BGSU Welcomes MAC-Leading CMU To Steller Field This Weekend

SCOUTING THE CMU CHIPPEWAS
Central Michigan will enter play this weekend as the top club in the Mid-American Conference. The Chippewas started the MAC season with an 8-0 record, before losing its most-recent conference game to Western Michigan last Sunday (April 16). While the Falcons have already played three MAC weekends on the road, CMU's trip to Steller Field will mark the Chippewas' second road series. CMU has hosted Miami and Western Michigan, and in between, made a trip to Athens to battle Ohio. After a midweek loss at Comerica Park to Notre Dame on Tuesday (April 18), CMU is now 19-17 on the season. CMU is hitting .285 as a team, with six players hitting over .280 and two players hitting over .300. The weekend rotation has allowed 181 hits over 156.1 innings, but they've also combined for a 10-8 record, and 105 strikeouts with 67 walks.

SCHMITZ SAYS
"If you want to play baseball in this conference, this is the type of series that you dream about playing in," said head coach Danny Schmitz. "You have the top team in the conference coming to your place, it's the second half of the conference schedule, and you are fighting for a spot in the tournament. Every game matters, but when you get down to the end, and there's still a lot to play for, that's when college baseball is at its best. We are going to get to play a lot of home games over these next four weekends, and it starts with Friday. Our crowd against Toledo was fantastic, so I hope we can get everyone to Steller Field again this weekend."

FALCONS FIGHTING FOR TOURNAMENT TRIP TO AVON
Bowling Green is 4-8 at the midpoint of the conference schedule. The Falcons will play each of the next four weekends within the conference, before an out-of-conference series at Elon to wrap up the regular season. With just 12 MAC games to go, BGSU has as many MAC wins as four other programs. Western Michigan (4-8), Buffalo (3-6) and Ohio (3-6) share BGSU's .333 winning percentage, while Miami (2-7) sits in last place with a .222 winning percentage. Ball State and Northern Illinois are both 6-6, and NIU is particularly catchable, as BGSU owns the head-to-head tiebreaker with the Huskies. With a series win this weekend, Bowling Green could sit alone in second place in the MAC East.

SCHMITZ APPROACHING HISTORIC MILESTONES
Danny Schmitz has 688-career wins, and is just two wins shy of moving into second place all-time in total wins as a MAC head coach. Joe Carbone earned 689 wins as Ohio's head coach from 1989-2012, while Fred Decker (WMU; 1976-2004) is the all-time leader in wins as a MAC head coach with 791. Schmitz's 357 MAC wins also rank third all-time, behind Carbone's 368 wins and Decker's 401 MAC victories. Schmitz still has a shot to get to the historic 700-win total in 2017. With 18 regular-season games remaining, Bowling Green would need to go 12-6 to give the Falcons' legendary manager win No. 700. Schmitz is the MAC's active leader in both conference wins, and career wins as a MAC manager.

POWER SURGE LED BY BASALYGA'S BAT
Bowling Green has 15 home runs on the season, which is two more than the Falcons had all of last year. And with about 20 games remaining, the Falcons could see that number rise quite a bit. Senior Greg Basalyga has led the charge with his team-leading five home runs. Basalyga, who hit home run No. 5 on Wednesday (April 19) at Youngstown State, leads the team in RBI (21), total bases (52) and slugging percentage (.531). The senior also ranks second on the team with seven doubles and 30 hits. In an effort to get Justin Mott's bat in the lineup every game, Basalyga played in left field at Youngstown State, which would allow Mott to be the designated hitter on days he doesn't catch. In his first game in left field, Basalyga threw a runner going for a double, crashed against the wall to take a catch that took away extra bases, and made a total of three putouts.

MOTT'S MODEST HITTING STREAK
Junior catcher Justin Mott is having a breakout season. The junior is on an eight-game hitting streak, and has had five games with multiple hits. Mott kept his streak alive on Wednesday (April 19) with a pinch-hit RBI single at Youngstown State. He also drew a walk, and scored two runs. Mott started off his hitting streak with a pair of two-hit games in a doubleheader sweep at Northern Illinois on April 1. He's registered a single hit in the previous six games, while also scoring nine runs over the eight-game hitting streak. He leads the team with a .311 batting average, and is one of two Falcons in 2017 to have recorded a triple. Behind the dish, Mott has been fantastic. Mott has thrown out 9-of-19 would-be base stealers on the season, and owns a .981 fielding percentage. Over his hitting streak, Mott has registered three of his four RBI on the season.

RANDY CONTINUES TO RAKE
Although his nine-game hitting streak came to an end in the series opener at Ball State last weekend, junior Randy Righter has posted at least one hit in 12 of Bowling Green's last 13 games. Across that 13-game stretch, Righter is hitting .358 (19-of-53) with eight runs, six RBI, six doubles and five walks. Righter is hitting .293 on the season, and leads the team in hits (36), runs (17), and doubles (8). He ranks second on the club with a .407 batting average, and 50 total bases. He's also racked up 10 RBI and two home runs. Bowling Green's reliable first basemen has played and started in 31 games, and owns a .982 fielding percentage. Righter and freshman Jake Wilson are the only two Falcons with 31 starts, which leads the team.

STILLINGS MOVES INTO WEEKEND ROTATION
Freshman southpaw Chandler Stillings is set to make the first weekend start of his career this Saturday (April 22) versus Central Michigan. Stillings has excelled as the midweek starter for the Orange and Brown this season. In his last five midweek starts, which covers 15.0 innings, Stillings has allowed eight runs, and owns an ERA of 4.20 over that time frame. In Bowling Green's win over Kent State (April 11), which was the program's first regular-season win over the Golden Flashes since 2014, Stillings surrendered one earned run over 4.2 innings. That marked the second time on the season that the freshman allowed just one unearned run over 4.2 innings, as he also posted that final line in a home game versus Youngstown State on March 28. Stillings has five strikeouts and five walks in 18.0 innings in 2017.

LANDI CHASING HISTORY
Senior closer Tony Landi earned the 15th save of his career at Northern Illinois on April 1. Landi, who was pitching about 45 minutes away from his hometown of Geneva, Illinois, had approximately 30 friends and family in attendance. With the save, the senior tied legendary righty Nick Bruns (2010-13) for second all-time on the program's career saves list. Landi now needs just three more saves to break the school record. Neil Schmitz racked up 17-career saves over his playing career from 2001-04. 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.

BGSU BEATS KENT STATE IN NON-CONFERENCE #MACtion
Behind junior Randy Righter's 5-for-5 day at the plate, Bowling Green defeated Kent State on April 11)in a non-conference matchup at Steller Field by a score of 9-3. The win marked Bowling Green's first regular-season victory over Kent State since 2014. The Falcons scored once in the first inning, and led for the remainder of the ballgame. Capped by Righter's two-run blast, BGSU put up a five-spot on the Flashes in the second inning to take a commanding 6-0 lead. Senior Greg Basalyga chipped in with three RBI, freshman Jake Wilson hit his first-career home run, and BGSU received 4.2 innings of two-run ball from freshman starter Chandler Stillings. Sophomore Brad Croy allowed one run over 2.1 innings, while freshman Nathan Lohmeier finished the deal with 2.0-hittless innings.

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 14 wins shy of 700 for his career. He is the active leader in career wins (686) and MAC wins (356). 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.

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Greg Basalyga

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