Falcons Face Fort Wayne in Final Non-League Matchup

Tuesday, April 25

Fort Wayne, IN

3:30 PM

Bowling Green State University

Fort Wayne

Kiley Sosby & the Falcons close the non-conference schedule Tuesday at Fort Wayne

Photo by: Larry Clapper

April 24, 2017 | Softball

BGSU hits the road for a Tuesday meeting with the Mastodons

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

• The Bowling Green State University softball team steps outside of Mid-American Conference play for one final time in the 2017 season, heading to Indiana for a Tuesday (April 25) matchup with Fort Wayne. The Falcons and Mastodons will meet in a 3:30 p.m. single game at the Fort Wayne Softball Field.

• Live stats and live video (fee required) are scheduled to be available for Tuesday's game. Additionally, twitter updates for all BG softball action, both home and away, can be found at @BGSUSoftball on your twitter-related device.

BGSU SOFTBALL LINKS
BGSU 2017 Media Guide
THE OPPONENT: Fort Wayne

NOTING THE FALCONS
• The Falcons are 23-26 on the season, and BGSU is 9-9 in MAC play after dropping a three-game series at Ohio University over the weekend. BG, picked to finish sixth (i.e., last) in the MAC's East Division in the preseason coaches' poll, is currently in a three-way tie for third place in the MAC East, and the Falcons are in a four-way deadlock for sixth overall in the conference.

• Just three games separate the top five teams in the division, as Miami is 12-6, Ohio 11-7 and BGSU, Akron and Kent State all are 9-9. BG will host UA this weekend before ending the regular season at KSU.

• Redshirt junior Aspen Searle leads the Falcons in hitting, with a .354 batting average on the year. Searle leads the Falcons with 56 hits, 13 doubles and 84 total bases, and she also tops the club in on-base percentage (.408) and slugging pct. (.532). She is second on the team with five homers, 23 runs scored and 32 runs batted in.

• Freshman Kendyl Wheeler is batting .328, while redshirt junior Chelsea Raker is hitting .324. Wheeler's six extra-base hits include a team-leading three triples. Raker leads BG in homers (six) and RBI (34), and she is second in on-base pct. (.404), slugging pct. (.520), doubles (11) and walks (21).

• Sophomore Alex Sorgi is hitting .314 and leads the team in runs (35), walks (22) and stolen bases (15). Raker, Searle, Sorgi and senior Haley Schrock (.273) each have started all 49 games this season, while Wheeler has made 44 starts and sophomore Hannah Giammarino (.250) 40.

• 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 13-8 record and a 2.58 earned-run average. In addition to wins and ERA, Miller leads the Falcons in innings pitched (141 1/3), strikeouts (107), complete games (15) and shutouts (four).

• Miller suffered the loss in Sunday's Ohio game, despite allowing only five hits in 8 2/3 innings pitched. She struck out eight and did not walk a batter, but Ohio came up with a run in the ninth for a 1-0 walk-off win in Athens.

• Sophomore Brooke Parker has six wins and has won three of her last four decisions. She is 6-12 on the year and has a 3.27 ERA, 48 strikeouts and a save. Another soph, Kiley Sosby, is 3-3 with a 4.34 ERA and 44 strikeouts in 38 innings. She has allowed opponents to hit just .190 against her.

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

• The Falcons have 353 hits to the foes' 335 this year, with a team batting average of .272 to the opponents' .267.

• BGSU has records of 7-1 at home, 4-17 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, as mentioned, was picked to finish sixth in the Mid-American Conference East Division according to the MAC's preseason coaches' poll.

ADDITIONAL FALCON FACTS
• 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 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 78 career walks.

• Assuming she is in the lineup on Tuesday, Schrock – a native of Goshen, Ind. – will be playing her 200th game as a Falcon. Schrock has played in 199 games to date, starting them all. She is ranked eighth 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 players are ranked on many more school career lists.

SCOUTING FORT WAYNE
• Fort Wayne is 9-32 on the year, and the Mastodons are 2-7 in Summit League play. Tuesday's BGSU game will be Fort Wayne's first in a week, as the team has been idle since April 18.

• Fort Wayne, like BGSU, will be looking to snap a three-game losing streak. And, like the Falcons, the 'Dons' most recent game was a 1-0 loss on the road. Fort Wayne went 1-2 in a series at South Dakota State, dropping the last two games, before suffering that 1-0 defeat at Eastern Illinois last week.

• The 'Dons are 2-6 at home, 2-8 on the road and 5-18 in neutral-site games to date.

• Lauren Watson is batting .351 this spring, while Brooke Imel is hitting .345. Watson and Sierra Miranda (.283) are the only two players who have started every game this season.

• In the circle, five players have seen time. Bailey Benefiel is 3-14 with a 4.77 ERA, while Elizabeth Snodgrass and Olivia White each are 2-7. Benefiel leads the staff in games started (17), innings pitched (117 1/3), complete games (eight) and strikeouts (72). Darby Shaw is 2-3 with a 4.32 ERA in 35 2/3 innings of work.

• Head coach Germaine Fairchild and the 2016 Mastodons went 11-40 overall and 2-16 in the Summit League.

THE SERIES
• BGSU and IPFW are tied, 9-9, in the all-time series between the teams, and the Mastodons took two of three games last year. Fort Wayne captured a 2-1 decision at the Hoosier Classic (March 18, 2016), and the teams split a twinbill in Bowling Green five days later, with the 'Dons winning, 6-4, and BG rallying for a 9-4 victory in the nightcap. Haley Schrock homered in the game in Bloomington, while Hannah Giammarino hit a three-run homer vs. Fort Wayne in her first-ever game at Meserve Field. Two years ago, the Falcons won all three meetings, scoring a total of 23 runs. BG's last visit to Fort Wayne came in 2014, with the Mastodons sweeping a twinbill by scores of 6-0 and 7-6. Barring inclement weather on Tuesday, the 2017 season marks the seventh-straight year that BGSU will face Fort Wayne. BG is 6-4 at home, 2-4 on the road and 1-1 in neutral-site matchups with the Mastodons through the years.

COMING UP...
• Following the Fort Wayne matchup, the Falcons 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. Saturday will mark Senior Day for the Falcon program. Then, the regular season concludes with a series at Kent State on May 5-6.