senior shortstop Ryan Shay was picked as one of the top seven shortstops in the country by the web site Ping!Baseball. The web site picked the top players in the country for their preseason All-American list and included Shay among the best shortstops in the land. Shay also was named to the preseason All-MAC team by Baseball America. In the same publication, freshman Jon Berti was picked as the second-best newcomer in the MAC this season.
BGSU BLOOP SINGLES
The Falcons are hitting .322 as a team and averaging 6.9 runs per game while the opposition is hitting .318 and scoring 8.8 runs per outing...BG has 24 (1.20 per game) double plays this season...they are 10th in the country in double plays per game and 25th in the nation in number of double plays...last season the Falcons led the MAC in twin-killings (59) and were 14th in the nation with a 1.13 average per game...the BG opposition has scored 10 or more runs in nine of the 20 games this season...BG has scored 10 or more six times, five times in the last seven games averaging 9.7 runs over that period...freshman right-hander Steven Barrett picked up a save in his first collegiate appearance on Tuesday in the Findlay game...Barrett entered the game in the eighth with the bases loaded and the Falcons ahead 9-4...he retired the next three batters and got the side in order in the ninth recording a pair of strike outs...freshman right-hander Bubba Andrews saw his first action on the mound as a Falcon in the Cleveland State game...Andrews, an outfielder-infielder, got the side out without any damage in the seventh before he gave up three hits in the eighth and one run before another pitcher was brought in...the Falcons are 58th in the country in batting average...the Falcons have 10 or more hits in eight of their last nine games and are hitting .340 (113-of-332) as a team over that period...the Falcon starting pitchers have compiled a 5.24 ERA this season while the relievers have a 10.11 ERA.
NEXT WEEK
The Falcons have a mid-week game at Michigan on March 31 before heading back out on the road for a weekend series at Central Michigan on April 3-5.
