Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Head To Florida For Spring Trip
March 04, 2009 | Baseball
March 4, 2009
BOWLING GREEN, OHIO -
BGSU Baseball Notes/Stats (Spring Trip) 
This Week
Sat., March 7 - 3:00 - Fairfield (0-2)
(Chain Lakes #1 - Winter Haven, Fla.)
Sun., March 8 - 4:00 - Eastern Kentucky (2-2)
(Chain Lakes Stadium - Winter Haven, Fla.)
Mon., March 9 - 12:30 - Bucknell (0-7)
(Chain Lakes Stadium - Winter Haven, Fla.)
Tue., March 10 - 12:30 - Connecticut (3-3)
(Chain Lakes Stadium - Winter Haven, Fla.)
Thur., March 12 - 9 a.m. - Sacred Heart (1-2)
(Chain Lakes Stadium - Winter Haven, Fla.)
Fri., March 13 - 10 a.m. - Northern Iowa (3-4)
(Henley Field - Lakeland, Fla.)
Sat., March 14 - 9 a.m. - Indiana (3-2)
(Chain Lakes Stadium - Winter Haven, Fla.)
Sat., March 14 - 12:30 - Bradley (2-3)
(Chain Lakes Stadium - Winter Haven, Fla.)
Note: records as of March 2
FALCONS BEGIN SPRING TRIP ACTION SATURDAY
The Bowling Green State University baseball team (0-6) will begin play on its spring trip to Winter Haven, Fla. Saturday when they oppose Fairfield at 3 p.m. The Falcons will play all their games on the spring trip at the Chain O' Lakes Complex, the former spring training home of the Cleveland Indians, except their game on March 13, which will be played at Henley Field in Lakeland, Fla.
SERIES INFORMATION
Bowling Green has played each of the teams they will meet in Florida. Their record against each team follows: Fairfield (1-0), Eastern Kentucky (15-4), Bucknell (2-1), Connecticut (1-0), Sacred Heart (1-0), Northern Iowa (0-2), Indiana (0-4) Bradley (1-1).
OFFENSE COMES ALIVE
The Bowling Green offense, which led the Mid-American Conference in hitting a year ago and was fourth in runs, hits and RBI, was expected to be the strength of the team this season, especially with the lineup returning intact minus only outfielder Andrew Foster. But, the unit struggled the first weekend in North Carolina hitting only .190 (19-of-100) in the three-game series against Western Carolina. Last weekend, in the three-game series at Louisville, the offense got on track hitting .327 and almost matching defending Big East champion Louisville hit for hit. BG had 33 safeties for the series while the host school had 35. The big difference in the series, offensively, came in the extra-base hits category where Louisville had 11, including six home runs, while the Falcons had five, and only one of those a round-tripper. BG also left 20 runners on base in the series and struck out a total of 23 times.
MEISLER, SHAY LEAD OFFENSE
Junior second baseman Logan Meisler and senior shortstop Ryan Shay both hit .500 or better last weekend. Meisler hit safely in all three games and collected three hits in the first and third games of the series. All his hits were singles and he had one RBI in the series finale. Meisler hit .583 (7-of-12) for the weekend and has hit safely in four of the six games thus far this season. Shay hit .500 (6-of-12) with one double and a run scored. He had two hits in each of the three games to run his hitting streak to four games. He has hit safely in five of the six games this season and 51 of his last 58 games going back to last season. They are the only two Falcon hitters over .300 for the season with Meisler at .400 (8-for-20) and Shay at .381 (8-for-21). Shay leads the team with a .571 slugging percentage and a .519 on-base percentage.
BERRY TO MISS A COUPLE WEEKS
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 first couple weeks 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.
FOUR OTHERS OVER .300
In addition to Meisler and Shay, four other players hit over .300 for the weekend series against Louisville. Senior first baseman Brian Hangbers and junior third baseman Derek Spencer both hit .364 (4-for-11), junior Tyler Elkins hit .333 (3-for-9) and junior outfielder T.J. Blanton had three hits in 10 at-bats for a .300 average. Hangbers had four singles for the weekend while Spencer, who led the team with 54 RBI last season, had a double, two RBI and one run scored. He is tied for the team lead with four RBI this season. Spencer hit safely in all three games over the weekend and four of he six contests this season. Elkins started the first and third games behind the plate and had an RBI and two runs scored. Blanton had the only home run for the Falcons in the three games against Louisville and added a double and two RBI. Blanton homered to lead off the third inning of the first game, his second of the season to lead the team.
MALEWITZ MAKES STRONG START
Sophomore junior college transfer Matt Malewitz made the best start of the season in the middle game of the series against Louisville. He went five innings and left with a 3-2 lead. He had three strikeouts and three walks while allowing only two hits and two unearned runs in the longest stint by anybody on the pitching staff this season. He is 0-1 for the season with a team-best 3.38 ERA in eight innings of work. He has seven strikeouts and has allowed just six hits.
SMITH HAS BEST START
Sophomore Brennan Smith made his best start of the season in the finale last weekend going 4.0 innings allowing four hits and two earned runs with two strikeouts. It was his second start of the season. Smith made 18 appearances last season, four of those starts, covering 39.2 innings of work.
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.
FALCON BLOOP SINGLES
BG started 1-6 last season before playing .688 baseball (31-14) the rest of the season to win the regular season and East Division MAC titles...the BG pitching staff has a 9.75 ERA for the first six games of the season...the starters have a 5.40 ERA for the first six games while the relief staff has a 13.86 ERA...BG relief pitchers have allowed 46 hits in 24.2 innings of work...junior David Borcherdt, who hit .400 (2-for-5) the opening weekend of the season with three RBI, had an RBI double in the seventh inning of the middle game last weekend...he is tied for the team lead with four RBI and has two extra-base hits in seven official at-bats thus far this season...Borcherdt had four extra-base hits, including three home runs, and eight RBI in only 34 at-bats last season...junior outfielder Dennis Vaughn has reached base six times this season and has scored five runs...he reached base three times in the Louisville series and scored all three times...the Falcons were 1-of-5 in stolen bases last week while the Cardinals stole 11-of-15 bases...the Falcons led the first game of the series with Louisville after six innings and were tied after six innings in the middle game of the series...senior Dusty Hawk made his second start of the season last week in the opening game of the Louisville series and went 4.2 innings allowing five hits and four earned runs...BG opponents have 24 two-out RBI in the first six games of the season...BG has seven with Borcherdt leading the team with three...Ryan Shay has reached base safely leading off the game for the Falcons in four of the six games this season...he reached safely in 26 games last season leading off for BG...the Falcons are hitting only .098 (4-for-41) with runners in scoring position this season...Falcon players have struck out 59 times in the first six games, 27 times looking...20 of the 29 runners inherited by the BG relief pitchers have scored.
NEXT WEEK
The Falcons return home March 15 from Florida to open the home portion of their 2009 schedule. BG hosts Big Ten foe Michigan State on March 17 in their home opener. That game begins at 3 p.m. at Steller Field. The following day, BG plays at Cleveland State in a 3 p.m. contest. The Falcons then open MAC play hosting Western Michigan, the preseason favorite in the West Division, for a three-game series March 20-22. The Friday contest starts at 3 p.m. while the other two games begin at 1 p.m.
