Bowling Green is in first place of the MAC East today at 14-7 in MAC play, just like they were predicted to be by the MAC coaches in a preseason poll. If you were to ask coach Schmitz however if he thought his ballclub would be right here a month ago, he would surely shake his head no. What has happened on the field for the two-time defending MAC regular season champions is something that has to be talked about.
Only five short weeks ago, Bowling Green suffered the worst defeat in the history of the program, getting demolished by a surging Ball State team 32-10. The only reason Bowling Green even reached double digits that day was because walk-on freshman Michael Fahle hit a grand slam in his first ever at-bat during the ninth inning of that game. The loss put Bowling Green at 2-6 in MAC play and on the outside looking in for the MAC postseason tournament and well out of the picture for a third straight MAC title.
After the game that Saturday afternoon, the players at Bowling Green knew something had to change. They had a meeting after the game with the coaches, and then had a player’s only meeting. Things had to change; this was no way to play ball for a team with as much talent as the Falcons.
This wasn’t going to happen at Bowling Green; this wasn’t going to be the way the Seniors at Bowling Green went out. They wanted the freshman to experience what they had experienced in previous years.
Senior Derek Spencer took the rest of the season as a challenge, “We met with the guys and let them know that we had to go out and work hard, we could play better ball”. It was a wake-up call, and with this much veteran talent it was time for the club to suck it up and play like the team everyone expected them to be.
Then something happened. The next day Bowling Green belonged on the same field as Ball State. Suddenly the same team that had been outscored 44-16 during the first two games took the field Sunday on a mission. Led by Senior Kevin Leady and his stellar pitching effort the Falcons beat Ball State 8-2 in a game that would start the ball running on their current tear.
Since then Bowling Green has won 16 of their last 18 games and put themselves in a position to be part of the biggest weekend series of the MAC conference so far this season. That series is this weekend in Kent as the Falcons take on Kent State, second in the East by one game, with a game on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. This series is pressure packed and there will be tons of excitement surrounding it, but with the ups and downs this team has already faced they should be ready to take on the challenge.
Adding excitement to the series this weekend, the two teams are battling for the ‘Centennial Cup’, which is a trophy between the Bowling Green and Kent State athletic departments. Every time the two schools played each other in a sport over the past year the winner earned points for their school. At the moment Kent State leads Bowling Green by three points, but with a sweep of the Golden Flashes the standings would be tied and brought to an even 9.5 points.
Game one is scheduled for 3:00 P.M. Friday afternoon at Schoonover Stadium in Kent, Ohio.
Who has Miami played?
Miami played a pretty harsh schedule to start the year, facing off against teams such as #19 Auburn and #14 Clemson. The RedHawks also faced off against dark horse Big-10 contender Michigan State in their third game of the season. Unfortunately they couldn’t actually beat any of these teams but it helped prep them for the conference season. Miami’s best win so far this season according to boydsworld.com’s RPI rankings was when on the 27th of February they stole one game from #51 Louisiana-Lafayette, winning 7-5 in 11 innings.
Another impressive feat on the resume for Miami’s out-of-conference schedule was beating a Big-10 school… twice. Miami beat down Indiana University (#115 RPI) to the tune of 19-7 while the teams were on their spring break trip back in March. The RedHawks backed up their performance 34 days later when they beat the Hoosiers again, this time in Oxford, 8-6.
In conference Miami has been streaky at best, losing to teams they should’ve beaten and only winning two weekend series. Losing two out of three to Western Michigan (10-29,4-11) two weekends ago was a huge blow to their hopes of getting a conference-tournament bid.
The team did rebound last weekend by stomping their feet on an already battered and bruised Akron team who had lost 10 of their last 11 games going into the series.
Key Players
As a team Miami has been decent at the plate this year. With a .293 Team Batting Average the team is average with the bats, but on the basepaths is where they make up for the lack of hitting. The top three base stealers for the RedHawks have combined to successfully steal 37 out of 40 bases this season.
The team also has a player whose statistics are immeasurable when compared to his teammates.
Junior Adam Eaton leads the team in Batting Average (.363), At-Bats (157), Runs (44), Home Runs (9), RBI’s (42), Total Bases (107), Slugging % (.682), Base On Balls (13), Hit By Pitches (13), On Base % (.449), and Stolen Bases (20). That’s 11 offensive categories. I haven’t seen one player dominate a stat sheet like that all season. Jordon Janokowski also has some pop in his bat as he’s hit seven home runs on the year for the RedHawks.
The RedHawks pitching has been average at best with a 6.08 Team ERA and a 1.66 Team WHIP. Among the standouts for the staff is the dual threat Jordan Janokowski who along with hitting home runs saves games as well. He leads the team with a 3.75 ERA and six saves on the year. No player that has started a game this season for Miami has a winning record, but Mac Thoreson has been the most consistent. Despite a 3-3 record Thoreson has a 3.77 ERA and a 1.23 WHIP in 43.0 Innings Pitched.
Overall
Miami comes into the ‘battle of the birds’ series two games back of Bowling Green for second place in the MAC East (20-20, 7-8)
Key Stats
- Miami is 5-14 this year when they are the away team.
- Bowling Green has outscored opponents 40-23 in the first inning this season.
- Bowling Green is 12-4-1 when committing one or less errors while they are 7-14 when committing two or more errors.
- Bowling Green has a winning record (9-7) when the other team scores first and a losing record (10-11-1) when they are the first team to score.
Conclusion
Bowling Green is on a winning streak that mirrors last year’s end of year charge, which propelled the Falcons to first place in the MAC and gave them the conference regular season crown. Miami on the other hand has been streaky at best and probably is due for a few losses.
Prediction
Bowling Green will win the Friday, followed by a narrow loss at the hands of the RedHawks Saturday. Kevin Leady will dominate Sunday and Bowling Green will win their third conference series in a row.
Game 1
Bowling Green: 12
Miami: 4
Game 2
Bowling Green: 7
Miami: 9
Game 3
Bowling Green: 7
Miami: 3
