Falcons Prepare for Six-Game Homestand, Beginning With Friday-Sunday Series vs. Ohio

UP NEXT IN FALCON SOFTBALL
• BGSU vs. Ohio • March 24-26 • Meserve Field
>> Friday, March 24 - 3:00 p.m.
>> Sunday, March 26 - 12:00 p.m. (DH) -- note: this is a change from the original schedule

• BGSU vs. Western Michigan • March 28-29 • Meserve Field •
>> Tuesday, March 28 - 3:00 p.m.
>> Wednesday, March 29 - 1:00 p.m. (DH)

SETTING THE SCENE
• The Bowling Green State University softball team is set to begin the home portion of the 2023 schedule with no fewer than six games in six days. Head coach Candace Fenton-Bockbrader and the Falcons are scheduled to face Ohio University in Friday's (March 24) home opener, with first pitch set for 3:00 p.m. at Meserve Field. Admission is free to all home Falcon softball action.

• Then, the Orange and Brown will meet the Bobcats in a SUNDAY (March 26) doubleheader to wrap up the teams' three-game weekend series. Game one begins at 12:00 p.m. (NOTE: This is a change from the original schedule)

• BGSU's six-game homestand will continue with another Mid-American Conference series, as the Falcons face Western Michigan in a Tuesday (March 28) single game and a Wednesday (March 29) twinbill.

• All six games are scheduled to have a free audio stream, courtesy BG Falcon Media. Live stats will hopefully be available for all six games as well.

Check out the first edition of Roundin' Third, as @JaydonRomero of @BGFalconMedia talks to @CoachFentonBG ahead of this weekend's home-opening series vs. Ohio‼️#AyZiggy | 🟠🥎🟤 pic.twitter.com/AyoylA12un
— BGSU Softball (@BGSUSoftball) March 22, 2023

THE SEASON SO FAR
• The Falcons are 8-15 on the young season, and BGSU is 1-2 in Mid-American Conference action to date. BG opened the 2023 schedule by going 2-3 at the DePaul Dome Tournament in Rosemont Ill. Among the wins was a 3-2 victory over Detroit Mercy in the season opener (Feb. 10), the first win of Fenton-Bockbrader's collegiate head-coaching career.

• Then, BGSU played four games at the T-Mobile Tournament, hosted by Florida. The Falcons posted a run-rule win over Delaware State, and gave third-ranked Florida a scare before falling, 10-7.

• The Orange and Brown then went 2-3 in back-to-back tournaments. At the Aces Home Tournament #2, hosted by Evansville. BGSU posted a pair of wins over St. Thomas, and hit .254 to the opponents' .235 on the weekend. Then, the Falcons participated in the Jane B. Moore Memorial, hosted by nationally-ranked Auburn. BG scored 15 runs in a win over Tennessee Tech at that tourney.

• BGSU returned to the Midwest and played a single midweek game at Michigan before meeting Toledo in a three-game series last weekend. The Rockets captured the first two games of that series, which was moved indoors to Total Sports in Rossford due to inclement weather, before the Falcons picked up a 9-8 win on Sunday evening (March 19).

ABOUT THE FALCONS
• Head coach Candace Fenton-Bockbrader and assistant coaches Erinn Gankosky and Jacob Jeffries welcomed back 13 returning letterwinners from last year's club. The 2022 Falcons went 34-21 (.618) overall and 16-11 (.593) in Mid-American Conference play, good for fourth place in the 11-team league.

• BGSU's total of 34 victories was the program's highest in a decade, and the Falcons' overall and league-only winning percentages also were the best since 2012.

• The Falcons qualified for the 2022 MAC Tournament and advanced all the way to the championship game. Then, BG participated in national postseason play, heading to Fort Collins, Colo., and winning two games in the National Invitational Softball Championship. Those wins, over Stephen F. Austin and George Washington, were the first national postseason victories in BGSU softball history.

• In the classroom, a school-record 13 Falcons were named to the Academic All-MAC Team, while 15 team members were named Easton/NFCA All-America Scholar Athletes for the 2021-22 academic year.

A QUICK OVERVIEW
• The Falcons are 8-15 on the year. Entering the Ohio series, BGSU has scored 91 runs and allowed 133. Six pitchers have seen action, with five of them allowing opponents to hit between .266 and .302 on the season to date.

• Hannah Davies has thrown a team-high 47 2/3 innings this year, and also leads BG pitchers in appearances (12 - tied for team lead), complete games (two - tied for team lead) and strikeouts (33). Davies has a 5.43 ERA this season to date.

• Scarlet Anderson has a 5-3 record and a 3.66 ERA in 44 innings of work. She has started a team-leading eight games and is tied with Davies for the team lead in appearances and complete games in the circle. Anderson has allowed opponents to hit just .266 against her.

• At the plate, Sophie Weber is hitting .379, while Peyton Dolejs and Makailah Dees are batting .273 and .268, respectively. Weber has started 22 of BGSU's 23 games and leads the Falcons in hits (25), doubles (eight), on-base pct. (.438) and slugging pct. (.545).

• Dolejs, like Weber, has seen action in all 23 games and has made 22 starts. She has 66 at-bats to tie Weber for the team lead in that category as well, and Dolejs leads the Falcons in triples (two) and runs batted in (12).

• Freshmen Katie Hutter (.267), Delaney Davis (.262) and Hannah Hunt (256) all are hitting between .256 and .267 on the season, while another first-year Falcon, Marti Henkel, has hit .350 in 20 at-bats. Davis leads the Falcons with 11 walks and 14 runs scored. Henkel hit .500 in the Toledo series and has gone 6-of-11 over her last four games.

THE OPPONENTS / THE SERIES
• Ohio is 10-14 on the season, and the Bobcats are 1-2 in MAC play entering the BGSU series. Alexis Dawe is hitting a team-leading .361, with Emma Hoffner and Annalia Paoli batting .344 and .342, respectively. Paoli paces the Bobcats with four homers and 21 RBI. In the circle, Skipp Miller (3.55 ERA) and Kylie Coffelt (4.11 ERA) each have made 15 appearances and have combined to start 20 of the 24 games for first-year head coach Jenna Hall. Last year, the 'Cats went 23-25 overall and 17-10 in the MAC.

• Western Michigan is 6-11 entering a Friday game vs. Purdue Fort Wayne. The Broncos saw last weekend's MAC-opening series vs. Buffalo postponed due to weather. Addison Hudson is batting a team-best .465 this season, while Courtney Farrish is hitting .362 and leads the Broncos with nine doubles and 10 RBI. Autumn Godwin has a 2.97 ERA in 30 innings pitched for first-year head coach Jenny Rohn, while Rissa Bajusz has a 3.10 ERA and 42 strikeouts in 49 2/3 innings pitched. Last season's edition of the Broncos went 22-32 overall and 12-16 in conference.

• BGSU leads Ohio, 61-60, in the all-time series. The teams split last year's two regular-season meetings in Athens, and met again in the MAC Tournament, with the Falcons pulling out a 5-3, 10-inning win in Oxford. The Bobcats have not visited Meserve Field since 2018, when Ohio captured two of three meetings in a season-ending series on the first weekend of May.

• The Falcons trail Western Michigan, 56-38, in that series, and the teams split a pair of games in Kalamazoo last spring. The Falcons captured three of the teams' four meetings in 2021, including a sweep of a doubleheader in the last BGSU-WMU matchups at Meserve Field.

UP NEXT
• Following the six-game homestand, the Falcons begin the month of April with a three-game set at Buffalo, BGSU is slated to battle the Bulls in a doubleheader on Saturday, April 1, followed by a single game the next day.

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