Falcons Face Akron in Final MAC Road Series

Friday, April 22

Akron, OH

3:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Akron

Morgan Evangelista Braiden Dillow vs Miami - April 13 2016 - Amanda Cutcher photo

Morgan Evangelista (left) & Braiden Dillow talk during a recent game. Both players, along with Kayla Gregory (background), have been hitting the ball well as of late

Photo by: BGSU Strategic Communications

April 21, 2016 | Softball

BGSU meets the Zips in a three-game series in Northeast Ohio

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

C O M I N G U P I N F A L C O N S O F T B A L L
BGSU at Akron	Fri., April 22 \| 3:00 p.m.
BGSU at Akron (DH)	Sat., April 23 \| 1:00 p.m.
BGSU at Toledo (non-conf. DH)	Wed., April 27 \| 2:00 p.m.

BGSU SOFTBALL LINKS
BGSU Weekly Release: PDF ||| The Opponents: Akron | Toledo
Follow the Falcons: BGSU Softball on Twitter
Get to Know...: Coach Willis* | Coach Lastrapes | Coach Ricks
2016 Media Guide: PDF | Interactive ||| Join the Falcon Club Today!
* coming soon

LEADING OFF
The Bowling Green State University softball team continues an eight-game road swing with a trip to Northeast Ohio this weekend. The Falcons of head coach Sarah Willis face the University of Akron in a three-game weekend series. BGSU and the Zips are scheduled to meet in a single game Friday (April 22) before squaring off in a Saturday (April 23) doubleheader. Friday's game starts at 3:00 p.m., while Saturday's action will begin at 1:00 p.m. at UA's Lee Jackson Field.

Following the Akron series, the Falcons will end the non-conference schedule with the team's shortest trip of 2016. BGSU will face the University of Toledo next Wednesday (April 27), in a pair of non-conference contests at UT's Scott Park.

QUOTING COACH WILLIS
"Akron is a very good team, and they are solid in all facets of the game. We know we will need to be at our best this weekend if we want to make a move toward earning a MAC Tournament berth."

SEASON IS WINDING DOWN
The Falcons have just nine Mid-American Conference games left, all against fellow East Division members, in the 2016 regular season. BGSU will face Akron this weekend, while hosting both Kent State University (April 29-30) and Ohio University (May 6-7) for three games each at Meserve Field. The Brown and Orange also will play a pair of games at Toledo (April 27) that will not count in the conference standings. Currently, BGSU is three games behind eighth place Ohio in the Falcons' quest for a MAC Tournament berth.

FOLLOW THE FALCONS
• If you can't make it to the game, there are still a number of ways you can follow the Falcons. All of BGSU's remaining games this season, home and away, will have live stats available.

• There will be a free video stream available for each of this weekend's three games at Akron. And, in-game updates for all BGSU action, both at home and on the road, can be found at @BGSUSoftball on your twitter machine.

• To follow the Falcons, simply log on to BGSUFalcons.com and click the 'calendar' link on the day of the game, or navigate your way to the softball page. There you will find any available links to audio, video and live stats.

DILLOW GETS IT DONE
• Senior Braiden Dillow has enjoyed great success at the plate this season, especially since the team began MAC play. Dillow, who was hitting .200 a month ago, currently has a .365 batting average. She is hitting .441 – good for first on the team and second in the entire MAC – in conference games, having gone 15-for-34 against league foes.

• Dillow has six multiple-hit games over the last 14 contests. She set career highs with three hits and two runs scored in Saturday's (April 16) first game at Buffalo, going 3-for-3 at the plate. Dillow had five hits in the DH and was 6-for-12 (.500) at the plate in last week's four games.
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ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons are 16-27 on the season, and BGSU is 4-10 in MAC play. BG will be looking to snap a four-game losing streak on Friday at Akron.

• The Brown and Orange swept a doubleheader against Central Michigan at Meserve Field on April 8, but lost a home contest to MAC-leading Miami Wednesday (April 13) before dropping a three-game series at Buffalo over the weekend. The first loss to UB snapped a four-game Falcon win streak in Friday matchups.

• The Falcons are 3-5 at home, 3-12 on the road and 10-10 in neutral-site games this season to date. In MAC play, BGSU is 2-4 at Meserve Field and 2-6 in road games.

• BGSU played in no fewer than six tournaments in as many weekends to open the 2016 campaign. The Brown and Orange participated in events in Cleveland; Kennesaw, Ga.; Mobile, Ala.; Towson, Md.; Clearwater, Fla.; and Bloomington, Ind.

• BGSU has scored 179 runs and allowed 243 this season to date. The Falcons have a team batting average of .265, while the opponents are hitting .282 entering the Akron series.

• Two Falcons – senior Marisa Shook and junior Haley Schrock – have started all 43 games this season. Redshirt sophomore Chelsea Raker has made 41 starts, while true soph Katee Hinkle and senior Molly Holliday each have started 39 contests, senior Marina Cobbs 32 and sophomore Morgan Evangelista 31.

• Senior Braiden Dillow is hitting .365 on the season. Dillow has started 22 games this spring, including each of the last 13 contests, and has nine runs scored and 10 RBI. She is hitting .441 in MAC games, leading the team and ranking second in the entire league.

• Sophomore Kayla Gregory, after playing in just three of BGSU's first 22 games (all off the bench), has started each of the last 21 contests. Gregory is batting .319 on the season, and is third on the Falcons with a .302 batting average in conference play.

• Raker is hitting .317 on the season, and batted .417 (25-of-60) in the month of March. Raker leads the Falcons in on-base percentage (.422) and walks (21), and ranks second on the club in hits (39), homers (five), runs batted in (20), total bases (63) and slugging pct. (.512), She has played in all but two games this year after missing all of last season due to injury.

• Schrock and Shook are hitting .315 and .302, respectively. Shook paces the team in a plethora of categories, including runs scored (26), doubles (10), homers (eight), RBI (29), total bases (72) and slugging pct. (.571), and she is second in on-base pct. (.389) and third in hits (38) and walks (16).

• Both Shook and Raker have been named MAC Player of the Week once this season to date.

• Schrock, who has made starts at four different positions, leads the Falcons in at-bats (127) and hits (40). Schrock is third on the team in extra-base hits (12), total bases (58) and slugging pct. (.457).

• Evangelista is batting .268, and is 6-for-10 over the last five games. She has an on-base pct. of .667 in that time. Evangelista is fourth on the team in extra-base hits, and is perfect in 142 chances in the field this spring.

• Holliday is hitting .261 this year, and is second on the team with 20 runs scored. She has 12 RBI after driving in five runs during all of last season, and leads the Falcons with seven stolen bases.

• Junior Aspen Searle is hitting .308 with a slugging pct. of .519. But, Searle, who started all 100 of BGSU's games over her first two seasons, has been unavailable for the last 18 games due to injury, and has played in just 18 of the Falcons' 43 games this spring to date.

• All five pitchers on the BGSU roster, including two freshmen, have seen action this spring. First-year Falcon Kiley Sosby has a team-low earned-run average of 3.84, and also leads the hurlers in innings pitched (98 1/3), appearances (22), games started (19), complete games (seven), wins (nine) and strikeouts (89). She is 9-7 on the season and has allowed opponents to bat just .234 against her.

• Junior Briana Combs has an ERA of 4.41, and has allowed Falcon foes to hit only .280 against her in 52-plus innings of work. Combs has three complete games among her 10 starts.

• Dillow has a 5.25 ERA and ranks second on the Falcons with four wins. Freshman Brooke Parker has a 5.44 ERA and, like Combs, has 19 appearances in the circle this season (Dillow has 18). Parker leads the team with 17 relief appearances, and has the team's lone save, getting the final out in the Falcons' second win at Eastern Michigan on April 1. Senior Katie Turski has appeared in three games in relief this spring.

• A total of 22 different players have seen action, with 18 of those 22 making at least two starts this season.

• Last year, the Falcons finished with an overall record of 20-28, and BGSU went 8-14 in MAC play to place fifth in the league's East Division.

SCOUTING AKRON
• Akron has an overall record of 25-18-1, and the Zips will enter this weekend's BGSU series with a MAC mark of 7-5-1.
• The Zips swept visiting Niagara on Tuesday (April 19), with a pair of shutout wins by scores of 2-0 and 8-0 at Lee Jackson Field.
• Akron has won three consecutive games – all by shutout – and the Zips have won six of the last seven contests. UA is 8-3-1 since the start of April.
• UA is 7-4 at home, 8-8-1 on the road and 10-6 in neutral-site contests.
• Junior Savannah Fruin is hitting .312, while classmate Alyssa Nicholas is batting .309 on the year. Another junior, Carley Childress, is hitting an even .300.
• Fruin has nine of the team's 13 homers this year, and leads the Zips with 28 runs scored and 20 runs batted in. Nichols has team-high totals of 11 doubles and 18 stolen bases.
• UA has stolen 93 bases as a team, with four players having swiped at least 13.
• In the circle, senior Erin Seiler has started 32 games, and is 21-13 with a 1.49 ERA this year. She has 184 strikeouts and has allowed opponents to hit just .205 against her.
• Seiler leads the MAC in both ERA and shutouts (seven), ranking seventh in the entire nation in shutouts and 24th in ERA. She is 14th in the country in strikeouts.
• Seiler has started 12 of the team's 13 MAC games to date, and has 10 complete games in those 12 starts.
• Head coach Julie Jones, in her 10th season at Akron, welcomed back 10 letterwinners, including five positional starters and two pitchers, from a year ago. The 2015 Zips went 25-26 overall and 9-10 in the MAC.

SCOUTING TOLEDO
• The Falcons head to Toledo for a pair of non-conference games next Wednesday.
• UT has an overall record of 8-31 heading into a Wednesday (April 20) doubleheader vs. IPFW, and the Rockets are 3-11 in MAC play.
• The Rockets swept Eastern Michigan in an April 5 doubleheader, but have lost six-straight games since that time. Last weekend, UT dropped three games at Central Michigan.
• Senior OF Jessica Lemieux is hitting .328, with 38 hits this season. Lemieux has scored a team-high 21 runs, and also leads the Rockets with 22 stolen bases.
• Junior 2B Chandler Rice is batting .313 with team-high totals of five homers and 19 RBI. Rice leads the Rockets with 60 total bases and a .536 slugging percentage.
• In the circle, senior Marla Gooding leads the team with a 4.55 ERA and 130 2/3 innings pitched. Freshman Heather Webb has 53 strikeouts to Gooding's 52. Gooding has a 7-15 record heading into the IPFW twinbill, while Webb is 1-10.
• Head coach Kristen Butler welcomed back 10 letterwinners from last year's team that went 24-31 overall and 7-14 in the MAC.

THE SERIES
• The Falcons lead Akron, 50-25-1, in the all-time series between the teams, but the Zips have won the last two meetings. Akron came to Meserve Field and captured two games last season, by scores of 6-1 and 8-0 (April 18, 2015). Two years ago, in the Falcons' last trip to Akron, the teams split a pair of 4-1 games (April 11, 2014). BGSU has won seven of the last 10 meetings between the teams. The Falcons are 20-13-1 at home, 22-11 on the road and 8-1 in neutral-site meetings with the Zips over the years.

• BGSU leads Toledo, 67-36, in that series, and the Falcons have won four-straight meetings with their arch-rivals. Last season, the Brown and Orange opened the home schedule with a pair of four-run wins at Meserve Field (March 29, 2015), downing the Rockets by scores of 7-3 and 4-0. Marina Cobbs and Molly Holliday had four hits apiece in that DH sweep, while Briana Combs got the last two outs of the first win and fired a complete-game shutout in the second. Those games were originally scheduled to be played at Scott Park, but were moved to BGSU due to field conditions at the Rockets' home complex. BG has not played at UT in four years, when the Brown and Orange posted 7-1 and 3-1 victories (April 21-22, 2012). BGSU has won eight of the last 10 meetings with the Midnight Blue and Gold. All time, the Falcons are 37-13 at home, 24-21 on the road and 6-2 in neutral-site matchups with UT.

FALCON NOTES
• Nine different players have homered this season, tying the school record. Nine BGSU players also hit at least one round-tripper in 1999, 2006 and 2013.

• Senior Marisa Shook has 10 doubles, eight homers and 29 RBI this season. Last year, no Falcon had more than 10 doubles, and the team's RBI leader had 28. In fact, no BGSU player has pounded out more than 10 two-base hits since Paige Berger had 17 in 2012. And, no Falcon has surpassed 30 RBI since Katie Yoho had 38 and Chelsea Raker 30 in 2014.

• Senior Braiden Dillow hit .200 through the first month of the season, but is batting a red-hot .442 (19-for-43) since March 23.

• Sophomore Kayla Gregory entered the Hoosier Classic (March 18-19) with a total of one career hit, but is 21-of-66 (.318) at the plate since that time. Gregory reached base in nine consecutive games before going 0-for-2 in the first Buffalo contest.

• Heading into this week, BGSU has a record of 7-7 in Friday games, and the Falcons are 4-10 on Saturdays. BG is also 0-4 in Tuesday games, 1-2 on Wednesdays, 0-1 on Thursdays and 4-3 on Sundays.

• Sophomore Katee Hinkle and Shook have reached base 50.0 and 45.7 percent of the time, respectively, when leading off an inning this season. Hinkle is 12-for-24 in such situations, while Shook 16-for-35. Raker has reached base 11 times in 18 opportunities (61.1%) when leading off.

• Senior Molly Holliday is batting .484 (15-for-31) with runners in scoring position, while Shook is hitting .388 (19-of-49).

• Raker leads the Falcons with 12 multiple-hit games this season to date, while Shook and junior Haley Schrock have eight apiece and Dillow and Gregory six each. Shook has a team-high 10 multiple-RBI games.

COMING UP...
Following the games at Akron and Toledo, the Falcons will close the regular season with six consecutive contests at Meserve Field. BGSU will host Kent State (April 29-30) and Ohio (May 6-7) on back-to-back weekends, with a Friday single game and a Saturday doubleheader against both the Golden Flashes and the Bobcats.

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