Bowling Green State University Athletics
Baseball Team Has One Mid-Week Game
April 13, 2009 | Baseball
April 13, 2009
BOWLING GREEN, OHIO -
BGSU Baseball Notes/Stats (vs. Oakland) 
This Week
Wed., April 15
Bowling Green at Oakland (10-19)
OU Baseball Field (500) - 3 p.m.
Fri. - Sun., April 17-19
Bowling Green at Kent State (24-7, 9-2 MAC)
Schoonover Stadium (1,148)
Friday (3 p.m.) - Saturday (1 p.m.) - Sunday (noon)
FALCONS PLAY NEXT SIX GAMES ON THE ROAD
The Bowling Green State University baseball team has the first of six consecutive road games this week as they make the short trip to Rochester, Mich. for a non-league game with Oakland University, a member of the Summit League, Wednesday at 3 p.m. BG then gets back to Mid-American Conference play this weekend with a road series at Kent State. Games for the weekend series with the Golden Flashes will be played on Friday (3 p.m.), Saturday (1 p.m.) and Sunday (noon).
SERIES INFORMATION
BG had a 17-3 series edge over Oakland...BG has won the last three meetings with Oakland and four of the five games played between the two programs since 2000...BG won, 15-3, in 2007, the last time the two programs played at Oakland...Kent State holds a 100-59 series edge over the Falcons...Kent has won the last nine games with Bowling Green sweeping two three-game series at BG and one in Kent...BG's last win in the series came in the 2004 season at Kent State...BG took two of the three games from KSU in that `04 series...BG is 8-16 against Kent State since 2000, but they have a respectable 6-8 series record since 2000 in games on the road.
LAST WEEKEND
BG took all three games from Ball State in a series, played at Steller Field, that included two one-run games and a two-run contest. Two of the games were decided in BG's last at-bat. After rain forced cancellation of the Friday game, the two programs played a doubleheader on Saturday. In the first game, sophomore Brennan Smith went eight innings getting his fifth win allowing four hits and one earned run while striking out nine as BG captured a 3-2 decision. Senior Dusty Hawk got the save, although he allowed a run in the ninth, his third of the season. Senior Ryan Shay had two hits and the go-ahead RBI in the seventh. Shay then won the second game of the doubleheader with a single through the right side of the infield in the bottom of the ninth giving the Falcons a 7-6 win. Sophomore Charles Wooten pitched the last 2.1 innings to get the win. Shay had three hits in the game while junior Tyler Elkins had two hits and a pair of RBI. In the finale Sunday, Ball State forced extra innings with a pair of runs in the ninth and they took their first lead of the game with a single run in the 10th inning. But, BG had its first two batters reach in the bottom of the frame before freshman Jon Berti hit his second home run of the season to give BG a 9-7 win. Wooten again earned the win in relief as both teams used five pitchers.
WHAT'S AHEAD
The baseball team begins a string of six straight games on the road with their contest Wednesday against Oakland. When BG returns home on April 24 for a weekend MAC series against Miami, they begin the final portion of their 2009 regular season in which they will play 11 of their last 15 games at home, including three of their last four league series.
SMITH GETS ANOTHER WIN
Sophomore right-hander Brennan Smith turned in another strong outing picking up his fifth win of the season with eight innings of four-hit pitching in BG's 3-2 win over Ball State in Saturday's first game of a doubleheader. Smith allowed one earned run, on a home run, while striking out nine and walking three. Smith is now 5-3 on the season with a 2.59 ERA, which leads the MAC, while in league play he is 3-1 with a 2.33 ERA, eighth in the MAC. Smith has now won five of his last six starts and opposition batters are hitting a paltry .188 against him for the season and .179 in MAC play. Both figures lead the conference. Smith now has a miniscule 0.77 ERA in the five games he has won this season. He has allowed only 16 hits, 12 of those singles, in 35.0 innings of work while striking out 36, an average of 9.25 strike outs per nine innings, while over the same period he is allowing only 4.11 hits per nine innings. Smith has a 7.10 ERA in his three losses, two of those coming in the first two weekends of the season. In his last seven starts, Smith has a 5-1 record with a 1.76 ERA over 41.0 innings. He has allowed only 22 hits, 16 of those singles, while striking out 44. He is averaging 9.64 strike outs per nine innings and only 4.82 hits per nine innings over that period.
SHAY LEADS THE WAY
Senior shortstop Ryan Shay hit .625 (10-of-16) last week while collecting two game-winning RBI in the Ball State series. The All-MAC and All-Mideast selection last season had the game-winning RBI in both ends of the Saturday doubleheader against Ball State, including a two-out single to right field with the bases loaded in the nightcap. Shay hit safely in all four games last week stretching his streak to seven games. The Garden City, Mich. native has two or more hits in each of those seven games and is hitting .548 (17-of-31) in those contests with 10 RBI and 11 runs scored. He has six extra-base hits, including five doubles, in his last seven games. For the season, Shay is now hitting .403, third in the MAC, with 26 RBI and 34 runs scored, tied for fifth in the MAC. In league play, he is hitting .438, tied for fourth in the MAC, with 13 RBI and 14 runs scored. He ranks among the BG career leaders in at-bats (661, 4th), runs scored (141, t-9th), hits (220, t-4th), doubles (46, 5th), assists (514, 2nd) and total bases (302, 11th). Shay has hit safely in 24 of 30 games this season, and 70 of his last 82 games dating back to the beginning of last season. He has two or more hits in 50 of those 70 games he has hit safely in over the last season and a half. Since the beginning of the 2008 season, Shay has hit .409 (137-of-335).
GALVIN HAS ANOTHER BIG WEEK
Junior outfielder Mark Galvin had another good week hitting .538 (7-of-13) in the four games last week with three RBI and four runs scored. In the Ball State series, the Pickerington, Ohio native hit .545 (6-of-11), the top figure on the team. Galvin has hit safely in 18 of his last 20 contests compiling a batting average of .387 (29-of-75) over the period. He has hit safely in 20 games this season and is hitting .330 with 21 RBI and 17 runs scored.
BLANTON ALSO HAS BIG WEEK
Junior outfielder T.J. Blanton hit .429 (6-of-14) last week and .462 in the Ball State series. He has hit safely in four of the last five games hitting .473 (9-of-19) over the period. The Sandusky, Ohio native is fourth on the team with a .351 batting average for the season while he has a .366 average in MAC play. Blanton is one of three players on the team with four home runs this season.
BGSU BLOOP SINGLES
The Falcons are hitting .327, the top figure in the MAC, as a team and averaging 7.1 runs per contest...the opposition is hitting .303 and averaging 8.2 runs...BG has won seven of its last nine games and 12 of its last 17...the Falcon pitching staff, which has a 6.90 ERA for the season, has a 4.35 ERA in its last three MAC weekends (a total of eight games)...the staff had a 3.86 ERA against Ball State last weekend holding the Cardinals to a team batting average of .228...BG has had at least 10 hits in 21 games this season, including 15 of the last 19...BG is hitting .346 as a team in MAC play, which leads the league...BG has a 4.62 ERA in MAC play, fifth in the MAC...freshman Jon Berti, who has started in left and right field this season in addition to shortstop and as the designated hitter, had four RBI in one official at-bat in the Sunday game against Ball State...after coming in the game as a pinch hitter in the eighth inning, Berti had a sacrifice fly to give the Falcons a 6-4 lead before hitting a walk-off three-run home run in the bottom of the 10th to propel the Falcons to a 9-7 victory...it was his third game-winning RBI of the season, the top figure on the team...he had three hits in five at-bats in the Ball State series...he is hitting .348 for the season and is tied for the team lead with Shay hitting .438 in MAC games, which is tied for fourth in the MAC...Berti was a 36th round draft pick of the Oakland A's last summer...junior Tyler Elkins hit safely in all three games of the Ball State series hitting .364 (4-of-11) with four RBI...he has hit safely in nine of his last 11 games...Elkins is second to Shay on the team with 13 multiple-hit games this season...BG leads the MAC with 31 sacrifices thus far this season.
NEXT WEEK
The Falcons play mid-week games at Ohio State (April 21, 6:35 p.m.) and Toledo (April 22, 3 p.m.) before hosting Miami for a three-game MAC weekend series (April 24-26).
