Falcons Welcome Akron To Town For Crucial Weekend Series

Friday, May 1

Bowling Green, Ohio

3:05 pm ET

Bowling Green State University

Akron

April 30, 2015 | Baseball

By: by Scott Swegan, BGSU Athletic Communications

The Week In Falcon Baseball
After splitting a midweek series with the University of Toledo, the Bowling Green State University baseball team returns home for a weekend series against University of Akron. The Falcons and Zips are tied for sixth in the MAC standings entering the weekend at 9-9. The series begins on Friday at 3:00 p.m.

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 1,605-1,395-27. 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 The Zips
Akron enters the weekend with an overall record of 21-22. The Zips are 9-9 in the MAC after getting swept on the road at Ohio last weekend. UofA has lost five consecutive MAC games, after a 9-4 start in league play. Head coach Rick Rembielak is in his fourth season at the helm of the Zips. He is assisted by Fred Worth (hitting), Kyle Smith (pitching), and Matt Burns (volunteer). Akron features a strong pitching staff, including a weekend rotation with all three pitchers having ERAs under 3.30. Akron is batting .275 with an earned run average of 3.84. Joey Havrilak leads the Zips with his .341 batting average. He is the only player with an average over .285.

The Akron Series
Bowling Green leads the all-time series with Akron, boasting a record of 40-28 all-time. The Falcons swept Akron on the road last season and have won 5-of-6 over the Zips. BGSU has won 5-of-6 against Akron in Bowling Green. The series started in 1983, a 4-0 Falcons win.

They Said It
"We hope that we will have a lot of fans out at the ballpark all weekend long for our big series against Akron," head coach Danny Schmitz said. "We are tied with them in the MAC standings, so this weekend is very important. The MAC is a really tight race right now so we must execute all weekend long."

BGSU Splits Battle Of I-75
Bowling Green and arch-rival Toledo split a midweek series this past week, each winning on their home turf. The games did not count towards the conference standings. The Falcons won 5-1 on Tuesday in front of 501 fans at sunny Steller Field. Then, on Wednesday, the Falcons were defeated 13-6 at cloudy Scott Park.

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 654-631-5 (.509), but his career record in April and beyond is 440-388-1 (.531). The Falcons, who are 10-7 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 19 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 19
5-16	Record	12-7
0-5	MAC Record	9-4
.263	Batting Avg.	.295
.347	Slugging Pct.	.398
.335	On-base Pct.	.370
23	Stolen Bases	28
5.14	Runs/game	6.16
5.92	ERA	3.50
7.09	Runs/game allowed	4.16
.308	Opp. Average	.231

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 19 games, Bien is hitting .390 to lead the Falcons. His turnaround has correlated with the Falcons' turnaround, as BGSU has gone 12-7 during that stretch. Bien is closing in on several Falcon records:
• 665 career at-bats are currently 4th; 680 AB's will tie him for 3rd all-time
• 213 hits is tied for 8th; 215 hits will move him into a tie for 7th
• 542 career fielding assists is 3rd all-time; 562 would put him in a tie for 2nd

Howard Running Into Record Book
Redshirt senior Brandon Howard (Cincinnati, Ohio) has played in 192 games during his Falcon baseball career, ninth-most in school history. He has 56 stolen bases which is tied with BGSU baseball legend Jon Berti for third in school history. With his steal of home on Wednesday at Toledo, Howard set a new career mark with 24 stolen bases this season. That is tied for fifth all-time for a single season. Howard is just eight shy of tying the record.