Falcons Welcome Kent State To Town For Huge MAC East Showdown

The Pitching Matchups
Friday
Bowling Green: RHP Mike Frank • 3-4, 4.06 ERA, 57.2 IP, 52 H, 41 K
Kent State: LHP Eric Lauer • 7-2, 2.04 ERA, 53.0 IP, 31 H, 42 K

Saturday
Bowling Green: LHP Brett Fitzwater • 1-1, 4.50 ERA, 16.0 IP, 11 H, 10 K
Kent State: RHP Nick Jensen-Clagg • 4-1, 4.18 ERA, 47.1 IP, 47 H, 43 K

Sunday
Bowling Green: LHP Andrew Lacinak • 4-3, 4.27 ERA, 46.1 IP, 42 H, 21 K
Kent State: LHP Brian Clark • 4-6, 4.20 ERA, 55.2 IP, 50 H, 38 K

The Starting Lineup
• Bowling Green enters this weekend with an overall record of 17-19. The Falcons are 8-7 in Mid-American Conference play.
• The Falcons have won five consecutive games, their longest winning streak of the season.
• Bowling Green is coached by Danny Schmitz. Schmitz, who is in his 24th season, has a career record of 629-600-5.
• After starting 0-4 in MAC play this season, Bowling Green has won 8-of-11 against conference foes.
• Overall, the Falcons have won 11-of-14 after starting just 6-16.
• The Falcons have increased their batting average from .267 to .282 during their five-game winning streak.
• Brian Bien leads the Falcons with an average of .362. He has a team-high 50 hits and 11 stolen bases.
• Bowling Green has stolen 44 bases in the first 36 games of the 2014 season. The Falcons stole just 37 bases in 55 games last season.
• Mike Frank will start Friday's game. He is 3-1 with a 3.22 ERA in five MAC starts. He has pitched 36.1 innings and struck out 27 against MAC foes.

A Look At Kent State
• Kent State enters the weekend series with a 27-13 record overall. The Golden Flashes are 11-4 in Mid-American Conference play.
• Jeff Duncan is in his first season at the helm at KSU. Duncan, who came from Purdue, replaced Scott Stricklin who left Kent State following the 2013 season for the same position at Georgia.
• The Golden Flashes have a team batting average of .293. KSU has an ERA of 3.46.
• Zarley Zalewski leads the charge with a .399 average. He has started 39 games.
• Alex Miklos bats .368 and has 27 extra base hits to go along with 16 stolen bases. His slugging percentage of .626 leads Kent State.
• Kent State has one of the top pitching staffs in the MAC, led by freshman starter Eric Lauer. Lauer, who will start Friday's contest, has a 7-2 record with a 2.04 ERA.
• Eric Dorsch and Michael Clark lead the Flashes out of the pen. Dorsch is 1-1 with a 1.52 ERA in 18 appearances this season, while Clark is 2-1 with a 1.69 ERA.
• Kent State has recorded 115 extra base hits for a team slugging percentage of .408.
•KSU's speed will pose problems for BGSU, as they are 67-of-81 in stolen bases this year.

Headed For The Home Stretch
• With just 12 Mid-American Conference games remaining, each series will be of the utmost importance to Bowling Green's hopes of qualifying for the MAC Tournament.
• Bowling Green is currently tied for fourth in the MAC East, and sixth overall. The top eight teams, regardless of division, qualify for next month's MAC Tournament in Avon, Ohio.
• BGSU (8-7) hosts Kent State (11-4) this weekend. After this weekend, the Falcons play at Miami (8-7), vs. Ohio (2-13), and at Buffalo (8-6) to close out MAC play.

Falcons On Five-Game Winning Streak
• The Falcons enter the weekend on a five-game winning streak, dating back to a 17-8 win over Central Michigan on April 13.
• Bowling Green has outscored opponents 52-25 during the winning streak, batting .365 as a team.
• T.J. Losby is batting .556 during the winning streak with a slugging percentage of .833. Four Falcons are batting over .400 during the winning streak, while three others are hitting over .300.

Rewriting The Record Books
• Redshirt senior Mike Frank moved into second place all-time for innings pitched last weekend. The right-hander has now thrown 276.1 innings during his career, just 12.2 shy of the all-time record currently held by Kip Young (1973-76).
• Frank is currently third all-time with 201 career strikeouts. The redshirt senior is just the third player in school history with more than 200 strikeouts.
• Ben Singer has made 78 career appearances, tied for sixth-most all-time at BGSU. He is 13 appearances shy of tying the all-time record of 91 appearances.
• Jeremy Shay has doubled 11 times this season, including two last weekend. He now has 43 career two-baggers, eighth-most in school history.
• T.J. Losby has had a prolific career, spent mostly behind the dish. His 983 putouts are fourth most, just 55 shy of the all-time record.
• Fellow senior Jeremy Shay is right behind Losby for career putouts. Shay has 892 putouts of his own, fifth-most all-time.
• Shortstop Brian Bien has 404 career assists, good for seventh all-time in school history.
• Senior outfielder Andrew Kubuski has 604 at-bats during his career, just five shy of the top 10 all-time.

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 145 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
T.J. Losby          2011 - pres.   145
Jeff Warnock       2002 - 2005   144
Kelly Hunt          2001 - 2003   128
Dave Barkholz   2002 - 2004   115
T.J. Blanton        2009 - 2010   110

Speed Separating The Falcons
• Bowling Green has swiped 44 bases during the first 36 games of the 2014 season. A year ago, the Falcons stole just 37 bases in 55 games.
• BGSU swipes bags at a 75% success rate, compared to their opponents rate of just 64%.
• Brian Bien leads a trio of Falcons with double-digit steals. Bien has stolen 11 bases in 15 attempts this season. Brandon Howard (10-of-11) and Patrick Lancaster (10-of-16) join Bien in double digits.
• Four other Falcons have stolen at least two bases during the 2014 season.

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.

The Snow Out That Changed The Season
• Following a 9-0 loss on March 28 to Northern Illinois, Bowling Green was 6-16 overall and 0-4 in MAC play.
• The next day, snow and freezing rain in Indianapolis forced a cancellation and day off.
• BGSU has used that off day to their advantage, turning their season around since then. The Falcons have gone 11-3 since that day, including an 8-3 mark in the MAC.

Losby Leaving It All On The Field
• T.J. Losby has made his senior season count, batting .352 through the first 36 games in 2014.
• Since starting the season just 19-for-75, Losby has hit .500 (25-for-50) in the last 14 games.
• Losby leads the Falcons during MAC play with an average of .446 and slugging percentage of .571.

Bien An All-Around Player
• Junior shortstop Brian Bien leads the Falcons with a .362 batting average. He has a team-high 50 hits and has stolen 11 bases.
• Bien has nine bunts which have gone for base hits this season.
• The Falcon leadoff hitter has an on-base percentage of .418, thanks to his 14 walks. He has struck out just 10 times.

Shay Getting His Way With Opposition
• Jeremy Shay is batting .331 this season with a team-high 11 doubles and 26 RBI. He also leads the Falcons with a .476 slugging percentage and on-base percentage of .451.
• Shay has walked 23 times and been hit by five pitches this season. He has struck out just 20 times.

Who Do You Pitch To?
• Danny Schmitz has quite a luxury in the middle of his order this season with the production of both Jeremy Shay and T.J. Losby.
• The duo is hitting a combined .337 with 17 doubles, four triples, and a home run.
• They have both shown patience at the plate, not chasing pitches outside of their hitting zone. The duo has walked 38 times and been hit 10 times.

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.

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