Two Road Series Ahead For Falcons

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Bowling Green, Ohio – The Falcon softball team hits the road this weekend, as they face Northern Illinois University in a Friday (April 3) doubleheader. Then, BG will play single games at Western Michigan University on Saturday and Sunday (April 4-5).

ABOUT THE HUSKIES
Game 1 vs. NIU: Friday, April 3 at 1 p.m.
Game 2 vs. NIU: Friday, April 3 at 3 p.m.

Northern Illinois enters the BG doubleheader with an overall record of 15-13 (2-0 MAC). Most recently, the Huskies completed a two-game sweep of Akron in their Mid-American Conference opener, defeating the Zips 9-1 and 9-8. The Huskies are led by third-year head coach Christina Sutcliffe, and assisted by Alicia Abbott and Heather Han.

ABOUT THE BRONCOS
Game 1 vs. WMU: Saturday, April 4 at 2 p.m.
Game 2 vs. WMU: Sunday, April 5 at 1 p.m.

Western Michigan currently sits at 6-16 overall, but faces IPFW in a double header this afternoon and Toledo in a doubleheader Friday, before taking on the Falcons Saturday and Sunday. The Broncos went head to head with Ohio this past weekend in WMU's MAC opener, but came up short in both contests, losing 8-9 and 2-3. Head Coach Kathy Leitke is in her 15th season with program and is assisted by Marie Foster and Andy VandenBerg.

FOLLOW THE FALCONS
Fans can follow the BGSU softball team throughout the season on Twitter on the official team account @BGSUSoftball and through the official account of the Athletics Department @BGAthletics.

WHAT COACH SALSBURG IS SAYING
On this weekends matchups: "We are going to get back to work in the morning. Northern Illinois is a very feisty team. They work very hard. They're a team that can pitch a little, hit a lot and play some defense. Western [Michigan] right now, it seems just based off the stats and our scouts are swinging the ball very, very well. I think in both series' the key is going to be offensively being aggressive. We have to be the more aggressive team."

On conference play: "The thing in our conference right now is that teams are scoring against each other, so you've got to find a way to get that out and and find a way to be the more aggressive team offensively. That's what we are going to focus on tomorrow and Thursday before we leave."

LAST TIME OUT
Sophomore Aspen Searle homered to lead off the bottom of the ninth inning in yesterday's game two win against the University of Detroit Mercy, giving the Bowling Green State University softball team a 6-5 win and a sweep of the teams' Tuesday (March 31) doubleheader. The Falcons topped the Titans, 2-1, in the first game at Meserve Field. With the win, the Falcons are now 11-13 on the season, and BGSU has won four games in a row and six of the last seven contests

SCHEDULE CHANGES WORK IN FALCONS' FAVOR
The Falcons, who originally were scheduled to open the home portion of the season on April 10, are now 4-0 at Meserve Field this year. BG's Mid-American Conference-opening series at Toledo last weekend was moved to Bowling Green due to field conditions at the Rockets' Scott Park, and the Falcons swept a Sunday (March 29) twinbill with the Rockets. Tuesday's DH, as mentioned, was slated to be held at Detroit's Buysse Ballpark before being moved to BG.

PITCHING PROPELS BG TO 4-0 HOME RECORD
Briana Combs pitched both games of a doubleheader sweep of Toledo, including a complete game shutout in game two. In the first contest, she earned the final two outs and got a game-ending strikeout in the 7-3 victory. Then in game two, the sophomore from Northville, Mich., fired the first complete-game shutout of her career, scattering five hits and striking out five batters without a walk in the 4-0 win. She allowed just one runner past second base and that came on an error.

In the team's second series in four days, Jamie Kertes struck out a season-high eight batters in the first game against Detroit, allowing just one run before giving way to Combs. Combs got the last two outs of that game to pick up a save, then pitched into the fifth inning of game two before Kertes replaced her with the contest tied at 5-5. The senior allowed just one hit in four-and-two-thirds innings of relief, striking out seven without walking a batter. On the day, Kertes allowed the Titans to hit just .171 against her, giving up only six hits in 11 innings of work. She struck out 15 batters, walking just two.

SEARLE SPARKS OFFENSE
Aspen Searle's home run yesterday evening to complete the sweep was her sixth of the season. She has doubled her total from a year ago just 24 games into the season. Searle now has 17 RBI on the season, topping her total for all of 2014 (16) in that category as well. The sophomore has a total of 15 extra-base hits this season, after registering nine during her freshman season.

FAST START FALCONS
BGSU has now scored 42 first inning runs through 24 games this season to date. The Falcons started the season having scored 22 first inning runs through the team's first eight games. BGSU scored a total of four runs in the first inning in the two Toledo games last weekend, and six runs in the first inning of Tuesday's doubleheader versus Detroit. The Falcons highest scoring first inning was at the Cleveland State Dome Tournament (Feb. 6-8), with 10 against Canisius in BG's third game of the tournament.

PRESEASON POLL
BGSU was chosen to finish sixth in the Mid-American Conference East Division in the Softball preseason coaches poll, as announced Tuesday afternoon by the league offices. Defending MAC Champions Ohio University was tabbed to be the favorite in the East Division in 2015, receiving eight out of a possible 12 first place votes. Kent State was picked to finish second with two votes, and Akron and Buffalo each received one first place vote. The Zips and Bulls were chosen to finish third and fourth, respectively. Miami was picked to finish fifth in the East, followed by BGSU in sixth to round out the East.

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Briana Combs

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Aspen Searle

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