Falcons Head South For Spring Break

Wednesday, March 8

Bowling Green, KY

4:00 PM CT

Bowling Green State University

Western Kentucky

Kayla Gregory v Tiffin - Oct 2016 - Paul Duncan photo

Kayla Gregory & the Falcons are scheduled to play 7 games in a 5-day span this week

March 07, 2017 | Softball

BGSU faces WKU Wednesday Before Continuing on to Ole Miss

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

• The Bowling Green State University softball team, after winning three of five games in Louisville over the weekend, returns to the state of Kentucky for a midweek doubleheader. Head coach Sarah Willis and the Falcons will face Western Kentucky in a Wednesday (March 8) twinbill, with the first pitch of game one set for 4:00 p.m. locally (5:00 p.m. ET) at the WKU Softball Complex.

• Then, the Falcons will continue on to Oxford, Miss., for five games in the Ole Miss Classic this Thursday through Sunday (March 9-12). BGSU will meet Jackson State (twice), Oklahoma State and Eastern Kentucky in addition to the nationally-ranked Rebels. All games will be held at the Ole Miss Softball Complex.

BGSU SOFTBALL LINKS
NOTES/WEB SITE: BGSU (PDF Notes) | WKU | Ole Miss | JSU | EKU | OSU
TOURNAMENT CENTRAL: Ole Miss Classic
BGSU 2017 Quick Facts

BGSU AT WESTERN KENTUCKY • March 8 • 5:00 p.m. ET • Bowling Green, Ky.
(live stats & live video [fee required] will be available for both games – all links are available at BGSUFalcons.com)

OLE MISS CLASSIC • March 9-12 • Oxford, Miss.
(live stats will be available for all games; with live video for all games involving Ole Miss – all BGSU-related links will be available at BGSUFalcons.com on game day)
Thursday, March 9 (all times Eastern)
Bowling Green at Ole Miss, 7:00 p.m.

Friday, March 10
Eastern Kentucky vs. Oklahoma State, 11:00 a.m.
Bowling Green vs. Jackson State, 1:30 p.m.
Jackson State vs. Oklahoma State, 4:00 p.m.
Eastern Kentucky at Ole Miss, 6:30 p.m.

Saturday, March 11
Jackson State vs. Eastern Kentucky, 11:00 a.m.
Bowling Green vs. Eastern Kentucky, 1:30 p.m.
Bowling Green vs. Oklahoma State, 4:00 p.m.
Oklahoma State at Ole Miss, 6:30 p.m.

Sunday, March 12
Bowling Green vs. Jackson State, 10:00 a.m.
Oklahoma State vs. Eastern Kentucky, 12:30 p.m.
Jackson State at Ole Miss, 3:00 p.m.

NOTING THE FALCONS
• The Falcons have a 9-10 record on the season, heading into Wednesday's WKU twinbill. BGSU went 3-2 at last weekend's Red & Black Tournament in Louisville.

• BGSU is 1-4 in true road games and 8-6 in neutral-site contests this year to date. BG went a perfect 4-0 at the Cleveland State Dome Tournament (Feb. 11-12), then advanced to the championship game of Charlotte's First Pitch Classic (Feb. 17-19), before dropping five games at the Mardi Gras Invitational in Lafayette, La. (Feb. 23-25).

• Redshirt junior Chelsea Raker leads the Falcons in hitting, and is batting .463 on the year. She hit .611 in the Falcons' five games in the Charlotte First Pitch Classic, batted a team-best .400 at the Mardi Gras Invitational, then hit .500 in the five games in Louisville.

• Raker currently is tied for first in the Mid-American Conference and deadlocked for sixth in the nation in doubles, with nine. She leads the MAC and is 25th nationally in runs batted in, with 21, and Raker is also ranked among the top-100 players in the country in doubles per game (28th), RBI per game (64th), on-base percentage (also 64th) and slugging pct. (94th).

• Raker leads the Falcons in hits (25), doubles, RBI, total bases (40), on-base pct. (.538) and slugging pct. (.741). She has had at least one hit in 14 of BG's 19 games, with eight multiple-hit games.

• Freshman Kendyl Wheeler is hitting .362, and ranks second on the team in at-bats and hits as well as batting average. She has gone 21-for-58 over her first 18 collegiate games.

• Redshirt junior Aspen Searle is batting .328 on the young season, and ranks second on the team with seven extra-base hits, 17 RBI, 31 total bases and a .508 slugging pct. Searle hit .400 in the five games in Louisville.

• Sophomore Alex Sorgi is hitting .327 on the season, and leads the team in runs scored (18) and stolen bases (seven). Sorgi, primarily a pinch-runner last year, was hitless in eight at-bats as a freshman in 2016. After going 0-for-3 in the 2017 season opener, she then put together a 10-game hitting streak, the longest by a Falcon in at least four years. Sorgi hit .467 (14-for-30) in those 10 games.

• Senior Haley Schrock is hitting .269 and ranks third on the team with five extra-base hits, while junior Katee Hinkle is batting .250 and sophomore Hannah Giammarino .244. Giammarino is second on the team with 10 runs scored, while Searle and Wheeler have scored nine runs apiece and Hinkle eight.

• BGSU had a double-digit hit total nine times during the entire 2016 campaign (54 games), but BG has had 10 or more hits six times this season to date.

• The Falcons had a total of 23 stolen bases during all of '16. Through 19 games in 2017, BGSU has stolen 18 bases in 22 attempts.

• In the circle, four different Falcons have made a start, and all four have thrown at least one complete game. Sophomore Meredith Miller has a 4-1 record and a team-leading 2.60 earned-run average, while classmate Kiley Sosby is 3-3 with a 3.14 ERA. Sosby leads the BG staff in games started, with seven, and is allowing opponents to hit just .146 against her. She has a team-high 36 strikeouts.

• Sosby is 14th in the nation in hits allowed per seven innings (3.54) and 45th in strikeouts per seven innings. Miller is allowing foes to bat just .231 against her, and has 32 strikeouts and just 12 walks. She leads the Falcon pitchers in appearances (nine) and innings (37 2/3).

• Sophomore Brooke Parker, like Sosby, has a 3.14 ERA this year to date. Parker is coming off the finest week of her career. She had one career complete game entering last weekend, but threw three complete games in a three-day span. She capped off her weekend by coming one out away from a no-hitter on Sunday, settling for a complete-game one-hitter as the Falcons topped Green Bay, 4-1.

• Parker made just two starts among her 21 total appearances as a freshman, and her first four appearances this season came in relief. But, beginning last weekend, she has started four games and pitched a complete game in each of the four. Parker walked only two batters and struck out 14 in 20 innings on the week, allowing opponents to hit just .203 against her.

• Senior Briana Combs is 1-3 with a 6.70 ERA. She has made five appearances, starting four, this season to date. All four pitchers have thrown at least 15 innings.

• The Falcons have outscored opponents, 79-70, this year. BG has 141 hits to the foes' 107, with a team batting average of .286 to the opponents' .235.

• Five players – Giammarino, Raker, Schrock, Searle and Sorgi – have started all 19 games, while Wheeler has made 18 starts, Hinkle and fellow junior Kayla Gregory 13, junior Laine Simmons 12 and freshman Logan Everett 11.

• Head coach Sarah Willis and her staff – assistant coaches Katie Reiff and Lauren Gambone, volunteer assistant Lyndsey Clark and alumnae coordinator Kolleen Kopchak – welcomed back 12 letterwinners, including five starters, from a year ago.

• BGSU was picked to finish sixth in the Mid-American Conference East Division according to the MAC's preseason coaches' poll.

A QUICK LOOK AT THE OPPONENTS
• Western Kentucky is 11-8 on the season heading into Wednesday's twinbill with the Falcons. The Hilltoppers went 2-3 at last weekend's Courtyard Marriott Tournament, losing a narrow 2-1 decision to host Oklahoma in the final game.

• Tommi Stowers and Jordan Mauch are hitting .326 and .312, respectively. Mauch paces the club with 13 RBI and 36 total bases, and has five homers to tie for the team lead. In the circle, Kathryn Downing is 7-2 with a team-low 2.26 ERA.

• Coach Amy Tudor's club went 17-30 overall and 8-13 in Conference USA in 2016. Nine of the 17 players on the 2017 roster are freshmen.

• Ole Miss is 17-2 on the year, and the Rebels have won a school-record 14-straight games heading into Thursday night's BGSU contest. The team has scored at least eight runs in a game 13 times, and the only losses have come to North Dakota State (receiving votes at the time of the game) and Oklahoma (ranked fourth at the time).

• The Rebels are ranked in each of this week's polls, including 20th by Fastpitch News. Ole Miss is 22nd in both the USA Today/NFCA Coaches poll and the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll.

• Elantra Cox is batting .569 on the year with 22 runs scored, while Kylan Becker is hitting .414. Nine players have started 16 games or more, and each of those nine players is hitting over .300. In the circle, Morgan Bruce is 4-0 with a 1.21 ERA, while Alyssa Clayton has a 6-0 record and a 1.66 ERA.

• Head coach Mike Smith welcomed back a total of 14 letterwinners from last year's club that went 41-22 overall and advanced to the NCAA Regionals.

• Jackson State was 3-11 on the season, prior to a scheduled game vs. Stillman College on March 3. The Tigers won a pair of games the following day, downing Clark Atlanta, and JSU is scheduled to host North Carolina A&T on Thursday (March 9) before heading to Oxford and facing BG the following day.

• Eastern Kentucky is 6-9. The Colonels won three of five games at last weekend's Eagle Classic in Statesboro, Ga., and EKU is scheduled to play a Tuesday game vs. MAC member Miami before venturing to Oxford.

• Rachel Minogue is hitting .488 on the year, while Johnkyria Alston is betting .333 with team-leading totals of five homers and 17 RBI. Mollie Paulick is 3-3 on the year, with an ERA of just 0.63 and 50 strikeouts in 44-plus innings of work.

• Head coach Jane Worthington welcomed back 13 letterwinners from last year's team that finished 37-17 overall and 17-8 in the Ohio Valley Conference.

• Oklahoma State enters the week with a 12-9 record, and the Cowgirls won four of five games at home in the Mizuno Classic last weekend. OSU hosts Evansville and Wichita State before heading to Ole Miss.

• Vanessa Shippy is batting a team-best .417, while Taylor Lynch is hitting .388, Brandi Needham leads the staff in games started (eight), wins (six) and ERA (3.08).

• Head coach Kenny Gajewski's team went 32-26 last season, and Gajewski welcomed back a total of 10 letterwinners from that club.

THE SERIES
• BGSU trails Western Kentucky, 3-2, in the all-time series between the teams. The most recent meetings (March 6, 2013) saw the Falcons and Hilltoppers split a twinbill, with WKU winning a 3-1 decision and BG bouncing back for an 8-6 triumph.

• Ole Miss leads BGSU, 2-0, in that series. The Rebels won a 9-1 decision in 2002 and a narrow 2-0 contest at the Ole Miss Tournament in 2014.

• BG holds a 2-1 lead on Eastern Kentucky in that series. The Colonels picked up a 3-2 win in 2007 before the Falcons swept a road twinbill (5-2 and 6-1) in 2012.

• Oklahoma State holds a 2-0 lead in the series with the Falcons. The Cowgirls have won a pair of close contests, 1-0 in 1995 and 2-0 in 2001.

• The Falcons and Jackson State have never met on the softball diamond.

COMING UP...
• BGSU plays at nationally-ranked Michigan on Wednesday, March 15, before meeting UIC and host Indiana twice each in the Hoosier Classic on March 18-19.