Bowling Green Heads To Muncie To Battle Ball State

SCOUTING THE BALL STATE CARDINALS
Ball State is on a four-game winning streak, which comes after losing nine-consecutive games. The Cardinals have turned a page, however, as BSU has scored 10-plus runs in each of its last four games. Rich Maloney's Cardinals swept Western Michigan in Kalamazoo last weekend, and will enter play 3-6 in MAC play, and 15-18 overall. Ball State scores 5.18 runs per game, and the Cardinals are hitting .256 as a team, with four players hitting over .300. BSU has a very balanced offense, and has eight players with 10-plus RBI. Matt Eppers leads the team with a .311 batting average, while Alex Maloney has a team-high 24 RBI. Ball State owns an extremely solid 4.04 team ERA. B.J. Butler leads the staff with three wins, a 2.65 ERA, 57.2 innings pitched, and 45 strikeouts. Defensively, the Cardinals are averaging 1.12 errors per ballgame.

SCHMITZ SAYS
"Ball State is playing as well as any school in our conference right now. They are now scoring at a rate that everyone expected them to, and their pitching has been great all year. They play very well in their own park, and we'll have to be completely dialed in from the first pitch on Friday in order to compete for a series win. I think we have played some really good baseball within the conference, but it needs to come more consistently and throughout entire games, not just in stretches over a weekend. We are coming off a great win over Kent State in the midweek, so the hope is that we can bring that momentum into this weekend."

ALMOST AT THE #MACTION MIDWAY POINT
After this weekend's series in Muncie, the Falcons will have completed 50 percent of their conference schedule. As it rests right now, Bowling Green would be going to Avon as the No. 8 seed. Bowling Green is one game ahead of both Western Michigan and Ball State, and two games ahead of Miami. Both BGSU and Toledo are 4-5, but the Rockets own the tiebreaker. Ohio and Buffalo have played one less series than Bowling Green, but the Falcons still have more MAC wins than both, as the Bobcats and Bulls are 3-3. However, due to winning percentage-rules, Ohio and Buffalo, for now, sit atop the Falcons.

SCHMITZ APPROACHING HISTORIC MILESTONES
Danny Schmitz has 688-career wins, and is just two wins shy of moving into second place all-time in total wins as a MAC head coach. Joe Carbone earned 689 wins as Ohio's head coach from 1989-2012, while Fred Decker (WMU; 1976-2004) is the all-time leader in wins as a MAC head coach with 791. Schmitz's 357 MAC wins also rank third all-time, behind Carbone's 368 wins and Decker's 401 MAC victories. Schmitz still has a shot to get to the historic 700-win total in 2017. With 21 regular-season games remaining, Bowling Green would need to go 12-9 to give the Falcons' legendary manager win No. 700. Schmitz is the MAC's active leader in both conference wins, and career wins as a MAC manager.

BGSU BEATS KENT STATE IN NON-CONFERENCE #MACtion
Behind junior Randy Righter's 5-for-5 day at the plate, Bowling Green defeated Kent State on Tuesday (April 11) in a non-conference matchup at Steller Field by a score of 9-3. The win marked Bowling Green's first regular-season victory over Kent State since 2014. The Falcons scored once in the first inning, and led for the remainder of the ballgame. Capped by Righter's two-run blast, BGSU put up a five-spot on the Flashes in the second inning to take a commanding 6-0 lead. Senior Greg Basalyga chipped in with three RBI, freshman Jake Wilson hit his first-career home run, and BGSU received 4.2 innings of two-run ball from freshman starter Chandler Stillings. Sophomore Brad Croy allowed one run over 2.1 innings, while freshman Nathan Lohmeier finished the deal with 2.0-hittless innings.

RIGHTER'S RIGHT-HANDED BAT PRODUCING BIG
Junior first basemen Randy Righter will enter play this weekend on a nine-game hitting streak. After his career-high five hits in a 5-for-5 effort versus Kent State on Tuesday (April 11), he's hitting .306 on the season. Righter, who has also recorded a double in four-straight games, is 19-for-46 (.413) over the last 11 games. Over that same duration, he's slugging .674. In his big day in the win over the Golden Flashes, he registered a career-high nine bases, and surpassed his career high for hits by two knocks. On the season, he leads the club in total bases (47), runs (16), hits (33) and doubles (8). The product of Brother Rice High School has two home runs and eight RBI in 2017.

THE 300 CLUB
Bowling Green did not have a single player hit .300 last season, but through the first 28 games of the 2017 season, the Falcons have three players hitting above .300. Senior Greg Basalyga and junior Randy Righter are both tops on the team with a .306 average. Both players lead Bowling Green in slugging percentage, with marks of .506 and .435, respectively. Junior catcher Justin Mott is having a career season for the Orange and Brown. In 53 at-bats, Mott has 16 hits – only eight shy of surpassing last season's career high total of 23. His .302 average is completed by his .373 on-base percentage, which ranks fourth on the club.

THE ROOK
Freshman centerfielder Jake Wilson was tabbed as the MAC Freshman of the Year, according to multiple publications in the preseason, including D1Baseball.com. Wilson is certainly living up to those expectations in 2017. The 2016 Boston Red Sox draft pick has played and started in 27 games, and currently sits fourth on the team with a .274 batting average. He registered the first home run of his career in Tuesday's (April 11) win over Kent State, bumping his RBI total to 16, which ranks second on the team. He's 4-for-5 on stolen base attempts, which is tops on the club. He's also scored nine runs, has 26 hits, and two doubles. Wilson has made a number of electrifying catches in centerfield.

ANDERSON'S EXCELLENT BATTLE OF I-75 START
Redshirt-junior Tyler Anderson pitched Bowling Green to a series-opening victory over Toledo last weekend on April 7. He logged a career-high 7.1 innings, and recorded a season-high five strikeouts. He yielded four hits, one run, and walked just two batters. With his effort, he picked up his second win of the 2017 season, and he now owns a stellar 2.96 ERA. On the season, he's logged 45.2 innings, and has allowed 15 earned runs, and is tied for the team lead with 26 strikeouts. In five of Anderson's last six starts, he's pitched at least 5.0 innings while allowing three or fewer runs. Anderson has pitched at least 6.0 innings in four of his eight starts this season.

LOHMEIER MAKING MEANINGFUL IMPACT
Freshman southpaw Nathan Lohmeier has been dominant from out of the Bowling Green bullpen this season. The Hartland High School product held a potent Kent State offense hitless over 2.0 innings in Tuesday's (April 11) victory over the Golden Flashes. The freshman owns a team-best 1.10 ERA. His stuff has been filthy for the entire season. In 16.1 innings, he has recorded 20 strikeouts, which is only six shy of tying the team lead. Weekend starters Tyler Anderson and Zac Carey lead the team with 26 strikeouts each, but have pitched nearly 30.0 innings more apiece. Carey has pitched 49.1 innings on the season, while Anderson has worked 45.2 innings. Opponents are hitting a team-low .196 off Lohmeier, who has surrendered just 11 hits and two runs all season.

LANDI CHASING HISTORY
Senior closer Tony Landi earned the 15th save of his career at Northern Illinois on April 1. Landi, who was pitching about 45 minutes away from his hometown of Geneva, Illinois, had approximately 30 friends and family in attendance. With the save, the senior tied legendary righty Nick Bruns (2010-13) for second all-time on the program's career saves list. Landi now needs just three more saves to break the school record. Neil Schmitz racked up 17-career saves over his playing career from 2001-04. Last season, Landi tied the single-season record with eight saves, while making a total of 29 appearances. His 29 outings rank second-most all-time for a single season.

THE 27TH YEAR OF THE SCHMITZ ERA
Danny Schmitz, who has spent his entire collegiate coaching career at Bowling Green, is in his 27th year at the helm of the program. He is just 14 wins shy of 700 for his career. He is the active leader in career wins (688) and MAC wins (357). Schmitz has guided the Falcons to seven MAC division titles, four MAC regular-season championships, and three MAC Tournament titles. Three of BG's four NCAA Tournament appearances have been clinched under Schmitz's watch. BGSU has won 20-plus games 21 times under Schmitz, while winning 30-plus games a total of eight times. With 21 wins in 2017, Schmitz will become the second-ever MAC coach to reach 700 wins. Schmitz is also 16 MAC wins shy of moving into second place all-time. The Falcons have qualified for the MAC Tournament 17 times over Schmitz's 26 full seasons to date.

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Tyler Anderson

Greg Basalyga

Zac Carey

Brad Croy

Tony Landi

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Justin Mott

Randy Righter

Chandler Stillings

Jake Wilson

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