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
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