Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
Belmont University
Falcons Begin 2014 Campaign With Series At Belmont
February 12, 2014 | Baseball
Defending MAC Tournament Champions look to repeat in 2014
at
Belmont Bruins (0-0, 0-0 OVC)
Friday, Feb. 14, 4:00 pm CT Live Stats | Audio
Saturday, Feb. 15, 1:00 pm CT Live Stats | Audio
Sunday, Feb. 16, 1:00 pm CT Live Stats | Audio
Game Notes (.pdf)
The Pitching Matchups
Friday
Bowling Green: RHP Cody Apthorpe • 5-5, 3.86 ERA, 88.2 IP, 49 K
Belmont: RHP Austin Coley • 6-0, 3.02 ERA, 57.0 IP, 65 K
Saturday
Bowling Green: RHP Mike Frank • 5-8, 3.87 ERA, 102.1 IP, 80 K
Belmont: RHP Chase Cunningham • Walters State CC
Sunday
Bowling Green: LHP Andrew Lacinak • 0-2, 2.77 ERA, 26.0 IP, 15 K (2012)
Belmont: LHP Patrick McGrath • Jackson State CC
Around The Bases
• Bowling Green State University begins its 95th season of baseball on Friday, when the Falcons open the season at Belmont.
• The Falcons are coming off the program's fourth ever NCAA Tournament appearance in 2013.
• BGSU returns a starter at every position from the 2013 season, and will have 12 seniors on the 2014 roster.
• T.J. Losby, Jeremy Shay, and Cody Apthorpe will serve as captains in 2014.
• Head coach Danny Schmitz begins his 24th season at the helm of the Orange and Brown. He boasts a career record of 612-581-5.
• Friday's game at Belmont will be the first of 19 consecutive road games for the Falcons to begin the 2014 season.
• Bowling Green is 1-0 all-time against the Bruins. The only other meeting came in 2002, with Bowling Green taking home a 10-9 win in 10 innings.
A Look Back At 2013
• Bowling Green capped off 2013 by winning the MAC Tournament championship as the No. 6 seed, advancing to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1999.
• After starting the season just 4-15, Bowling Green went 20-14 over the final 34 games leading up to the NCAA Tournament.
• Although the Falcons finished just 24-31, that marked a four-win improvement over the 2012 season.
• The Falcons lost just three seniors from last year's team.
Falcons Have Tri-Captains In 2014
• Cody Apthorpe, T.J. Losby, and Jeremy Shay will serve as tri-captains for head coach Danny Schmitz in 2014.
• 2014 marks the third consecutive season that Apthorpe will serve as a captain. He is the only player under Schmitz - and just the second in school history - to be named a captain in three different years.
• Losby will once again serve as a captain after serving as a co-captain with Apthorpe in 2013.
• The 2014 campaign will mark the first season in which Shay will represent the Falcons as a captain.
Schmitz's 2014 Staff Very Familiar
• Anyone involved with Falcon baseball knows Danny Schmitz, who returns for his 24th season in 2014.
• For the seventh consecutive season, assistant coach Rick Blanc will serve on Schmitz's staff as the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator.
• Mike Huling returns for his second season under Schmitz. Huling served as the volunteer assistant coach in 2013 before being promoted to assistant coach in 2014.
• Garrett Gray, an All-Horizon League player at Wright State, joins the coaching staff as the volunteer assistant coach in 2014.
• Drew Kuns will assist the program as an undergraduate assistant in 2014. Kuns, who played from 2010-12 under Schmitz, served in a similar capacity in 2013.
CountERActing Opposing Hitters
• The 2013 pitching staff put together arguably the greatest season in school history last year, with an ERA of 3.83.
• That ERA marked the program's best since 1979, and also the first sub-4.00 ERA in the Schmitz era.
• Reliever Ethan McKenney, who posted a 1.99 ERA in 2013, was a big part of that success. McKenney's ERA was the best since 1997, and the 12th-best all-time.
A Look At Belmont
• Belmont, who is coached by Dave Jarvis, is coming off a 2013 campaign in which they went 38-20.
• The Bruins return their top hitter from a year ago. Alec Diamond, who is a junior in 2014, hit .351 a season ago in 49 games.
• One of Belmont's top pitchers also returns in 2014. Dan Ludwig, a left-handed pitcher, compiled an 11-2 record with a 3.83 ERA in 2013.
Falcons Have Senior-Laden Squad
• Head coach Danny Schmitz welcomes back 12 seniors in 2014, which includes five pitchers and seven position players.
• The five senior pitchers bring 243 games of experience and 731.0 innings pitched to the table.
• The seven position players, who have all played in at least 100 career games, have played in 890 total games and compiled 2,776 at-bats.
Starters Return At Every Position
• For the second consecutive season, Bowling Green will return a starter from the previous season at every position.
• BGSU also returns all three weekend starters.
Losby A Leader In All Aspects
• T.J. Losby will serve as a tri-captain of the Falcons in 2014. He was also a captain during the 2013 campaign.
• Losby, who has become one of the best catchers in the Midwest, was named first team All-MAC and second team All-Midwest Region in 2013.
• The senior from Bryan, Ohio has appeared in 109 consecutive games, including every game during the past two seasons.
Apthorpe Sets The Tone
• Cody Apthorpe was elected a tri-captain for the third consecutive season. He is the first player under Danny Schmitz to be named a captain three times.
• 2014 will also mark the third straight season that Apthorpe will get the ball on opening day.
• The fifth-year senior enters the 2014 season with 224.2 innings pitched in his career, tied with classmate Mike Frank inside the top 10 on the school records list.
Shay Has Breakout 2013 Season
• Jeremy Shay was named second team All-MAC at first base in 2013, despite winning the triple crown during Mid-American Conference play.
• Shay was also named to the All-Tournament team of the NCAA Louisville Regional in 2013.
• A captain in 2014, Shay led the Falcons with a .330 batting average in 2013. He also led the team with 35 runs scored, 15 doubles, and a slugging percentage of .524.
Frank Looking To Set Records In 2014
• Fifth-year senior Mike Frank is looking to continue his dominance that he displayed for much of the 2013 season.
• Frank, who threw 102.1 innings, struck out 80 batters a year ago. His innings mark was second-most in school history for a single season, while his strikeouts tied him for seventh.
• Frank enters 2014 tied for eighth all-time in innings pitched with 224.2. His 160 career strikeouts are just one shy of breaking into the top 10 in school history.
Lacinak Finally Returns
• Andrew Lacinak will make his return to the mound this weekend at Belmont when he toes the rubber on Sunday in the series finale.
• Lacinak, who pitched on Sundays in 2012, missed the past 22 months following Tommy John Surgery.
Falcons Put Streaks On The Line
• Jeremy Shay finished the 2013 season riding a 14-game hitting streak, which dates back to May 11 when the streak began at Ohio.
• T.J. Losby will also look to continue his consecutive-games played streak, which dates back to the season finale in 2011 at the MAC Tournament. Losby has played in 109 consecutive games, including all 108 the past two seasons.
Roll Along You BG (Road) Warriors
• It is no secret, that when you are a northern school, you must travel in order to be able to play games early in the season.
• Bowling Green will play their first 19 games of the season on the road, with trips to Nashville, Tenn., Murray, Ky., Atlanta, Ga., High Point, N.C., Dayton, Ohio, and Winter Haven, Fla.
• Over those first 19 games, which spans 31 days, the Falcons will travel 6,244 miles, according to Google Maps.
• The longest trip, round-trip, will come when BGSU ventures to Atlanta to play Georgia Tech in a three-game series.
Chasing Records In 2014
• Andrew Kubuski enters the season with 512 career at-bats. He is 97 at-bats shy of the all-time top 10, and is the current leader of the Falcons in that category.
• Jeremy Shay currently sits at 32 career doubles. He is six shy of the all-time top 10.
• Jake Thomas has hit eight triples during the past two seasons, and currently sits in a tie for 10th all-time.
• Kubuski also is the active leader in games played with 148. He is 42 games from moving into a 10th-place tie all-time.
• Two Falcons will be in the top 10 all-time for putouts after this weekend. T.J. Losby, currently 5th with 756, is just 282 putouts from a first place tie all-time. Jeremy Shay currently sits just three putouts shy of 10th all-time, with 665.
• Ben Singer is just outside the top 10 for appearances all-time. His 67 are two shy of 10th all-time, and he is just 24 appearances short of the all-time record.
• Both Mike Frank and Cody Apthorpe are tied for 8th all-time with 224.1 innings pitched. The all-time record is 295.0 innings by Kip Young.
• Frank is also just one strikeout shy of moving into the top 10. He currently has 160 strikeouts after recording 80 last season. The all-time record for strikeouts is also held by Kip Young with 232.
