Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
Ball State University
Falcons Begin MAC Play At Ball State
March 20, 2014 | Baseball
Falcons and Cardinals set for three-game rematch of 2013 MAC Championship Game
Bowling Green Falcons (6-12, 0-0 MAC)
at
Ball State Cardinals (13-8, 0-0 MAC)
Friday, March 21, 3:00 pm Live Stats | Audio
Saturday, March 22, 1:00 pm Live Stats | Audio
Sunday, March 23, 1:00 pm Live Stats
Game Notes (.pdf)
The Pitching Matchups
Friday
Bowling Green: RHP Cody Apthorpe • 1-4, 6.75 ERA, 21.1 IP, 28 H, 12 K
Ball State: RHP T.J. Weir • 1-1, 3.60 ERA, 30.0 IP, 31 H, 30 K
Saturday
Bowling Green: RHP Mike Frank • 0-3, 5.48 ERA, 21.1 IP, 22 H, 14 K
Ball State: RHP Scott Baker • 2-2, 5.04 ERA, 25.0 IP, 30 H, 20 K
Sunday
Bowling Green: LHP Andrew Lacinak • 1-1, 3.43 ERA, 21.0 IP, 16 H, 9 K
Ball State: RHP Zach Plesac • 5-1, 1.88 ERA, 24.0 IP, 19 H, 24 K
Around The Bases
• Bowling Green State University is in its 95th season of baseball. The Falcons have an all-time record of 1,569-1,357-27 and are currently 6-12 in 2014.
• T.J. Losby, Jeremy Shay, and Cody Apthorpe will serve as captains in 2014.
• Head coach Danny Schmitz is in his 24th season at the helm of the Orange and Brown. He boasts a career record of 618-593-5.
• The Falcons are coming off the program's fourth ever NCAA Tournament appearance in 2013.
• This weekend's series at Ball State will mark the start of Mid-American Conference play.
• The Falcons finished 2013 at 13-14 in the conference, and have an all-time MAC record of 576-610-4.
A Look At Ball State
• Ball State is coached by Rich Maloney, who is in his 20th season as a head coach, and 10th at Ball State. He is in his second career stint at BSU and holds an all-time record of 642-420-1.
• Ball State is 13-8 this season after posting a 3-3 record in its six games in North Carolina last week. The Cardinals played at Campbell and then hosted IPFW in a four game series in North Carolina as a part of their spring break trip.
• The Cardinals have a team batting average of .269 and an ERA of 5.90.
• Alex Call leads the Cardinals with a batting average of .365. Senior outfielder Sean Godfrey, who is hitting .297 and has started all 21 games, leads the team with 12 doubles, four home runs, and a slugging percentage of .560.
• Freshman right-hander Zach Plesac, who is expected to start his third game of the season on Sunday, is 5-1 with a 1.88 ERA. He has appeared in nine game, striking out 24 batters in 24 innings.
MAC Championship Rematch
• This weekend's series will be a rematch of the 2013 Mid-American Conference Tournament Championship, a game which the Falcons won 7-0 to advance to the NCAA Tournament.
• Ball State's All-American pitcher Scott Baker got the start against BGSU's Nick Bruns. Despite a scoreless game early on, the Falcons would knock Baker out in the fifth inning, when they put up a decisive seven-spot.
• Bruns would shut the Cardinals down from there, tossing a complete-game shutout, and allowing just four hits, to earn MAC Tournament MVP honors and National Pitcher of the Week.
Chasing Records In 2014
• Both Mike Frank and Cody Apthorpe enter the weekend inside the top 10 for innings pitched all time. The all-time record is 295.0 innings by Kip Young. Apthorpe and Frank are both tied for fourth all-time, with 246.0 innings pitched in their careers.
• Jeremy Shay currently sits at 38 career doubles. He is tied for 10th all-time with Mike Combs (1993-96).
• Two Falcons are in the top 10 all-time for putouts. T.J. Losby, currently 4th with 856, is just 182 putouts from a first place tie all-time. Jeremy Shay currently sits in a tie for 6th all-time with 783 putouts.
• Ben Singer is seventh all-time with 73 career appearances. He is just 18 appearances shy of tying the all-time record.
• Mike Frank is 10th all-time for strikeouts in a career with 174, just five short of ninth.
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 has also played in 127 straight games, dating back to 2011. He is one of just six players since 2001 to play in every game over the span of two consecutive seasons, which he did in both 2012 and 2013.
Player                Date               Consecutive GP
Ryan Shay         2006 - 2009   194
Jeff Warnock      2002 - 2005   144
Kelly Hunt         2001 - 2003   128
T.J. Losby          2011 - pres.   127
Dave Barkholz   2002 - 2004   115
T.J. Blanton      2009 - 2010   110
Fitzwater, Miller Toss No-Hitter
• Bowling Green's duo of Brett Fitzwater and Chris Miller combined to throw a no-hitter last Friday (March 14) against Bucknell during the second game of a doubleheader in Lakeland, Fla., a 7-0 victory for BGSU.
• Fitzwater went the first five innings for the win, striking out six.
• Miller finished off the game for his first career save, striking out two over three innings.
• The duo earned MAC East Co-Pitchers of the Week for their efforts.
• It was the ninth no-hitter in school history and first since April 5, 1995.
Falcons Have Tri-Captains In 2014
• Seniors Cody Apthorpe, T.J. Losby, and Jeremy Shay will serve as tri-captains in 2014.
Apthorpe and Losby were both captains last season. Apthorpe was also a captain in 2011, while Shay will serve as a first-time captain.
Bien There, Done That
• Junior shortstop Brian Bien has consistently been a pain for opposing teams during his career, both at the plate and in the field defensively.
• Bien is currently batting .397, which is best on the team. He has the second highest slugging percentage on the team at .460, and the highest on-base percentage at .467.
• Bien has a career batting average of .332, which is best on the Falcons. He has 15 extra-base hits and 16 stolen bases during his career.
Apthorpe, Losby Have CLASS
• Bowling Green State University seniors Cody Apthorpe and T.J. Losby were named national candidates for the Senior CLASS Award this week, two of just 30 players in the country.
• Apthorpe and Losby are the only two players to be listed among the national candidates from the Mid-American Conference.
• The award is named for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School.
How The Falcons Stack Up
• Following non-conference play, Bowling Green sits in the middle of the pack in both team batting and pitching. The Falcons are fifth with a batting average of .271 and seventh with an ERA of 4.78.
• Brian Bien is currently eighth in the MAC with a batting average of .397. He is tied for fifth in the conference with 25 hits (in 18 games).
• Centerfielder Patrick Lancaster is tied for sixth in the MAC with eight stolen bases.
• Jeremy Shay is sixth in the league with 34 total bases.
• Bien's on-base percentage is seventh in the Mid-American Conference, at .467.
• Andrew Lacinak currently sits in ninth with an opponent batting average of .222.
• Ethan McKenney is tied for third in appearances with nine, and fourth in saves with two.
Howard Heating Up
• Infielder Brandon Howard had a great week at the Russ Matt Invitational, raising his season batting average to .391.
• In Saturday morning's game against Maine, Howard pinch-hit in the bottom of the sixth, going 3-for-3 with a single, double, and triple. He scored two runs and had three RBI, proving to be directly responsible for all five Falcon runs.
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 22 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 the first 18 games of the season, which spanned 31 days, the Falcons travelled 6,244 miles, according to Google Maps.
• Bowling Green will continue their season-long road trip this weekend with a trip to Muncie, Ind. Following this weekend, the Falcons will also play a midweek game on the road at Toledo.
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.
Looking Ahead
• Following this weekend's Mid-American Conference-opening series at Ball State, the Falcons will travel to Toledo for a midweek game vs. the Rockets. That game will be considered a nonconference game for the two schools.
• Finally, following that midweek game at UT, the Falcons will host Northern Illinois to open their home slate.
• That three-game series will begin on Friday, with first pitch taking place at 3:05 p.m. Saturday and Sunday's games will both begin at 1:05 p.m.
