Bowling Green State University Athletics
Tuesday, March 29
Valparaiso, IN
3:00 PM
Bowling Green State University
at
Valparaiso
Katee Hinkle & the Falcons hit the road to face Valpo & EMU this week
Photo by: Ruben Kappler, BGSU Marketing & Communications
Seven-Game Swing Starts Tuesday at Valparaiso
March 28, 2016 | Softball
Falcons face Crusaders before taking on EMU in a three-game weekend series
| T H I S Â W E E K Â I NÂ Â F A L C O N Â S O F T B A L L | ||
| BGSU at Valparaiso (DH) | Live Stats | Tue., March 29 | 2:00 p.m. CT (3:00 p.m. ET) | |
| BGSU at Eastern Michigan | Fri., April 1 | 3:00 p.m. | |
| BGSU at Eastern Michigan (DH) | Sat., April 2 | 1:00 p.m. | |
BGSU SOFTBALL LINKS
BGSU Weekly Release: PDFÂ |||Â Opponent Information: Valparaiso | EMU
2016 Media Guide: PDF | Interactive |||Â Join the Falcon Club Today!
LEADING OFF
The Bowling Green State University softball team hits the road for the next seven games, including a non-league midweek twinbill and a three-game Mid-American Conference series this weekend. The Falcons of head coach Sarah Willis play a non-MAC school for the final time in 2016 on Tuesday (March 29), taking on Valparaiso in a doubleheader that begins at 2:00 p.m. locally (3:00 p.m. ET) at the VU Softball Field.
Then, the Brown and Orange will begin the road portion of the MAC schedule with a three-game set against Eastern Michigan University. The Falcons and Eagles will meet in a single game Friday (April 1) before squaring off in a Saturday (April 2) doubleheader. Friday's game starts at 3:00 p.m., with Saturday's action commencing at 1:00 p.m. All three games will be held at EMU's Varsity Field.
QUOTING COACH WILLIS
"It's going to be important for us to work on things that we're weak on. We need to work on our sharpness -- we need to get all of our pitchers some time and make sure that we're sharper with our corners, our break, and making our pitches. We need to be sharper in terms of our defense coming out and playing fundamental softball. On Tuesday at Valparaiso and in subsequent games, we have to come out strong and look to try to build some momentum. We need to keep working, be aggressive and continue to improve on the things that can really help make a difference, especially in close games like today's second game."
FOLLOW THE FALCONS
• If you can't make it to the game, there are still a number of ways you can follow the Falcons. All of BGSU's remaining games this season, home and away, will have live stats available. Additionally, the Bowling Green Radio Sports Organization (BGRSO) plans to broadcast a majority of Falcon home softball games.
• And, in-game updates for all of BGSU's games, both at home and on the road, can be found at @BGSUSoftball on your twitter machine.
• To follow the Falcons, simply log on to BGSUFalcons.com and click the 'calendar' link on the day of the game, or navigate your way to the softball page. There you will find any available links to audio, video and live stats.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons are 12-18 on the season, and BGSU is 0-3 in MAC play to date. BG will enter Tuesday's Valparaiso twinbill looking to snap a three-game losing streak.
• Last week, the Falcons split a midweek doubleheader with IPFW, winning the nightcap by a 9-4 score. Then, BG dropped three games to Northern Illinois in the MAC-opening series at Meserve Field over the weekend.
• BGSU played in no fewer than six tournaments in as many weekends to open the 2016 campaign. The Brown and Orange participated in events in Cleveland; Kennesaw, Ga.; Mobile, Ala.; Towson, Md.; Clearwater, Fla.; and Bloomington, Ind.
• BGSU has scored 138 runs and allowed 159 this season to date. The Falcons have a team batting average of .268, and the opponents are hitting .268 as well.
• Two Falcons – senior Marisa Shook and junior Haley Schrock – have started all 30 games this season. Redshirt sophomore Chelsea Raker and true soph Katee Hinkle each have made 28 starts, while seniors Molly Holliday and Marina Cobbs have started 26 and 24 games, respectively.
• Raker leads the team with a .357 batting average, and has hit .400 (22-of-55) in the month of March. She leads the Falcons with an on-base percentage of .461, and is tied for the team lead with 30 hits. Raker, who missed all of last season due to injury, ranks second on the Falcons in total bases (44), walks (15), runs batted in (16) and slugging pct. (.524). She is deadlocked for second on the club with six doubles and two homers.
• Holliday is second on the team with a .324 batting average, after hitting .357 last week. She is tied for second on the Falcons with 14 runs scored, and has 12 RBI after driving in five runs during all of last season.
• Schrock and Shook are hitting .313 and .311, respectively. Schrock has a total of 30 hits to tie Raker for the team lead, and she is deadlocked with Raker for second on the club in both doubles (six) and extra-base hits (nine).
• Shook leads the Falcons with 21 runs scored, and also paces the team in doubles (seven), homers (seven), RBI (22), total bases (56) and slugging pct. (.622). She has an on-base pct. of .404 to rank second. Shook has obliterated her 2015 totals in nearly every category.
• Both Shook and Raker have been named MAC Player of the Week once this season to date.
• In limited action, junior Aspen Searle is hitting .308 with a slugging pct. of .519. She has played in just 18 of the Falcons' 30 games due to injury.
• Sophomore Kayla Gregory has moved into the starting lineup for the last eight games, and is hitting .357 in 28 at-bats this year. Gregory has an on-base pct. of .419 this spring to date.
• All five pitchers on the BGSU roster, including two freshmen, have seen action this spring. First-year Falcon Kiley Sosby has a team-low earned-run average of 3.91, and also leads the hurlers in appearances (15), games started (14), innings pitched (73 1/3) and wins (seven). Sosby is 7-4 on the season, and has six of the Falcons' 12 complete games this year. She also paces the Brown and Orange in strikeouts (66) and opponent batting average (.242).
• Junior Briana Combs has an ERA of .4.17, and has allowed Falcon foes to hit only .254 against her in 42 innings of work. Combs has three complete games among her nine starts.
• Senior Braiden Dillow has a 4.20 ERA and an opponent BA of .258. Dillow was 1-1 with an ERA of just 0.98 last week, getting a complete-game win (without allowing an earned run) vs. IPFW on Wednesday, then suffering the loss despite throwing a complete-game three-hitter against Northern Illinois three days later. Dillow is also hitting .269 in 26 at-bats this year.
• Freshman Brooke Parker has a 4.91 ERA. She has made a team-high 12 relief appearances, and has appeared in 14 games in the circle overall. Senior Katie Turski has appeared in three games in relief this spring.
• A total of 22 different players have seen action, with 18 of those 22 making at least one start.
• Last year, the Falcons finished with an overall record of 20-28, and BGSU went 8-14 in MAC play to place fifth in the league's East Division.
SCOUTING VALPARAISO
• Valparaiso has a record of 3-20 on the year, and the Crusaders are 0-3 in Horizon League play this season.
• VU will enter Tuesday's twinbill with the Falcons looking to snap a six-game losing streak. The Crusaders lost three narrow decisions at Youngstown State over the weekend as league play began.
• The team's victories this year to date have come against Presbyterian, DePaul and Santa Clara. The latter two wins came at the Rebel Classic in Las Vegas, Nev., with the VU offense exploding for a 10-0 triumph in the Santa Clara game.
• Senior outfielder Kaitlyn Ranieri is hitting a team-leading .351 this season, while sophomore OF Taylor Nadler is batting .333. Ranieri has totals of 20 hits and six doubles and an on-base percentage of .465 to lead the Crusaders in all three categories.
• Nadler tops the club with two triples, four homers, 14 RBI, 40 total bases and a .702 slugging percentage.
• Four pitchers have made at least nine appearances apiece this spring. Taylor Weissenhofer leads the staff, having pitched in 19 of the team's 23 games. She has made 13 starts and thrown 59 1/3 innings. Weissenhofer is 2-6 with a 6.72 ERA.
• Head coach Kate Stake welcomed back 15 of the team's 17 letterwinners from a year ago. Last year's team finished 16-35 overall and 9-11 in Horizon League play.
• The Crusaders were picked to finish fourth in the Horizon League in the conference's preseason poll.
SCOUTING EASTERN MICHIGAN
• Eastern Michigan enters this week's action with an overall record of 11-16, and the Eagles are 2-1 in MAC play. Eastern hosts Detroit in a Tuesday doubleheader before entertaining the Falcons this weekend.
• Last weekend, the Eagles dropped a narrow 4-3 decision at Akron on Friday, before bouncing back to sweep the Zips in a Saturday twinbill. Eastern won the opener, 11-5, and captured the second game by a 3-1 count.
• Tuesday's Detroit DH will be EMU's home opener.
• The Eagles have played .500 ball after beginning the season with an 0-5 record at the Troy University Tournament.
• Senior Abi Clark is batting .371 this spring. She is one of three Eagles with 26 hits on the year, and she has a team-best on-base percentage of .430.
• Junior OF Michelle Kriegshauser and freshman Amanda Akles each have 26 hits as well. Kriegshauser is hitting .333 with 10 extra-base hits and 16 RBI.
• Akles is hitting .317 and tops the club with eight doubles, five homers and 26 RBI. She also had a team-best .598 slugging pct.
• In the circle, Nicolle Miranda leads the staff with 87-plus innings pitched, 20 appearances and 15 starts. She is 5-10 with a 4.97 ERA, topping the team in wins and ERA as well.
• Head coach Melissa Gentile welcomed back 14 letterwinners, including seven starters, from last year's team. The 2015 edition of the Eagles finished 18-32 overall and 6-13 in the MAC.
THE SERIES
• The Falcons lead Valparaiso, 4-2, in the all-time series between the teams, and BGSU has won each of the last three meetings. The Falcons downed the Crusaders, 2-0, last season at Meserve Field (April 29, 2015), as Jamie Kertes threw a complete-game shutout in her final home game, and Morgan Evangelista clubbed a two-run homer. Last year's game marked the first time in the six-game history of the series that the home team came away with a win. The Falcons are 1-2 at home and 3-0 on the road against Valpo, in a series that began with a single game in 2005 and continued with doubleheaders in both 2012 and '13.
• BGSU leads Eastern Michigan, 53-41, in that series, and the teams split their two meetings last season. On the final weekend of the 2015 regular season, Aspen Searle drove in five runs in an 8-2 win in Ypsilanti (May 1, 2015), but the Eagles scored three times in the bottom of the seventh for a 4-3 win in game two. The teams have split their last four meetings after the Falcons swept doubleheaders in both 2012 and '13. BGSU is 32-12 at home, 20-23 on the road and 1-6 in neutral-site meetings with EMU over the years.
FALCON NOTES
• All nine players in the Falcons' starting lineup pounded out at least one hit in BG's 9-4 win over IPFW Wednesday (March 23).
• In the first game of that IPFW DH, freshman Hannah Giammarino hit the first homer of her young collegiate career, clubbing a two-out, three-run blast to left field to tie the game in the sixth inning.
• Senior Braiden Dillow threw a complete-game three-hitter in Saturday's 2-1 loss to Northern Illinois. Dillow gave up hits to two of the first three batters of the game, then retired 20 of the last 22 batters she faced, including the final 10.
•After the leadoff batter in the second inning of that game was retired on a fly ball to center, Dillow did not allow the Huskies to hit a ball out of the infield the rest of the way.
• At the plate, Dillow had two of the Falcons' four hits, including a double, and scored BG's lone run in the narrow loss.
• The Valparaiso DH marks the first time the Falcons will play a Tuesday game this season. BGSU is 1-1 on Wednesday, 0-1 on Thursday, 3-6 on Friday, 4-7 on Saturday and 4-3 on Sunday this season to date.
• Sophomore Kayla Gregory entered the Hoosier Classic with a total of one career hit. She made her first career start in the first IPFW game of the year, and was 1-for-3. Then, she had her first two-hit game as a Falcon vs. Western Illinois later that day, adding a walk.
• Gregory has started each of the last eight games, and is batting .357 on the season, with 10 hits in 28 at-bats.
• BGSU is looking to reverse a trend which has seen the Falcons fall behind early. BG has been outscored, 35-3, in the first inning of games this season. The Brown and Orange has outscored opponents in four of the next five innings of games, including a 41-17 advantage in the sixth frame.
• Senior Molly Holliday is batting .513 with runners on base this season, having gone 20-of-39 in such situations. She is a perfect 2-for-2 with the bases loaded.
• Redshirt sophomore Chelsea Raker is hitting .667 (8-for-12) and true soph Katee Hinkle .611 (11-of-18) when leading off an inning. Senior Marisa Shook is batting .458 (11-for-24) and junior Trista Mokienko .417 (5-of-12) when leading off.
• Holliday is batting a whopping .636 with runners in scoring position, having gone 14-for-22 in such situations. And, she is batting .476 (10-for-21) with two outs.
• Raker leads the Falcons with 10 multiple-hit games this season to date, while Shook and junior Haley Schrock have six apiece. Shook has a team-high seven multiple-RBI games.
• Shook, who had a total of one RBI during all of last season, has a team-high 22 RBI in '16.
• Schrock has 30 hits and 43 total bases this season. She has topped her totals in both categories for all of last spring. The Goshen, Ind., native had 28 hits and 33 total bases in 2015. Schrock had six doubles in her first two years combined, and has six two-base hits this season.
• Schrock has made starts at four different positions this season to date. She has started 15 games at first base, 10 at third, four at second base and one as the designated player.
• Shook entered the 2016 season with career totals of 13 runs scored, three home runs and 20 RBI. This year to date, she has scored 21 runs, has homered seven times and has driven in 22 runs. She leads the team in all three categories.
• Junior Briana Combs lined a single to center on Saturday vs. NIU. The hit came in her first at-bat as a Falcon. Combs had a hit two years ago, during her freshman campaign at the University of Evansville.
COMING UP...
Following this week's games at Valpo and EMU, the Falcons will return to the road next week. BGSU will take on Miami University in a doubleheader in Oxford on Tuesday, April 5. Then, the Falcons will host Central Michigan in a three-game series at Meserve Field, with a single game on Friday, April 8, and a twinbill the following afternoon.
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