Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
Northern Illinois University
Falcons Continue MAC Play Against NIU This Weekend
March 27, 2014 | Baseball
BGSU and NIU will play three-game series in Westfield, Ind.
Bowling Green Falcons (6-13, 0-3 MAC)
at
Northern Illinois Huskies (3-17-1, 1-2 MAC)
Westfield Grand Park (Westfield, Ind.)
Friday, March 28, 6:00 pm Live Stats
Saturday, March 29, 1:00 pm Live Stats
Sunday, March 30, 1:00 pm Live Stats
Game Notes (.pdf)
The Pitching Matchups
Friday
Bowling Green: RHP Cody Apthorpe • 1-5, 7.20 ERA, 25.0 IP, 34 H, 13 K
Northern Illinois: LHP Anthony Andres • 1-3, 4.56 ERA, 23.2 IP, 18 H, 12 K
Saturday
Bowling Green: RHP Mike Frank • 0-4, 4.97 ERA, 29.0 IP, 32 H, 18 K
Northern Illinois: RHP Eli Anderson • 1-3, 4.01 ERA, 33.2 IP, 34 H, 25 K
Sunday
Bowling Green: LHP Andrew Lacinak • 1-2, 3.86 ERA, 25.2 IP, 20 H, 12 K
Northern Illinois: RHP Alex Klonowski • 0-1, 3.68 ERA, 29.1 IP, 21 H, 18 K
Around The Bases
• Bowling Green State University is in its 95th season of baseball. The Falcons have an all-time record of 1,569-1,360-27 and are currently 6-15 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 618-596-5.
• The Falcons are coming off the program's fourth ever NCAA Tournament appearance in 2013.
• Mid-American Conference play will continue this weekend when the Falcons take on Northern Illinois. The two teams met just once last year, with the Falcons winning 6-4 in the first round of the MAC Tournament.
A Look At Northern Illinois
• Northern Illinois enters this weekend series with an overall record of 3-17-1, and 1-2 in the Mid-American Conference.
• NIU won the first game of their MAC slate against Buffalo, beating the Bulls in convincing fashion, 15-9. However, Buffalo would win the final two games of the weekend, 3-2 and 3-1. All three games were played at a neutral site in the Chicago area.
• The Huskies are coached by Ed Mathey, who is in his 12th season at Northern Illinois.
• NIU has played a tough schedule, especially during the non-conference portion of the schedule. The Huskies began the year just 1-15-1, as their lone win came against Southern Illinois. Northern Illinois has already played two, top ten programs, as they traveled to play series at Oregon State and at Cal Poly earlier in the year.
• As a team, NIU is hitting just .207 with an ERA of 6.14.
• Justin Fletcher, a sophomore infielder, leads the Huskies with a .291 batting average. He has six extra-base hits and an on-base percentage of .351.
• Ben Neumann, a junior relief pitcher, leads NIU with a 1.93 ERA. He has made 10 appearances on the year, compiling a 1-0 record in 14 innings pitched.
• This weekend's starting rotation for Northern Illinois will be LHP Anthony Andres, RHP Eli Anderson, and RHP Alex Klonowski. Combined, the starting rotation for the Huskies is 2-7 with an ERA of 4.05. Both Klonkowski and Anderson will be making their sixth starts of the season, while Andres will make just his fourth.
The Last Meeting
• The only time that Bowling Green and Northern Illinois met during the 2013 season was in the Mid-American Conference Tournament's first round.
• In that game, the Huskies jumped out to a 4-0 lead after just three innings.
• NIU pitcher Eli Anderson was perfect through the first four innings, but the Falcons offense came alive in the fifth, scoring two runs to close the gap to 4-2.
• The Falcons would tack on single runs in both the seventh and eighth innings to tie the game, forcing extra innings.
• Ethan McKenney pitched 5.0 innings in relief, allowing just one hit and no runs.
• The Orange and Brown would score two runs in the top of the 11th inning, and Nick Bruns, who pitched the final 2.1 innings while allowing just one hit, would close it out to earn the win and help the Falcons advance to the second round.
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. Frank is currently third all-time with 253.2 innings pitched, while Apthorpe is fourth with 249.2 innings pitched.
• Jeremy Shay currently sits at 39 career doubles. He is 10th all-time, just one shy of ninth all-time.
• Two Falcons are in the top 10 all-time for putouts. T.J. Losby, currently 4th with 876, is just 162 putouts from a first place tie all-time. Jeremy Shay currently sits sixth all-time with 803 putouts.
• Ben Singer is seventh all-time with 75 career appearances. He is just 16 appearances shy of tying the all-time record.
• Mike Frank is eighth all-time for strikeouts in a career with 178, just six shy of fifth.
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.
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 130 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
T.J. Losby          2011 - pres.   130
Kelly Hunt         2001 - 2003   128
Dave Barkholz  2002 - 2004   115
T.J. Blanton       2009 - 2010   110
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 .400, which is best on the team. He has the second highest slugging percentage on the team at .467, and the highest on-base percentage at .466.
• Bien has a career batting average of .335, which is best on the Falcons. He has 16 extra-base hits and 16 stolen bases during his career.
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.
The All-Time Series
• Entering this weekend's series, the Falcons and Northern Illinois have played 40 previous times.
• Bowling Green leads the all-time series 26-13-1.
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 has already played their first 21 games of the season on the road, and will play at least the next seven away from home.
• Following this weekend's series, the Falcons will have played their first 24 games of the season on the road and traveled 6,944 miles to do so, according to Google Maps. All but one trip for the Falcons has been on a bus this season to date.
• Following this weekend's games, the Falcons are scheduled to play at Cincinnati on Wednesday, and at Western Michigan next weekend.
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.
Westfield Grand Park
• This weekend's series will be played at Westfield Grand Park in Westfield, Ind. Westfield is approximately 25 miles north of Indianapolis.
• The first-year facility features 26 baseball fields, 31 soccer, lacrosse, rugby, and football fields, and two indoor fields.
• Four of the baseball fields feature synthetic playing surface, including the field which the Falcons and Huskies will square off on this weekend.
