Falcons Head to Athens as MAC Race Heats Up

Haley Schrock v Miami - April 4 2017 - Amanda Cutcher photo

Haley Schrock & the Falcons are tied for first place in the MAC's East Division

April 20, 2017 | Softball

BGSU battles Bobcats in a three-game weekend series

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

• The Bowling Green State University softball team, after a second-straight three-game weekend sweep at Meserve Field, hits the road the a key Mid-American Conference series. Head coach Sarah Willis and the Falcons travel to Athens to face Ohio University, with the teams scheduled to play a Friday (April 21) single game and a Saturday (April 22) doubleheader.

• Ohio is scheduled to have an audio broadcast for each of this weekend's three games. Additionally, live stats will be available. And, twitter updates for all BG softball action, both home and away, can be found at @BGSUSoftball on your twitter-related device.

BGSU SOFTBALL LINKS
THIS WEEK'S NOTES: BGSU
BGSU 2017 Media Guide
THE OPPONENT: Ohio

TRUST THE PROCESS
• The Falcons swept a three-game series with Buffalo last weekend, and BGSU has won seven of the last eight games entering this weekend's series at Ohio.

• BGSU has shattered last year's win totals in multiple categories. The Falcons have bested last season's overall and MAC victory totals, and BG has more than doubled last year's home win total. The latter feat is even more impressive given the fact that the 2017 team has played just eight games at Meserve Field this spring.
SHOWING IMPROVEMENT
Year   Overall MAC   Home
2016 18-36 6-17   3-11
2017 23-23 9- 6   7- 1

NOTING THE FALCONS
• The Falcons are 23-23 on the season, and BGSU is 9-6 in the Mid-American Conference. BG, picked to finish sixth (i.e., last) in the MAC's East Division in the preseason coaches poll, is currently tied with Miami for first place.

• Just two games separate the top five teams in the division, as both Ohio and Akron are 8-7 while Kent State is 7-8. To put it another way, only two games separate the teams tied for third in the overall MAC standings from the team currently in ninth. Eight teams will qualify for the MAC Tournament.

• BGSU went 3-1 last week, dropping a one-run midweek matchup at Miami before sweeping Buffalo in a three-game series at Meserve Field.

• The Falcons scored just six runs in the Buffalo series, but BGSU held the Bulls to only two runs in the three games. Falcon pitchers have thrown four shutouts in the last seven games at Meserve Field.

• Redshirt juniors Aspen Searle and Chelsea Raker are hitting .360 and .343, respectively, on the year. Raker has team-leading totals of six homers and 34 runs batted in, while Searle is second with five round-trippers and 31 RBI.

• Searle paces the Falcons in at-bats (150), hits (54), doubles (13) and total bases (82), and the shortstop is second in runs (23) and slugging pct. (.547).

• In addition to homers and RBI, Raker leads BG in on-base percentage (.413) and slugging pct. (.550), and the first baseman is second on the team in hits (48), doubles (11), total bases (77) and walks (18).

• The Falcons' corner outfielders, freshman RF Kendyl Wheeler and sophomore LF Alex Sorgi, are third and fourth, respectively, on the team in batting. Wheeler is hitting .328 with a team-leading three triples on the year, and she is third on the team in total bases, with 54.

• Wheeler clubbed her first career homer in last week's Miami game, and she went 2-for-3 in the Buffalo opener, capping a four-game stretch in which she had three multiple-hit contests and went 7-for-11 at the plate.

• Sorgi is batting .322 and leads the Falcons in runs (35), walks (21) and stolen bases (14). She is second on the team in on-base pct. (.406) and tied for second in hits (48).

• Sorgi hit a team-best .467 in last week's four games, scoring 40% of the Falcons' runs in that time. She had at least one hit in each game, extending her current hitting streak to seven games, and went 5-for-7 in Saturday's doubleheader vs. Buffalo, scoring three of BG's five runs on the day.

• Searle was 4-for-7 in Saturday's twinbill, with two hits in each game. She had a key two-out, two-run single in the second game of the day, a 3-2 win.

• Senior 3B Haley Schrock is batting .283 on the season, and is third on the team in doubles, homers and walks. Sorgi has 15 RBI and Schrock 14, ranking them third and fourth, respectively, in that category.

• Schrock has seven sacrifice flies this year, a new school single-season record. She leads the MAC and is tied for first in the entire nation in that category.

• Junior C Laine Simmons (.281), sophomore CF Hannah Giammarino (.260) and junior 2B Katee Hinkle (.250) all are hitting at least .250. Simmons doubled and scored the lone run of Friday's eight-inning win over UB.

• In the circle, four different Falcons have made at least four starts, and all four have thrown at least one complete game.

• Three sophomores have three or more wins apiece. Meredith Miller owns a 13-6 record and a 2.51 earned-run average. In addition to wins and ERA, Miller leads the Falcons in innings pitched (131 1/3), strikeouts (99), complete games (14) and shutouts (four).

• Sophomore Brooke Parker has six wins and has won her last three decisions. She is 6-11 on the year and has a 3.26 ERA, 44 strikeouts and a save. Another soph, Kiley Sosby, is 3-3 with a 4.32 ERA and 43 strikeouts in 34 innings. She has allowed opponents to hit just .176 against her.

• Parker and Miller have combined for eight complete games in nine starts over the last two weeks. Miller threw a complete-game, four-hit shutout on Friday, and Parker did the same in Saturday's opener.

• The two pitchers combined to issue a total of zero walks in the three-game UB series.

• Senior Briana Combs is 1-3 with a 6.46 ERA. She has made eight appearances, starting four games, this spring.

• The Falcons have 347 hits to the foes' 313 this year, with a team batting average of .284 to the opponents' .268.

• Four players – Raker, Schrock, Searle and Sorgi – have started all 46 games, while Wheeler has made 44 starts, Giammarino 39 and Hinkle 35. The catching platoon of Simmons and freshman Logan Everett have started 30 and 22 times, respectively, and senior OF/DP Sami Parave has made 25 starts.

• BGSU has records of 4-14 in true road games and 12-8 in neutral-site contests this season to date.

• 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.

ADDITIONAL FALCON FACTS
• The Falcons are 7-1 at Meserve Field after finishing with a 3-11 home mark last year. Pitching is a big reason for that home success. In those eight games, sophomores Meredith Miller and Brooke Parker have combined for eight complete games and an ERA of just 0.74. Miller and Parker each have thrown two shutouts at Meserve Field.

• All of BGSU's remaining MAC games are against East Division opponents. The Falcons went 5-4 against MAC West Division foes, and BG is currently 4-2 in intra-divisional games.

• The Falcons moved back over the .500 mark in MAC play after sweeping Buffalo over the weekend. BGSU has not been over .500 in league action this late in the year since the 2012 team finished the regular season with a 15-7 conference record.

• BG's nine MAC wins are the Falcons' most since the 2014 team went 9-11 in league play. No BG team has won more than nine games since that 2012 campaign.

• Senior 3B Haley Schrock, as mentioned earlier, has seven sacrifice flies this season, a new school record. Schrock has broken the BGSU career record as well, with nine. Redshirt junior 1B Chelsea Raker has eight career sac flies, tying her for second in BG history.

• Schrock is ranked third in BGSU history with 77 career walks.

• Schrock has played in 196 games in her BGSU career, starting them all. She is ranked ninth in school history in career games started, and could move into fourth on that list by the end of the 2017 regular season.

• Redshirt juniors Chelsea Raker and Aspen Searle each have made their mark on the program, both in 2017 and over the previous few years. Raker has 34 RBI this year, and is just eight shy of tying the school single-season record.

• Searle, with 13 doubles, is just five away from matching that BG single-season mark. Both records (doubles and RBI) are held by Gina Rango.

• Searle is 11th in BGSU history with 172 hits, and is just four away from tying one of her coaches, Kolleen Kopchak, for 10th on that BG career list. Searle is sixth in school history in homers (19), seventh in RBI (89), 10th in runs (90) and 11th in doubles (33).

• Raker is tied for seventh in career homers (18), and she is deadlocked for eighth in RBI (87) and knotted for 14th in doubles (28).

• Sophomore CF Hannah Giammarino is batting a BG-best .391 in MAC games to date, while freshman RF Kendyl Wheeler is hitting .366. Searle and sophomore LF Alex Sorgi are batting .360 and .345, respectively, while both junior 2B Katee Hinkle and junior C Laine Simmons are hitting .333 against conference competition.

• Freshman C Logan Everett is batting .375 in 16 at-bats in league play. Everett had the first three-hit game of her collegiate career vs. Buffalo, going a perfect 3-for-3 in Saturday's opener.

• Sophomore Brooke Parker has an ERA of just 0.30 in her last four appearances. Parker has allowed only one earned run in 23 2/3 innings during that time.

• Friday's Buffalo game marked BG's first walk-off win in extra innings since a 7-6 win over Fairfield early in the 2016 campaign. Prior to UB, the Falcons' lone walk-off win this season was a 'Schrock-off' victory, as the senior third baseman's homer capped a five-inning, 8-0 triumph against Canisius.

SCOUTING OHIO
• Ohio is 28-14 on the year, and the Bobcats are 8-7 in MAC play entering the weekend. The 'Cats are tied for third in the East Division standings, a game behind BGSU and Miami. Ohio is coming off a narrow 3-2 road loss at Marshall on Tuesday. Last weekend, the Bobcats dropped two of three games at Akron.

• Ohio is 2-7 in the last nine games, but each of the last six losses have come by a single run. The 'Cats are 8-3 at home, 7-9 on the road and 12-2 at neutral sites this year.

• Alex Day is batting .345 on the season, while Mikayla Cooper is hitting .328. Morgan Geno is batting .322 with team-leading totals of eight homers and 35 RBI.

• In the circle, Savannah Joe Dorsey has a record of 16-6, an ERA of 1.44 and a MAC-leading 249 strikeouts. Dorsey ranks second in the nation in the latter category. Danielle Steine is 9-7 with a 2.69 ERA this spring.

• Head coach Jodi Hermanek and the 2016 Bobcats went 37-23 overall and 14-9 in MAC action, advancing to the championship game of the MAC Tournament.

THE SERIES
• BGSU leads Ohio, 55-49, in the all-time series between the teams, but the Bobcats swept a three-game series at Meserve Field on the final weekend of the 2016 regular season. The Falcons and Bobcats have not met in Athens since mid-April of 2013, when Ohio won a pair of games by scores of 3-2 and 6-0. BG's last win over Ohio came in April of 2015 at Meserve Field, and the Falcons' last road victory over the Bobcats came during the 2012 season. The Falcons are 27-20 at home, 19-23 on the road and 9-6 in neutral-site matchups with Ohio since the dawn of time.

COMING UP...
• Following the Ohio series, the Falcons head to Fort Wayne for the final non-conference contest of the 2017 season. BGSU will face the Mastodons in a Tuesday (April 25) single game, beginning at 3:30 p.m. Then, the Brown and Orange will close the home portion of the schedule with three games vs. Akron, including a Friday (April 28) single game and a Saturday (April 29) doubleheader at Meserve Field. The regular season concludes with a series at Kent State on May 5-6.