Bowling Green State University Athletics
Saturday, February 29
Johnson City, TN
1:00 PM
Bowling Green State University
at
East Tennessee State
Photo by: Daryl Banther
Falcons Head to ETSU for Buccaneer Classic
February 28, 2020 | Softball
#BGSUSoftball travels to Tennessee for the third-straight weekend
THIS WEEKEND...
• The Bowling Green State University softball team returns to the state of Tennessee for the third consecutive week. This weekend sees head coach Sarah Willis and the Falcons travel to Johnson City for five games in the Buccaneer Classic, hosted by East Tennessee State, from Saturday through Monday (Feb. 29-March 2).
• BGSU is scheduled to play the first 14 games of the season in the state of Tennessee, and nine of those 14 contests are against schools hailing from the Volunteer State.
• This weekend, BGSU is slated to play two games against host ETSU as well as two contests vs. nationally-ranked Tennessee and one against Tennessee Tech.
• All games in this weekend's tournament will be played at the ETSU Softball Stadium at Betty Basler Field, with live stats available for every contest.
THE TEAMS / THE SERIES
• The Falcons are 6-3 on the young season. BGSU opened the season by going 2-3 at the Chattanooga Challenge (Feb. 14-16), before posting a perfect 4-0 mark last weekend (Feb. 21-23) at the Tiger Classic in Nashville.
• Tennessee enters the tournament ranked No. 20 in the nation in the USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Coaches poll, and the Lady Vols are No. 22 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 24. UT is 8-6 heading into the weekend, after picking up a win over UT Martin on Tuesday. Last year, the Lady Vols finished 43-17 overall and advanced to the NCAA Super Regionals.
• ETSU is 4-10 on the year after going 1-4 at the Bailey Memorial in Kennesaw, Ga., last weekend. Senior Kelly Schmidt was named the SoCon Pitcher of the Week on Monday.
• Tennessee Tech is 8-6 on the year, after going 2-2 at last week's Wings Etc. Classic in Spartanburg, S.C. The Golden Eagles had a 12-run third inning in a 16-6 win over La Salle in the opening game of that tourney.
• The Falcons lead the series with ETSU, 4-2, and BGSU picked up a 3-0 win over the Bucs last season. BGSU has met Tennessee just once, falling by an 18-0 score in 2009.
• BG trails Tennessee Tech, 3-1, in that series, but the Falcons' lone win came two weeks ago (Feb. 14) in the first game of the 2020 season for the Orange and Brown. Freshman Payton Gottshall threw a one-hitter in her collegiate debut as the Falcons picked up a 3-1 win over the Golden Eagles.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons are 6-3 on the season, and BGSU is coming off of a perfect 4-0 weekend at the Tiger Classic in Nashville. BG downed Tennessee State, Central Connecticut State, Rider and Creighton, outscoring the opponents by a combined 26-5.
• Willis and her staff – associate head coach Teresa Wilson, assistant coach Carly Thomas and volunteer assistant Michaela Bauer – welcomed back a total of 10 letterwinners, including seven players who started at least 20 games, from a year ago.
• Freshman Payton Gottshall picked up the win in all four games last weekend, with three complete-game victories and a win in relief. On Tuesday (Feb. 25), she was named MAC Pitcher of the Week, and she also made the NFCA's list of "Selected Top Performances" for the week.
• Gottshall had an ERA of just 0.71 last weekend, and allowed opponents to hit only .111 against her. She gave up two runs and seven hits in 19.2 innings of work.
• On the season, Gottshall is 6-2 with a 1.28 ERA and an opponent batting average of .150. She has five complete games in six starts, and has 65 strikeouts on the year.
• Gottshall has pitched in eight of BG's nine games, and has allowed two runs or fewer in all eight appearances.
• Gottshall was named the MVP of the Tiger Classic, and was joined on the all-tournament team by senior Evelyn Loyola and redshirt sophomore Sammy Dees.
• Dees and Loyola were a combined 9-for-17 at the plate last weekend, teaming up for five doubles, five RBI and eight walks.
• Dees leads the Falcons with a .353 batting average on the season, while seniors Taylor Blevins and Madi McCoy are hitting .345 and .333, respectively. Dees also leads the club in slugging pct. (.529) and on-base pct. (.522).
• McCoy has scored a team-high nine runs and Blevins eight, and Blevins is a perfect 5-for-5 in stolen-base attempts.
• Senior Logan Everett has a team-high 10 RBI, and has already topped her total for all of last season (eight).Â
• Everett is batting .296 on the young season, and three other Falcons – juniors Sarah Gonzalez (.304) and Nikki Sorgi (.250) and Loyola (.250) are hitting at least .250.
A LOOK AHEAD
• Following the Buccaneer Classic, the Falcons will prepare for five games in next weekend's Clearwater Invitational (March 6-8). BGSU's opponents in Florida will include Providence, Penn State, Army West Point, Chattanooga and Seton Hall.
FOLLOW THE FALCONS
For more information on all things BGSU softball, follow the Falcons on Twitter (@BGAthletics and @BGSUSoftball) and Instagram (@bgsu_softball) as well as on the web at BGSUFalcons.com.
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# B G S U Â F A L C O N Â S O F T B A L L #
Players Mentioned
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IF
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