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Bowling Green State University Athletics
BG Faces Central Michigan In MAC Weekend Series
April 02, 2009 | Baseball
April 2, 2009
BOWLING GREEN, OHIO -
BGSU Baseball Notes/Stats (vs. Central Michigan) 
This Weekend
Fri. - Sun., April 3-5
Bowling Green at Central Michigan
Theunissen Field (2,046)
Friday (3:05 p.m.); Saturday (2:05 p.m.); Sunday (1:05 p.m.)
FALCONS TRAVEL TO CENTRAL MICHIGAN THIS WEEKEND
The Bowling Green State University baseball team will play its second straight Mid-American Conference series on the road when they battle Central Michigan this weekend. The two teams will play games on Friday (3:05 p.m.), Saturday (2:05 p.m.) and Sunday (1:05 p.m.).
SERIES INFORMATION
Central Michigan has a 55-34-1 edge in the series with the Falcons...BG won the opening game of the three-game series last season at home, 10-3, before CMU took the final two games by scores of 6-2 and 10-6...BG is 4-6 in its last 10 games played in Mt. Pleasant...since 2003, BG is 7-10 against CMU with a 3-5 mark in games played on the road...BG took one of three games in 2006 from the Chippewas, the last time they played in Mt. Pleasant.
FALCONS WIN 500TH FOR SCHMITZ IN ONLY MID-WEEK GAME
BG won its fourth successive mid-week game and in the process earned head coach Danny Schmitz his 500th victory as the Falcons beat Big Ten foe Michigan by an 8-3 count on Tuesday. The Falcons scored three runs, after two were out, in the first inning and never trailed in the game. Junior Mark Galvin had a two-run single in the opening frame while freshman Patrick Martin had two hits, including a solo home run in the fifth inning, and junior Logan Meisler had three hits and an RBI. Senior Brian Hangbers started and got the win with three innings of one-hit pitching while freshman Ross Gerdeman took care of the middle innings and senior Dusty Hawk retired six of the seven batters he faced to get his second save.
WHAT'S AHEAD
Following their three games this weekend on the road against Central Michigan, the Falcons will play four of their five games next week at home. They then go on the road for six straight contests before finishing the 2009 season with 11 of their last 14 games at home, including three of their last four MAC series.
SCHMITZ REACHES 500
Head coach Danny Schmitz reached a milestone Tuesday in BG's 8-3 win over Michigan that not many in Mid-American Conference history have. The win was his 500th victory, all at Bowling Green, joining four other MAC baseball coaches in the small club of people who have won 500 games. Schmitz joins Western Michigan's Fred Decker (1976-04, 791 wins), Ohio's Joe Carbone (1989-present, 596), Toledo's Stan Sanders (1970-81/1983-92, 534) and Central Michigan's Dean Kreiner (1986-98, 516) as the only baseball coaches in the 62-year history of the Mid-American Conference to reach the 500-win milestone.
SMITH EARNS STARTER ROLE
Sophomore right-hander Brennan Smith has emerged as one of the weekend starters in conference play. Smith is coming off a start in which he gave up four earned runs on four hits and a career-high five walks last Friday against Northern Illinois to suffer the loss, his third this season. However, in his previous four starts, covering 21.0 innings, Smith had allowed just three runs, all earned, for a 1.29 ERA. Smith had 24 strike outs in those four starts. Smith, who has a 3-3 mark for the season with a 3.48 ERA, has a 7.10 ERA in the games he has lost this season and a 0.90 ERA in the games he has won. He has nine strike outs in 12.2 innings of work in his losses and 21 strike outs in 20 innings in the games he has won. He leads the team with three wins and is 1-1 in MAC play with a 4.50 ERA and 10 strike outs in 12 innings of work. He is averaging 8.82 strike outs per nine innings with opposing batters are hitting only .200 against him, the top mark in the MAC. Smith was 48th in the country according to the latest NCAA stats in hits allowed per nine innings at 6.41.
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 last week when he went hitless in five-at-bats against Findlay. Since then he has hit safely in all four games and is hitting .425 (34-of-80) over the last 18 games (he has hit safely in 17 of those) with 14 RBI and 18 runs scored. He has hit safely in 18 of the 21 games he has played in this season and has 11 multi-hit games, a figure that is second on the team. 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 (.412, 4th in the MAC), doubles (8) and hits (35, t-10th in the MAC). Elkins was 25th in the nation according to this week's NCAA statistics in the toughest to strike out category averaging one every 20 at-bats.
GALVIN EXTENDS STREAK
Junior outfielder Mark Galvin extended his hitting streak to a career-best 13 games collecting a pair of hits in the Michigan game Tuesday. Galvin, who had hit safely in just two of his first eight games of the season, has hit .383 (18-of-47) during his streak with 14 RBI and eight runs scored. Galvin is hitting .319 for the season with 16 RBI, tied for second on the team, and 12 runs scored. He equalled his career high of four RBI in the Michigan State game on March 17. He has hit safely in 15 games this season.
BLANTON THE SLUGGING LEADER
Junior outfielder T.J. Blanton had a pair of home runs in the Cleveland State game last Wednesday, the first multi-homer game of his career, and leads the team with four home runs and 12 extra-base hits for the season. His .643 slugging percentage leads the squad and is 10th-best in the MAC. He is now hitting .329 for the year with 13 RBI and 15 runs scored. Blanton has hit safely in 14 games this season. His 13 RBI and four home runs are career bests and his 15 runs scored has equalled his career high.
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 .355 with 16 RBI and 23 runs scored with five doubles and three home runs. He leads the team with seven stolen bases. Shay has hit safely in 17 of the 23 games this season, and 63 of his last 75 contests dating back to the beginning of last season. Shay in among the BG career leaders in at-bats (630, 7th), hits (203, 10th) and doubles (41, t-6th) while he needs seven runs scored to move into the 10th spot in that category. His 488 career assists is third on the BG list. He has hit from the lead off spot in all 23 games this season reaching safely leading off the game for BG in 12 of those games (eight hits (5 singles, two doubles, one home run), three walks and one 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. BG has scored at least one run in the first inning of seven of the 12 games that Shay has reached safely in his first at-bat.
SPENCER IS RBI LEADER
Junior Derek Spencer, who was a first-team All-MAC selection a year ago, leads the team with 23 RBI while hitting at a .338 clip. He has hit safely in 16 of the 22 games this season and has an RBI in 12 contests. Spencer, who leads all BG players with a .366 career batting average, leads the team with 11 two-out RBI. Spencer has been nursing a hamstring pull and has not started the last five games, but has played in a reserve role in four of the last five. He is expected to return to the starting lineup this weekend.
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 .310 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 .988 fielding percentage with just two errors in 168 chances this season. He has a career .987 fielding percentage in 951 chances. He has pitched in five games this season and has one save and a 2.38 ERA in 11.1 innings of work. Hangbers has 40 career appearances covering 100.1 innings with a 4.31 ERA. His 24 career home runs is just two shy of moving into the BG career top 10. He has hit safely in 17 of the 23 games this season and has scored 13 runs in the last 10 games.
MEISLER SECOND IN HITTING
Junior Logan Meisler is second on the team to Tyler Elkins in hitting with a .405 batting average thus far this season. A career .335 hitter, Meisler is also tied for second on the squad with 16 RBI. He has hit safely in 17 of the 23 games this season and has an RBI in 12 contests. He is hitting .459 (17-of-37) over the last 10 games with nine RBI and seven runs scored.
MALEWITZ RECORDS SHUTOUT
Sophomore Matt Malewitz has become one of the starters for the Falcons in MAC play this season and leads the squad in ERA (3.06, 3rd in the MAC) and innings pitched (35.1, 4th in the MAC). Malewitz was the East Division Pitcher of the Week (week of March 9-15) for his complete game one-hitter against Northern Iowa on the spring trip. Malewitz was part of a second shutout last weekend as combined with sophomore Charles Wooten on a three-hitter against Northern Illinois on Saturday. Malewitz is 1-1 in MAC play with a 4.26 ERA. He has gone at least five innings in each of his last five starts and has a 2.51 ERA while allowing only 22 hits in the 32.1 innings he has worked in his last five starts. Malewitz is second to teammate Brennan Smith in the MAC in opposition batting average with opposing batters hitting only .211 against him.
HAWK LEADING THE BULLPEN
Senior Dusty Hawk had to begin the year as a starter with injuries on the staff. But, since being put back in his normal relief role, he has been consistent and dependable. Hawk has a 0.93 ERA in his last four outings, all in relief, allowing just one earned run in 9.2 innings or work with five strike outs and just two walks. Hawk has picked up saves against Western Michigan and Michigan in those last four appearances. He has a 5.79 ERA for the season, but that is deceiving because he had an 11.00 ERA in his three 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 .321 as a team and averaging 6.9 runs per game while the opposition is hitting .301 and scoring 8.0 runs per outing...in MAC play, BG is hitting .316 and averaging 6.6 runs while the opposition is hitting .281 and scoring 5.8 runs...BG has 24 (1.04 per game) double plays this season...they are 43rd in the country in double plays per game and 59th 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 games this season - BG has scored 10 or more six times...BG has scored 10 or more runs in five of their last 10 games and they are averaging 8.8 runs over the period while the opposition has only scored 66 runs...the Falcons are 57th in the country in batting average and are the MAC leaders in that category...the Falcons have 10 or more hits in 13 of their last 17 games and are hitting .342 (209-of-612) as a team over the period...the Falcon starting pitchers have compiled a 4.79 ERA this season while the relievers have a 9.31 ERA...but, over the last four games, the BG relievers have compiled a 2.94 ERA allowing only five earned runs in 15.1 innings of work...freshman Jon Berti has started seven of the last nine games and has hit .375 (9-of-24) over the period with five RBI and eight runs scored...Berti is hitting .319 for the season and is tied for second on the squad with five stolen bases...he has hit .333 in five MAC games thus far...red-shirt freshman Patrick Martin has started the last two games and has responded by hitting .500 (4-for-8) with two RBI and three runs scored...Martin hit his first career home run, a solo shot to right center, in the Michigan game on Tuesday...Martin is hitting .424 for the season, with 33 at-bats, with four RBI and nine runs scored...he has a .606 slugging percentage...the Falcon pitching staff is averaging almost one strike out per inning over the last three games with 22 K's in the last 26 innings...BG hitters have struck out only 148 times this season, the third-best figure in the MAC behind only Toledo (137) and Ohio (142)...BG is far and away the MAC leader in sacrifices with 23 and they rank 36th in the nation with that figure...they also have 10 sacrifice flies this season...12 different BGSU players have sacrifices...BG is third in the league in on-base percentage at .397...Bowling Green has three of the seven shutouts recorded this season by MAC teams.
NEXT WEEK
The Falcons play a non-league home-and-home series with Eastern Michigan on Tuesday (April 7) and Wednesday before hosting Ball State for an MAC weekend series. The Tuesday game against Eastern Michigan and all three games of the Ball State series will be played at Steller Field. The Wednesday game is the only road game next week.
