BGSU Opens Conference Play At Eastern Michigan This Weekend

SCOUTING THE EMU EAGLES
Eastern Michigan will enter play this weekend with a 4-15 record, but EMU has certainly played a difficult schedule, as the Eagles played a three-time series against Missouri and also traveled to Louisville to take on the then No. 6-ranked Louisville Cardinals. EMU has lost four of its last five games, but recently avoided a sweep by beating Samford on March 19. The Eagles are hitting .246 as a team, led by freshman infielder Devin Hager's .326 average. Senior infielder/outfielder John Montgomery leads the team in RBI (13), home runs (3) and slugging percentage (.485). The EMU pitching staff owns a 7.29 ERA, and has allowed 234 hits and 156 runs across 161.2 innings. Friday starter Sam Delaplane owns a team-best 2.20 ERA, but will be making just his second start in nine appearances.

SCHMITZ SAYS
"We are very excited to begin MAC play this weekend," said head coach Danny Schmitz. "Going back to Eastern Michigan is always special for me, and it's awesome to compete against Spencer. But the focus for this weekend will be on us. We haven't had the type of season that we've wanted so far, but everyone is now 0-0 and it's a brand new season. This weekend will be huge for us, and it will be important for us to get off to a positive start. Getting into the MAC Tournament is always each team's top goal at this point, and we are no exception."

OPENING UP CONFERENCE PLAY
Bowling Green will open up conference play on the road for the fifth time in the last seven seasons. This season will mark the second-straight season that the Falcons have opened up the MAC slate at Eastern Michigan. The Falcons will also be on the road next weekend, as they are set to travel to DeKalb to take on Northern Illinois. Bowling Green will look to put an end to an ugly streak, as the Falcons have been swept to open up conference play in each of the last five seasons. BGSU took two games at Northern Illinois in 2012, but since then, the Falcons have lost all three games to begin conference play in five-consecutive seasons.

SCHMITZ VS. SCHMITZ
For as long as Danny Schmitz is the Falcons' manager, Bowling Green and Eastern Michigan baseball matchups will always mean more. Schmitz, a 1979 graduate of EMU, led Eastern Michigan to two College World Series appearances during his collegiate career. Schmitz's son, Spencer Schmitz, is in his third year as an assistant coach for the Eagles. Spencer played for his father at BGSU, and then served as an assistant coach under Danny from 2008-13. Furthermore, Mike Frank is also on the EMU staff as the volunteer assistant. Frank played under Schmitz from 2010-14, and is Bowling Green's all-time leader in innings pitched at 313.0.

BLANC ADJUSTS WEEKEND ROTATION
Due to the fact that Bowling Green played only on Sunday last weekend, pitching coach Rick Blanc has adjusted his weekend rotation. Sophomore Chase Antle will make the first Friday, and first conference start of his career this weekend. The power-throwing righty leads the team in strikeouts with 16, and has not surrendered a run in 12.2 innings. Redshirt-junior Tyler Anderson has been pushed back to Saturday (March 25) this weekend, because he started on Sunday, March 19. The ace of the staff leads the Falcons with 27.1 innings pitched. He owns a 2.63 ERA. Junior right-hander Zac Carey is having a bounce-back season, and since he pitched in one of the two games of the doubleheader last weekend, he'll remain in his Sunday role. In his last two starts, he's logged a combined 12.1 innings, and has struck out nine batters while allowing just 10 hits and three earned runs. His 4.21 ERA ranks fourth on the club.

BASALYGA'S HOT BAT
Senior Greg Basalyga has registered 14 hits in the last 10 games, and continues to lead the team in batting average (.327), hits (16), RBI (11), total bases (25), slugging percentage (.510). Basalyga is also tied for the team lead with three doubles and two home runs. He's recorded a hit in each of the last three games, and has already posted three games with at least three hits. The product of Pickerington Central is batting .278 for his career, and has played in 105 games, racking up 86 hits and 52 RBI. His next home run will be the 10th of his career.

BOWLING GREEN'S BULLPEN AND STAFF DOMINANCE
Over the last seven games, Bowling Green's bullpen has been nothing short of elite. In 26.2 innings of work, the bullpen has allowed just three runs, and only one of those runs has been earned. The pen owns an ERA of 0.34 across the last seven games, while surrendering just 10 hits. The bullpen has struck out 28 batters, and has issued just 13 walks over its last 26.2 innings of work. The pitching staff as a whole has also been dominant. Over the last 11 games, the entire staff owns a 3.44 ERA. In 97.0 innings of work, the Falcons have allowed just 85 hits and 48 runs (36 earned). Opponents are hitting .238 off BGSU in the last 11 games, and have struck out 76 times.

LANDI CHASING HISTORY
Senior Tony Landi earned a save in Bowling Green's most-recent win over Georgia State on March 12. Landi now has 14 saves for his career, which ranks third-most in program history. With one more save, Landi will tie Nick Bruns for second all-time, and with four more saves, the right-hander will break the record, surpassing Neil Schmitz's career total of 17 saves. Last season, Landi tied the single-season record with eight saves, while making a total of 29 appearances. His 29 outings rank second-most all-time for a single season.

FRESHMEN CONTRIBUTIONS
The Falcons have been getting solid production out of a number of freshmen. Most noticeably, southpaw Nathan Lohmeier has been tremendous from out of the BGSU bullpen. In seven appearances (11.2 innings), he's allowed just one run and 10 hits. He's racked up 14 strikeouts, and has issued seven walks. Lohmeier registered his first-collegiate win on March 10 versus Army by throwing 3.1 innings of one-hit ball. Fellow southpaw Chandler Stillings turned in the best performance of his career in BG's most-recent game at Dayton (March 21). He allowed two hits and one run across 2.2 innings while facing 11 batters. Centerfielder Jake Wilson picked up two hits and an RBI at Dayton, and is tied for second on the team with 14 hits. He's hit two doubles, scored four runs, and is hitting .259.

MORE POWER IN 2017
In 54 games last season, Bowling Green hit 13 home runs. Through the first 17 games of the 2017 season, the Falcons have already smacked six home runs. Greg Basalyga and Jeff Scott each have two, while Blake Jenkins and Cam Daugherty hit the first home runs of their collegiate careers this season.

BGSU ENDS SPRING TRIP WITH A BANG
After a 1-9 start to the season, the Falcons ended their annual spring trip by winning three of its final four games. After taking just one of three games at Morehead State to start the trip, Bowling Green traveled to Emerson, Georgia for four games. Bowling Green knocked off Georgia State twice, and beat Army. The Falcons earned a come-from-behind win over Georgia State on getaway day by a score of 6-3. Georgia State is 11-10 and earned a win at Ole Miss in early March.

THE 27TH YEAR OF THE SCHMITZ ERA
Danny Schmitz, who has spent his entire collegiate coaching career at Bowling Green, is in his 27th year at the helm of the program. He is just 17 wins shy of 700 for his career. He is the active leader in career wins (683) and MAC wins (353). Schmitz has guided the Falcons to seven MAC division titles, four MAC regular-season championships, and three MAC Tournament titles. Three of BG's four NCAA Tournament appearances have been clinched under Schmitz's watch. BGSU has won 20-plus games 21 times under Schmitz, while winning 30-plus games a total of eight times. With 21 wins in 2017, Schmitz will become the second-ever MAC coach to reach 700 wins. Schmitz is also 16 MAC wins shy of moving into second place all-time. The Falcons have qualified for the MAC Tournament 17 times over Schmitz's 26 full seasons to date.

THE COACHING STAFF IS STAYING CONSISTENT
Danny Schmitz has his top two assistants on staff for a third-consecutive season. Associate Head Baseball Coach Rick Blanc returns for his 10th season at his alma mater. Blanc, who played for Schmitz's 1998 MAC Tournament championship team at BGSU, is in charge of the pitchers, and is also the program's recruiting coordinator. Ryan Shay, one of the best offensive players in program history, won a pair of regular-season titles under Schmitz in 2008 and 2009. He returns to coach the Falcons' hitters and infielders for the third-straight season. In the fall, Schmitz added Dallas Burke to the staff as the team's volunteer assistant. Burke, a former catcher at the University of Iowa, spent the last three seasons at Black Hawk Junior College.

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