Falcons Flock To Athens For Crucial Weekend Series

Friday, April 10

Athens, OH

7:00 p.m. ET

Bowling Green State University

Ohio

April 09, 2015 | Baseball

By: by Scott Swegan, BGSU Athletic Communications

Bowling Green Falcons (9-18, 3-6 MAC)
at
Ohio Bobcats (18-12, 5-4 MAC)
Athens, Ohio (Bob Wren Stadium)
Friday (6 p.m.) LIVE STATS | LIVE AUDIO
Saturday (1 p.m.) LIVE STATS | LIVE AUDIO
Sunday (1 p.m.) LIVE STATS | LIVE AUDIO
Complete Game Notes (.pdf)

The Weekend In Falcon Baseball
The Bowling Green State University baseball team hits the road for a three-game series this weekend at Ohio. The Falcons will play the Bobcats this weekend, beginning on Friday at 6:00 p.m. Saturday and Sunday are both slated for a 1:00 p.m. first pitch time, and all three games are scheduled to be played at Bob Wren Stadium. Following this weekend of play, the Falcons will return home for four games next week, beginning on Tuesday with another non-league matchup with the Eagles of EMU.

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 646 career wins and 335 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 1,597-1,390-27. 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.

About The Bobcats
Ohio University enters the weekend series against the Falcons with an overall record of 18-12. The Bobcats are 5-4 in the Mid-American Conference after sweeping Buffalo last weekend. Ohio enters this weekend on a four-game winning streak, after defeating Marshall 4-2 on Wednesday afternoon. As a team, the Bobcats are hitting .288 with a team earned run average of 4.67. Ohio is coached by Rob Smith, who is in his third season at the helm of the Green and White. He is assisted by Craig Moore, Mitch Moorman, and C.J. Wamsley. The Bobcats are led by outfielder Mitch Longo offensively. Long is batting .367 with a team-high 47 hits, 33 runs scored, and 27 runs batted in. On the mound, Logan Cozart leads the 'Cats from the pen. He has a team-best ERA of 1.76 with 45 strikeouts in 30.2 innings pitched.

The Ohio Series
Bowling Green enters the weekend with an all-time record of 70-85-1 against the Ohio Bobcats. The series began in 1952, as Ohio downed the Falcons 8-7 in the first all-time meeting. Recently, however, the Falcons have won 2-of-3 against Ohio in each of the past three seasons.

A Look Around The MAC
The Falcons come into this weekend's MAC series at Ohio in a 10th-place tie overall in the conference standings. The Falcons are just one game out of a spot for the MAC Tournament, which features the top eight teams in the conference. BGSU trails NIU, WMU, Toledo and EMU by just one game entering this weekend's action. Here is this weekend's MAC schedule:
Bowling Green (3-6) at Ohio (5-4)
Ball State (7-2) at Kent State (6-3)
Buffalo (2-7) at Miami (3-6)
Eastern Michigan (4-5) at Central Michigan (7-2)
Northern Illinois (4-5) at Akron (5-4)
Toledo (4-5) at Western Michigan (4-5)

They Said It
"This is a huge weekend for our baseball program," head coach Danny Schmitz said. "We dug ourselves an early hole in MAC play, so we have to continue to play well in all three phases and work to improve our standing toward the MAC Tournament."

Basalyga Bullies Opponents Last Week
Greg Basalyga shined during last week as the Falcons won 3-of-4 games to climb back into MAC Tournament contention. The sophomore from Pickerington, Ohio hit three home runs, drove in 11 runs, had seven hits and 17 total bases on the week to lead the Falcons. Basalyga set his career-high in RBI three different times during the week, and twice set it in total bases. Against Miami on Sunday, Basalyga went 4-for-5 with a home run, double, five RBI and two runs scored – all of which were new career highs. Basalyga hit three first inning home runs on the week, driving in seven runs in the first inning of games alone. His 1.214 slugging percentage led the team, along with his 11 RBI, three home runs, seven hits and .563 on-base percentage.

Keegan An All-Around Contributor
Trey Keegan has been impressive to say the least for the Falcons in 2015, both offensively and defensively. Keegan has hit .315 through 27 games with an on-base percentage of .448. He has hit six doubles and three home runs for a slugging percentage of .478. Behind the dish, Keegan has thrown out 14-of-27 (.519) would-be base stealers and picked off three more, which is the second-best percentage among sophomore catchers in the nation.

Worth The Wait For Rait
Senior Jesse Rait entered this past weekend without an extra-base hit on the season in 22 games played. He broke the streak in a big way over the weekend, smacking four extra base hits in the final two games of the series against Miami. In Saturday's 7-5 win over the RedHawks, Rait got going with a double down the left field line. On Sunday, Rait broke out with three extra-base hits, including his first career home run and first two-double game of his career.

Ka-Pow For B-How
Redshirt senior Brandon Howard had a huge week as the Falcons went 3-1 this past week, batting .500 with a 1.000 slugging percentage. Howard went 7-for-14 with seven runs scored and seven RBI for the Orange and Brown. Howard hit his first career home run on Sunday in the fourth inning of an 18-12 victory against Miami. He also had two doubles, a triple, and was a perfect 3-for-3 in stolen base attempts during the week.

Southpaw Saves Sunday Victory
True freshman Kody Brown earned the first save of his career on Sunday afternoon in the Falcons' 18-12 win over Miami. Brown, a native of Perrysburg, Ohio, entered a 15-12 game with two outs in the eighth inning and pitched the final 1.1 innings. He struck out two in the game.

Falcons Drop Midweek Game At EMU
Bowling Green traveled to Ypsilanti on Wednesday night for a non-league showdown with EMU. The Eagles came away victorious, 4-1, over the Falcons. The two teams will meet again on Tuesday at Steller Field.

Lacinak Back in W column
Andrew Lacinak turned in a much-needed quality start for Bowling Green on Saturday, earning his second win of the season over Miami. Lacinak pitched a season-high 7.0 innings in the 7-5 victory, allowing just three earned runs while striking out five. Coming off a loss in the first game of the doubleheader to drop the Falcons to 1-6 in the MAC, Lacinak gave the Orange and Brown exactly what they needed to get back in the win column and give the Falcons a chance to win the series.

BGSU Explodes In Win Over Miami
The Falcon bats exploded in an 18-12 win over the Miami RedHawks on Sunday afternoon, as BGSU outslugged MU 18-12 to take the weekend series. The Falcons scored a season-high 18 runs and tied their season-high with 18 hits in the ballgame. Seven of the Falcons' 18 hits went for extra bases, including three home runs. All nine Falcons had at least one hit, while five Falcons had multi-hit games. Five Falcons had multi-RBI games in the win, while seven players scored at least two runs. The top six in the Falcons' lineup combined to go 15-for-27 (.556) with 16 runs scored and 15 RBI.

Seventh Inning Stretch
Bowling Green has made a habit of extending games – and putting them out of reach – this season in the seventh inning. The Falcons are outscoring opponents 24-3 in the seventh inning of games this season and are a perfect 9-0 when leading after seven in 2015.

First-Inning Falcons
The first inning has been kind, and impactful, to Bowling Green baseball in 2015. The Falcons have outscored opponents 32-13 this season in the first inning of games, and are 8-4 on the year when scoring in the first inning of a game. This past week, BGSU outscored their opponents 12-1 in the first inning of games and went 3-0 in games where they scored in their first at-bat.