Bowling Green State University Athletics
Baseball Team Hosts West Division Leader Ball State This Weekend
April 09, 2009 | Baseball
April 9, 2009
BOWLING GREEN, OHIO -
BGSU Baseball Notes/Stats (vs. Ball State) 
This Weekend
Fri. - Sun., April 10-12
Ball State (15-12, 5-2 MAC) at Bowling Green (13-14, 4-4 MAC)
Steller Field (1,100) - Friday (3 p.m.); Saturday (1 p.m.); Sunday (1 p.m.)
FALCONS HOST BALL STATE THIS WEEKEND
The Bowling Green State University baseball team will play its fourth Mid-American Conference series of the 2009 season as they battle Ball State, the West Division leader, this weekend. The two teams will play games on Friday (3 p.m.), Saturday (1 p.m.) and Sunday (1 p.m.).
SERIES INFORMATION
BG leads the series with Ball State by a 49-42-2 count...Ball State has won seven of the last 10 meetings with the Falcons, but BG took last year's series winning two of the three games played in Muncie...the two programs have not played a three-game series in Bowling Green since 2004 when BG took two of the three games.
FALCONS LOSE ONLY MID-WEEK GAME
BG saw its four-game winning streak in mid-week games come to abrupt halt on Wednesday as they were handed a 27-7 loss by Eastern Michigan in a non-league game. EMU led 11-1 after three innings and 26-5 after six innings banging out 28 hits in the game. The run and hit totals for EMU were the most ever given up by a BG team. Eastern hit nine home runs in the contest. Senior Ryan Shay had three hits and two walks in the game for the Falcons, who used 10 pitchers and 16 positional players.
WHAT'S AHEAD The baseball team plays all four of its games at home this week. Following the weekend series with Ball State, BG will play its next six on the road. The Falcons will then end the 2009 regular season with 11 of their last 14 games at home. BG will play three of its last four MAC weekend series' at home.
SMITH IS THE FRIDAY STARTER
Sophomore right-hander Brennan Smith has emerged as one of the weekend starters in conference play. Smith, who is the probable starter Friday against Ball State, is coming off another quality start last Friday at Central Michigan. In earning his fourth victory of the season, the Sandusky, Ohio native went seven innings allowing four singles and striking out six while leaving the game with a 14-0 lead. He lowered his ERA to 2.88, fourth in the MAC, for the season while opposing batters are now hitting only .194 in his eight starts, the best figure in the MAC. Smith has allowed only seven earned runs over his last 33 innings of work, a 1.91 ERA. He is averaging 8.6 strike outs per nine innings. Smith, who has a 4-3 record for the season, has a 7.10 ERA in the games he has lost this season (10 earned runs in 12.2 innings) and a microscopic 0.67 ERA (two earned runs in 27 innings) in the games he has won. He has nine strike outs, and eight walks, in his losses and 27 strike outs, and only seven walks, in the games he has won. He has allowed only 12 hits in his victories, 11 of those singles and one double, an average of four hits per nine innings. He is 2-1 in MAC play with a 2.84 ERA and 16 strike outs in 19 innings of work. Smith is 31st in the country according to the latest NCAA stats in hits allowed per nine innings at 6.19.
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 March 24 when he went hitless in five-at-bats (four official at-bats) against Findlay. Since then he has hit safely in six-of-eight games and is hitting .384 for the season, eighth-best in the MAC. He has hit safely in 20 of the 25 games he has played in this season and has 12 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, is third on the team in batting average (.384, 8th in the MAC), second in doubles (8) and hits (38) and he is tied for the team lead with four home runs. Elkins is 36th in the nation according to this week's NCAA statistics in the toughest to strike out category averaging one every 16.3 at-bats. Elkins is hitting .378 in league play.
GALVIN IN A GROOVE
Junior outfielder Mark Galvin had his hitting streak, a career-best 14 games, come to an end last Saturday at Central Michigan when he went hitless in four at-bats (three official at-bats). Galvin, who hit safely in just two of his first eight games of the season, hit .400 (22-of-55) during his streak with 16 RBI and nine runs scored. Galvin is hitting .302 for the season with 19 RBI, third on the team, and 14 runs scored. He equalled his career high of four RBI in the Michigan State game on March 17. He has hit safely in 17 games this season.
BLANTON A SLUGGING LEADER
Junior outfielder T.J. Blanton had a pair of home runs on March 25 in the Cleveland State game, the first multi-homer game of his career. He is tied for the team lead with four homers this season and leads the team with a .607 slugging percentage. His 13 extra-base hits is one off the team lead. He is now hitting .333 for the year with 16 RBI and 19 runs scored. Blanton has hit safely in 16 games this season. His 16 RBI, four home runs and 16 runs scored are career highs. Blanton is hitting .321 in MAC games.
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 .387, sixth in the MAC, with 22 RBI and 31 runs scored, fifth in the league. He leads the team with 14 extra-base hits, which includes nine doubles and four home runs. He also leads the team with seven stolen bases. Shay has hit safely in 21 of the 27 games this season, and 67 of his last 79 contests dating back to the beginning of last season. He has two or more hits in 47 of the 67 games he has hits in over the last season and a half. Shay has hit .404 (130-of-322) since the beginning of the 2008 season. Shay in among the BG career leaders in at-bats (648, 4th), runs (138, 10th), hits (213, t-6th) and doubles (45, t-5th). His 509 career assists is second on the BG list. Shay needs nine total bases to also move into the top 10 in that category. He has hit from the lead off spot in all 27 games this season reaching safely leading off the game for BG in 14 of those games (nine hits (five singles, two doubles, two home run), four 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 eight of the 14 games that Shay has reached safely in his first at-bat. Shay is hitting .400 in MAC play and he is hitting .556 (10-of-18) with six RBI and eight runs scored over the last four games.
SPENCER IS RBI LEADER
Junior Derek Spencer, who was a first-team All-MAC selection a year ago, leads the team with 28 RBI, tied for eighth in the MAC, while hitting at a .370 clip. He has hit safely in 19 of the 26 games this season and has an RBI in 16 contests, including at least one in each of the last five games. Spencer, who leads all BG players with a .373 career batting average, has 11 two-out RBI, also the top figure on the squad. Spencer did not start for three games between March 27-31 because of a hamstring pull, but he is back at full strength and has hit .500 (9-of-18) since returning to the starting lineup last weekend against Central Michigan. Spencer his hitting a team-best .433 in MAC play, seventh-best in the MAC.
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 .299 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 .980 fielding percentage with just four errors in 203 chances this season. He has a career .986 fielding percentage in 986 chances. He has pitched in six games this season and has one save and a 5.40 ERA in 11.2 innings of work. Hangbers has 41 career appearances covering 100.2 innings with a 4.65 ERA. His 25 career home runs is just one shy of moving into the BG career top 10. He has hit safely in 19 of the 27 games this season. Hangbers is looking to break out of a hitting slump that has seen him hit safely in six of the last nine games in which he has an at-bat, but he is hitting only .207 (6-of-29) over the period.
MEISLER LEADS IN HITTING
Junior Logan Meisler leads the team with a .398 batting average, fourth in the MAC. A career .336 hitter, Meisler is fourth on the squad with 17 RBI. He has hit safely in 20 of the 27 games this season and has an RBI in 13 contests. He is hitting .431 (22-of-51) over the last 14 games with 10 RBI and nine runs scored. He is hitting .353 in MAC play.
MALEWITZ RECORDS SHUTOUT
Sophomore Matt Malewitz has become one of the starters for the Falcons in MAC play this season, normally drawing the starting assignment in the middle game of the series. He leads the squad in ERA (2.70, 2nd in the MAC) and innings pitched (43.1, 2nd 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 March 28 as he combined with sophomore Charles Wooten on a three-hitter against Northern Illinois. Malewitz, who is 2-1 this season, is 1-0 in MAC play with a 3.05 ERA. He has gone at least five innings in six of his seven starts. Malewitz has a 2.15 ERA over his last four starts while allowing only 17 hits in 29.2 innings of work. Opposition batters are hitting only .199 against Malewitz this season, second in the MAC behind teammate Brennan Smith. In his last two starts, against Northern Illinois and Central Michigan, Malewitz has a 0.57 ERA in 15.2 innings of work allowing one earned run and seven hits while striking out 13. He is 32nd in the nation according to the latest NCAA statistics allowing 6.24 hits per nine innings.
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.
SCHMITZ REACHES 500
Head coach Danny Schmitz reached a milestone on March 31 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, 599), 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.
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 .326 as a team and averaging 7.2 runs per game while the opposition is hitting .312 and scoring 8.6 runs per outing...the Falcon batting average is the best in the MAC and is 30th in the nation...in MAC play, BG is hitting .348 and averaging 7.8 runs while the opposition is hitting .284 and scoring 6.0 runs...BG's team batting average in league play is second to Kent State (.351)...BG has 29 (1.07 per game) double plays this season...they are 52nd in the country in double plays per game and 65th 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 11 games this season - BG has scored 10 or more seven times...BG has scored 10 or more runs in seven of their last 14 games and they are averaging 8.9 runs over the period...the Falcons have 10 or more hits in 13 of their last 16 games and are hitting .344 (204-of-593) as a team over the period...the Falcon starting pitchers have compiled a 4.38 ERA this season while the relievers have a 10.66 ERA......freshman Jon Berti has started 11 of the last 13 games and has hit .366 (15-of-41) over the period with eight RBI and nine runs scored...Berti, a 36th-round pick of the Oakland A's in last summer's amateur draft, is hitting .328 for the season and is third on the squad with five stolen bases...he has hit .407 in eight MAC games thus far...BG hitters have struck out only 180 times this season, the fourth-best figure in the MAC behind only Toledo (161), Ohio (164) and Buffalo (173)...BG is far and away the MAC leader in sacrifices with 28 and they rank 23rd in the nation with that figure...they also have 11 sacrifice flies this season with their total of 39 combined sacrifices tied with Kent for the top total in the MAC...12 different BGSU players have sacrifices...BG is third in the league in on-base percentage at .399...Bowling Green has three of the seven shutouts recorded this season by MAC teams...the Falcon hitters had their best week of the season hitting .380 as a team last week in the four games, .393 in the Central Michigan series...freshman left-hander Kacy Dwornik had the best outing of his young career going the final seven innings in the second game of the doubleheader last Saturday at Central Michigan...Dwornik had a 10.12 ERA in 13.1 innings before that outing...he gave up only six hits and two earned runs while striking out four and throwing 102 pitches...he lowered his season ERA to 7.52 in earning his first victory... the Falcon hitters had their best week of the season hitting .380 as a team last week in the four games, .393 in the Central Michigan series... Bowling Green had a total of 60 hits in the four games last week and scored 37 runs...in the three games against Central Michigan, BG scored 29 runs and had 48 hits...in their eight MAC games thus far, the Falcon pitching staff has a 4.92 ERA...opposition hitters are batting .188, second in the league, against Brennan Smith in MAC action, only .213 against Matt Malewitz.
NEXT WEEK
The Falcons one mid-week game starts a six-game road swing as they oppose Oakland University in a 3 p.m. contest Wednesday (April 15). The Falcons then hit the road for a weekend conference series at Kent with games on Friday (3 p.m.), Saturday (1 p.m) and Sunday (noon).
