Falcon Baseball Ready For Battle Of I-75

Tuesday, April 28

Bowling Green, Ohio

3:05 pm ET

Bowling Green State University

Toledo

April 27, 2015 | Baseball, The Battle Of I-75

BGSU will host UT Tuesday; travel to UT Wednesday

By: by Scott Swegan, BGSU Athletic Communications

The Week In Falcon Baseball
The Bowling Green State University baseball team is scheduled to play five games this week, including four at Warren E. Steller Field. The Falcons first host arch-rival Toledo in the Battle of I-75 on Tuesday afternoon, before returning the home-and-home series with the Rockets on Wednesday. After the midweek rivalry series, the Falcons host Akron in a three-game series this weekend, beginning on Friday afternoon.

BGSU Coaching Staff
Bowling Green is coached by Danny Schmitz, who is in his 25th season at the helm of the Orange and Brown. Schmitz owns 653 career wins and 341 Mid-American Conference wins in his career, both of which are the third-most in MAC history. He is assisted by Rick Blanc, who is in his eighth season in charge of BGSU's pitchers and recruiting. Ryan Shay coaches the hitters and infielders, while Garrett Gray coaches the catchers under Schmitz.

About Falcon Baseball
The BGSU baseball program is in the midst of its 95th season playing varsity baseball, with an all-time record of 1,604-1,394-27. The Falcons have won seven MAC East championships, five MAC regular season titles, and have won the MAC Tournament on three occasions. Bowling Green has qualified for the MAC Tournament 11 times since 1994, including six times in the last seven seasons.

Scouting Toledo
Toledo enters the midweek series with an overall record of 17-26. Despite the two games not counting towards the MAC standings, the Rockets are currently 10-8 in league play and one game ahead of the Falcons. UT is coached by Cory Mee, who is in his 12th season at the helm of the midnight blue and gold. He is assisted by Josh Bradford, Nick McIntyre, and Jake Oester. As a team the Rockets have a batting average of .236 and an earned run average of 4.29. Toledo has been strong as a pitching staff, leading the MAC in team ERA during conference play. AJ Montoya leads the Rockets with a .310 batting average. BGSU will see RHP Alec Schmenk (Perrysburg, Ohio) and LHP Alex Wagner (Brighton, Mich.) this week on the mound. Schmenk has a 4.75 ERA in 36.0 IP this season while Wagner has a 7.20 ERA in 30.0 IP for Toledo. The duo has a combined record of 3-5.

The Battle of I-75
Bowling Green is 122-86 all-time in the series with arch-rival Toledo. The Falcons have won 7-of-8 in the series, including sweeping a midweek home-and-home series last season. In 2013, BGSU swept a weekend series on the road from the Rockets, and won 2-of-3 at the MAC Tournament to eliminate UT. The Falcons have won nine straight on the road at Toledo, with their last loss coming in 2007.

They Said It
"We are excited for our two-game series against arch-rival Toledo this week," head coach Danny Schmitz said. "The weather is starting to break and we hope to get a lot of fans out to the ballpark on Tuesday, as well as this weekend when we host Akron."

Falcons Soar Past Chippewas
BGSU entered the weekend at first-place CMU at 7-8 in MAC play, but came away with a series win over the previously 12-3 Chippewas to improve their MAC Tournament stock. The Falcons became the first team in 2015 to beat Central Michigan in a weekend series. On Friday, BGSU won 7-2 before losing to the Chippewas 3-1 Saturday. Then, in the rubbermatch on Sunday, BGSU dominated CMU in a 5-1 win, outhitting them 16-3.

BGSU, LLC
Bowling Green's starting rotation of Jason Link, Andrew Lacinak, and Zac Carey has been dominant over the last two weekends, leading the Falcons to two MAC series wins. Over the last four weekends, the rotation has a combined record of 7-2. But, over the last two weekends the trio has combined to allow just four earned runs in 43.1 IP (0.83 ERA).

Sundays Are For The Offense
Bowling Green's offense has enjoyed playing on Sundays during the 2015 season, leading the Falcons to a 3-1 record on Sunday. The Falcons have scored 36 runs (9.0 runs per game) and recorded 54 hits (13.5 hits per game) in four Sunday games this season.

Second-Half Schmitz
Danny Schmitz has proven over the course of his 25-year head coaching career that he knows how to have his teams playing their best baseball in the second half of the year. Schmitz's all-time record is 653-630-5 (.509), but his career record in April and beyond is 439-387-1 (.531). The Falcons, who are 9-6 this season in the month of April, are playing their best baseball as the MAC Tournament nears.

The Turnaround
Bowling Green has had a remarkable turnaround the last 17 games, after starting the season 5-16 (0-5 MAC). At that point, the Falcons had lost 10 straight games and had been beaten badly by NIU in the first two games of the series. But, a veteran-led club infused with talent from the freshman/newcomer class has helped the Falcons gel and put themselves in a good position going into the final stretch.

First 21		Last 17
5-16	Record	11-6
0-5	MAC Record	9-4
.263	Batting Avg.	.295
.347	Slugging Pct.	.399
.335	On-base Pct.	.367
23	Stolen Bases	26
5.14	Runs/game	6.24
5.92	ERA	3.05
7.09	Runs/game allowed	3.82
.308	Opp. Average	.221

The MAC Race
With just three weekends left in Mid-American Conference play, the race for the tournament is heating up. The No. 2 through No. 8 seeds are separated by just two games, while the No. 2 through No. 11 seeds are separated by just four games. All 12 teams are still in contention for one of the eight seeds. BGSU currently sits in a three-way tie for sixth, with Akron and Western Michigan. The Falcons own the tiebreaker over the Broncos and will host the Zips this weekend.

This Weekend's MAC Schedule
Akron (9-9) at BGSU (9-9)
Ball St. (10-8) at WMU (9-9)
E. Michigan (7-11) at Miami (7-11)
Kent St. (11-7) at Buffalo (5-13)
N. Illinois (7-11) at C. Michigan (13-5)
Toledo (10-8) at Ohio (11-7)

The Missing Link
Jason Link (Hamilton, Ohio) has set the tone the last three weeks as the Falcons' Friday starter, winning three consecutive starts on the mound. A converted reliever, Link has tossed a career-high for innings pitched in each of the last three weekends, including 7.0 IP in Friday's 7-2 win over first-place CMU. Link struck out a career-high nine batters, shattering his previous record of five. He carried a no-hitter into the sixth and only allowed three hits.

Careying His Weight
Zac Carey (London, Ohio) has arguably been BGSU's best pitcher during MAC play, going 4-0 in six starts with an ERA of 1.98. Carey has not allowed an earned run in each of the last two starts (16.1 IP, 1 R/0 ER) and has only allowed one earned run in his last 24.1 IP (0.37 ERA), going 3-0 during that stretch.

Bien Making A Late Impact
Brian Bien (Cincinnati, Ohio) got off to a slow start this season, batting just .171 through the season's first 21 games. But, over the last 17 games, Bien is hitting .382 to lead the Falcons. His turnaround has correlated with the Falcons' turnaround, as BGSU has gone 11-6 during that stretch. Bien is closing in on several Falcon records:
• 661 career at-bats are currently 6th; 664 AB's will tie him for 4th all-time
• 211 hits is tied for 9th; 213 hits will move him into a tie for 8th
• 539 career fielding assists is 3rd all-time; 562 would put him in a tie for 2nd

What Can Brown Do For You?
Junior college transfer Kory Brown (Sparta, Mich.) has found his groove in the leadoff spot, batting .345 this season in 15 starts. He has an on-base percentage of .422 and slugging percentage of .473 in 15 games as the Falcons' leadoff batter. He has scored 16 runs with four doubles and a home run. This past weekend, Brown led off both wins with extra base hits – a home run on Friday and a double on Sunday.