Softball Hosts 'Hawks Before Returning to the Road

T H I S W E E K I N F A L C O N S O F T B A L L
BGSU vs. Miami	Wed., April 13 \| 3:00 p.m.
BGSU at Buffalo	Fri., April 15 \| 3:00 p.m.
BGSU at Buffalo (DH)	Sat., April 16 \| 1:00 p.m.

BGSU SOFTBALL LINKS
BGSU Weekly Release: PDF ||| The Opponents: Miami | Buffalo
Getting to Know...: Coach Ricks ||| Coach Lastrapes* ||| Coach Willis*
2016 Media Guide: PDF | Interactive ||| Join the Falcon Club Today!
* coming soon

LEADING OFF
The Bowling Green State University softball team, after sweeping a shortened Mid-American Conference series, looks to continue that success with four league games this week. The Falcons of head coach Sarah Willis host Miami University in a single game on Wednesday (April 13), with first pitch scheduled for 3:00 p.m. at Meserve Field. Admission is free to all BGSU home softball games.

Then, the Brown and Orange will head to Western New York for a three-game series against the University at Buffalo. The Falcons and Bulls will meet in a single game Friday (April 15) before squaring off in a Saturday (April 16) doubleheader. Friday's game starts at 3:00 p.m., with Saturday's action commencing at 1:00 p.m. at UB's Nan Harvey Field.

QUOTING COACH WILLIS
"We are looking forward to Wednesday's game vs. Miami. We didn't have a very good day in Oxford last week, but we were much better on Friday against Central Michigan. We need to bring the attitude and effort we had in that CMU doubleheader, and we also want to be a more consistent team. We were very consistent from pitch to pitch, out to out and inning to inning against CMU, and now we need to display that consistency from game to game and series to series."

FALCONS VS. THE EAST FROM HERE ON OUT
The 2016 schedule saw the Falcons matched up against MAC West Division opponents for nine of the first 11 conference games (one of those games wound up being cancelled due to snow). Now, the Brown and Orange will finish the conference schedule with 13 games against East Division foes. BGSU has 15 total games left, including three each vs. Akron, Buffalo, Kent State and Ohio and one against Miami. BG also will play a pair of games against Toledo that will not count in the conference standings.

Go4TheGoal
The Falcons will be participating in Go4theGoal's "Laced Up" event on Wednesday when BGSU hosts Miami. The team will be wearing gold shoelaces to help raise awareness and support local children fighting pediatric cancer. During the game fans can make donations to Go4theGoal at the marketing table and help support local families in their battle against pediatric cancer. Go4theGoal is a Cherry Hill, N.J., based non-profit foundation dedicated to helping kids with cancer. One hundred percent of the donations go directly to help kids with cancer in the local area.

The foundation's unwavering mission is to improve the lives of children battling cancer by providing financial support, developing and implementing unique hospital programs, funding innovative research, and granting personal wishes. Through our first-hand experience with pediatric cancer and our medical background, Go4theGoal provides the best practices to patients, their families, and the hospitals and staff that care for them.

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.

• There will be a free video stream available for each of this weekend's three games at Buffalo. And, in-game updates for all BGSU action, 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 16-23 on the season, and BGSU is 4-6 in MAC play to date after sweeping a doubleheader against Central Michigan at Meserve Field on Friday afternoon (April 8).

• After dropping a pair of midweek matchups at Miami, the Brown and Orange returned home and downed CMU by scores of 4-2 and 5-1. The final game of the scheduled three-game weekend series was cancelled due to the snowstorm that hit Bowling Green and surrounding areas on Friday night and Saturday morning.

• The wins over Central snapped a streak which had seen BGSU lose eight of the last 10 games. Over the last 12 contests, the Falcons are 4-0 when scoring at least four runs and 0-8 when held to three runs or fewer.

• To describe the last 12 games another way ... after losing five-straight games, the Falcons have won four of the last seven contests. BGSU has won four consecutive Friday matchups, sweeping twinbills at Eastern Michigan and against CMU.

• The Falcons are 3-4 at home, 3-9 on the road and 10-10 in neutral-site games this season to date. In MAC play, BGSU is 2-3 at Meserve Field and 2-3 in road games.

• 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 171 runs and allowed 209 this season to date. The Falcons have a team batting average of .269, and the opponents are hitting just a shade better, at .275 entering the week.

• Two Falcons – senior Marisa Shook and junior Haley Schrock – have started all 39 games this season. Redshirt sophomore Chelsea Raker and true soph Katee Hinkle each have made 37 starts, while seniors Molly Holliday and Marina Cobbs have started 35 and 29 games, respectively.

• Raker leads the team with a .345 batting average. She hit .417 (25-of-60) in the month of March. In addition to batting, Raker leads the Falcons in on-base percentage (.455), hits (38) and walks (21). Raker, who missed all of last season due to injury, ranks second on the Falcons in total bases (62), doubles (seven - tied for second), homers (five), runs batted in (20) and slugging pct. (.564).

• Schrock and Shook are hitting .316 and .304, respectively. Shook went 6-for-11 (.545) in the Eastern Michigan series on the first two days of April, while Schrock was 3-for-5 with a walk, a double and a homer in the CMU twinbill. Shook paces the team in a plethora of categories, including runs scored (24), doubles (10), homers (seven), RBI (27), total bases (66) and slugging percentage (.574), and she is second in on-base pct. (.394) and third in hits (35).

• Both Shook and Raker have been named MAC Player of the Week once this season to date.

• Schrock leads the Falcons in at-bats (17) and has 37 hits, just one behind Raker's team-leading total. Schrock, who has made starts at four different positions, is third on the team in extra-base hits (11), total bases (54) and slugging pct. (.462).

• Senior Braiden Dillow and sophomore Kayla Gregory each moved into the starting lineup in mid-March. Gregory is batting .351 in 20 games, including 17 starts, while Dillow has started 18 games and is batting .333. Dillow has three doubles, six runs scored and 10 RBI. Gregory has scored 10 runs this season.

• Holliday is hitting .283 this year, and is second on the team with 20 runs scored. She has 12 RBI after driving in five runs during all of last season, and leads the Falcons with seven stolen bases.

• Junior Aspen Searle is hitting .308 with a slugging pct. of .519. Searle, who started all 100 of BGSU's games over her first two seasons, has been unavailable for the last 14 games due to injury, and has played in just 18 of the Falcons' 39 games 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 3.51, and also leads the hurlers in innings pitched (91 2/3), appearances (19), games started (17), complete games (seven), wins (nine) and strikeouts (85). She is 9-5 on the season and has allowed opponents to bat just .238 against her.

• Junior Briana Combs has an ERA of 4.12, and has allowed Falcon foes to hit only .274 against her in 51 innings of work. Combs has three complete games among her 10 starts.

• Dillow has a 4.80 ERA and an opponent BA of .280. She has picked up complete-game wins on each of the last two Fridays, allowing five hits in an 8-1 win over EMU and seven in a 4-2 victory vs. CMU.

• Freshman Brooke Parker has a 5.46 ERA and, like Combs, has 18 appearances in the circle this season. Parker leads the team with 16 relief appearances, and has the team's lone save, getting the final out in the Falcons' second win at Eastern. 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 two starts this season.

• 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 MIAMI
• Miami enters the week with an overall record of 22-14, and the RedHawks lead the MAC's East Division with a 7-2 league ledger.
• MU went 2-1 last week, sweeping the Falcons in a Tuesday (April 5) doubleheader before dropping a Saturday game at Western Michigan. The RedHawks scored 46 runs in a four-game span before the 3-1 loss to the Broncos in Kalamazoo.
• Two of the games in MU's scheduled three-game series with Western were cancelled due to weather.
• MU opened MAC play by sweeping Ball State in a three-game series, and the 'Hawks then took two of three games at Toledo before facing the Falcons.
• The RedHawks were picked to win the MAC's East Division in the league's preseason coaches poll.
• MU is batting .296 as a team this year, including .332 in MAC games.
• Senior outfielder Taylor Shuey is batting a team-best .405 on the year, and also leads the club with 33 runs batted in.
• Freshman infielder Michaela Schlattman is hitting .330 with team-leading totals of nine homers, 21 walks and 27 runs scored.
• Shuey has a slugging percentage of .672, with Schlattman close behing at .652.
• Sophomore Rylee Whispel is hitting .432 in 37 at-bats this spring. Shuey (.483), Whispel (.458) and Schlattman (.400) are all hitting .400 or better in MAC play.
• In the circle, senior Amber Logemann has made a team-leading 17 starts, while redshirt junior Carly Mortensen has started 14 games.
• Logemann has a team-low 2.62 ERA and paces the RedHawks with 120 innings pitched, 14 wins, nine complete games and 101 strikeouts. She also has three saves.
• Junior Kelsey Fredericks has a 3-2 record and a 3.46 ERA, while Mortensen is 5-5 with an ERA of 5.58. Mortensen and Fredericks have pitched 57 2/3 and 54 2/3 innings, respectively, this year.
• Head coach Clarisa Crowell welcomed back 10 letterwinners, including four positional starters and two pitchers, from a year ago. The 2015 RedHawks went 32-24 overall and finished second in the MAC's East Division with a 13-7 mark.

SCOUTING BUFFALO
• Buffalo enters this week's action with an overall record of 11-25, and the Bulls have a MAC mark of 5-4 heading into a Wednesday doubleheader at Akron.
• Last week, the Bulls' scheduled twinbill vs. UA in Western New York was cancelled, but UB then went to Ball State and took two of three games from the Cardinals.
• Buffalo lost 13-straight games during early-to-mid March, then bounced back with five consecutive wins, including a three-game sweep of Toledo to begin MAC action. UB then lost five in a row, capped by a sweep at the hands of Western Michigan, before winning the first two games of the BSU series.
• The Bulls are 0-1 at home, 4-13 on the road and 7-11 in neutral-site games to date.
• Junior Savanna Norcio is hitting a team-leading .382 on the year, and is tied for the UB lead with 21 runs scored. Freshman Katie Weimer is batting .356 with UB-best totals of four triples, seven homers and 35 RBI.
• In the circle, four pitchers have thrown between 41 and 66 innings on the year. Sophomore Charlotte Miller leads that group with a 3.92 ERA. She is 4-5 on the year, while freshman Brieanna Baker is 3-5 with a 4.38 ERA and a team-leading 45 strikeouts.
• Head coach Trena Peel welcomed back 11 players, including five starters, from last year's team that went 13-37 overall and 5-15 in MAC play.
• Buffalo was picked to finish fifth in the MAC's East Division in the league's preseason coaches poll.

THE SERIES
• The Falcons lead Miami, 53-48, in the all-time series between the teams, but Miami won a pair of meetings in Oxford last week. The RedHawks swept the Brown and Orange in a Tuesday (April 5) doubleheader, by scores of 7-3 and 17-3. Prior to 2016, the teams had split their two regular-season meetings in each of the last four seasons. A year ago, in the last meetings in Bowling Green, Miami downed BGSU by a 4-1 count at Meserve Field (April 10, 2015), before the Falcons bounced back with a 4-3 win in game two. The Falcons are 35-14 at home, 13-29 on the road and 5-5 in neutral-site meetings with the Redskins/RedHawks over the years.

• BGSU leads Buffalo, 22-9, in that series, but the Bulls won the most recent meeting to snapp a four-game Falcons series winning streak. Last year, the Falcons won a 1-0 opener at Meserve Field (April 26, 2015), but UB rallied for a 3-1 win in the nightcap. In BG's last trip to Western New York, the Brown and Orange won a 6-1 contest and a wild 12-11 decision (April 18, 2014). The Falcons are 9-7 at home, 11-2 on the road and 2-0 in neutral-site matchups with UB.

FALCON NOTES
• Sophomore Katee Hinkle hit the first homer of her collegiate career last week at Miami. Hinkle became the ninth different player to homer this season, tying the school record. Nine BGSU players hit at least one round-tripper in 1999, 2006 and 2013, as well as this season.

• Senior Marisa Shook has 10 doubles and 27 RBI this season. Last year, no Falcon had more than 10 doubles, and the team's RBI leader had 28. In fact, no BGSU player has pounded out more than 10 two-base hits since Paige Berger had 17 in 2012.

• Senior Braiden Dillow has been part of the Falcons' batting order in each of the last 10 games and in 11 of the last 13 contests. After hitting .200 through the first month of the season, Dillow is batting .419 (13-for-31) since March 23. She saw an eight-game hitting streak snapped last week, but bounced back with a two-run double in Friday's first win over CMU.

• Sophomore Kayla Gregory has started each of the last 17 games for the Falcons, and is batting .351 on the season. Gregory entered the Hoosier Classic (March 18-19) with a total of one career hit, but is 19-of-54 at the plate since that time. Gregory has reached base in each of the last eight games.

• Heading into this week, BGSU has a record of 1-1 in Wednesday games, and the Falcons are 7-6 on Fridays and 4-8 on Saturdays. BG is also 0-4 in Tuesday games, 0-1 on Thursdays and 4-3 on Sundays.

• Hinkle had a career-high eight-game hitting streak, matching Dillow's BGSU season best, before going 0-for-3 in the second CMU game. That game also snapped Hinkle's BG season-best streak of reaching base in 12 consecuive games.

COMING UP...
Following this week's games, the Falcons will head to Northeast Ohio for a three-game weekend series at Akron next weekend (April 22-23). Then, following a midweek non-conference DH at Toledo (April 27), the Brown and Orange will host Kent State (April 29-30) and Ohio (May 6-7) on back-to-back weekends to close regular-season play.

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