Roll Along Baseball

Back To Work!

2011-02-15T01:02:00.001-08:00

After a long and exhausting eight months off from blogging, I am more than happy to be back! Life has its way of taking you through thick and thin and then bringing you back to the thing that makes you the happiest.

And that for me is baseball, and thank God I can always rely on it to come back around this time of year.

I plan on writing up some basic information for the BG baseball team on here soon. I think I tried doing too much towards the end of last season and it kind of ended up blowing up in my face. So this year I plan on just sticking to the script, following BG baseball, and making my own Apple Paintbrush rendition of the opposing team's logo.

It's almost baseball season!

-David Paul Arnold

Crazy Stuff

2010-05-18T05:49:00.000-07:00

From now on this website will have all the articles I write for Buckeye State Baseball... I moved into a new apartment for the summer where I can't get internet, so that means I'm not going to be spending all my free time writing and reading about baseball. Probably not the worst thing for me at the moment but I'm still going to be writing for BSB and so that means there will be occasional Bowling Green stories but the articles will be mostly about the MAC in general, which is what I wanted to be doing eventually all along.

Bowling Green just lost two out of three to Kent State and is now tied for 1st place atop the MAC East standings with just one weekend left.

I'll get a brief preview for the upcoming weekend and then next week I'll get an extensive preview going for the MAC tournament in Chillicothe, Ohio.

One more thing, I am currently following an assistant coach around and will be for the summer, and writing articles about the experience throughout the summer. I'm hoping the articles will post both on here and BSB, but if your interested in what college baseball coaches do during the summer then check up on RAB more often!

Until then, sorry about the abrupt stop in Bowling Green coverage.

Thanks everybody for reading,

David Arnold

Falcons Meeting Expectations... Just In Time

2010-05-12T16:06:00.001-07:00

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.

Bowling Green Coverage on BSB

2010-04-29T21:02:00.000-07:00

Buckeye State Baseball is a great website for anyone interested in college baseball within the state of Ohio. Writer Chris Webb has made a great, readable product for all us baseball nerds that love college baseball.

That being said, I've been pushing my pro-BG agenda on him for some time now and he's finally giving into the peer pressure, as he has posted a BG-Miami preview on BSB's front page along with an interview he had with Coach Schmitz this past week.

If the preview looks similar to mine it's because I helped him write the preview for Miami and Bowling Green.

Anyways, good publicity is always great, especially on a site like BSB. Support college baseball and support a great baseball website by checking out the story and interview by Chris.

Our goal is to make Chris pronounce his love for BG and have us be his second favorite school in Ohio (after OSU of course)! Muahaha...

Also, don't forget to become a fan of/like Roll Along Baseball and Buckeye State Baseball on facebook!

Preview: Miami (Not the cool Nike one, I'm talking about the other Miami that I dislike)

2010-04-29T19:12:00.001-07:00

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 27^th 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

Lack Of Content

2010-04-27T16:39:00.001-07:00

Sorry about the lack of content, school is getting down to the nitty gritty and will be done sometime next week. Until then though my posting will be sporadic and lacking information.

Update though.

Bowling Green is now in 2nd place in the MAC East with a 9-6 record in-conference after a dominating weekend sweep of Ohio in Athens!

Bowling Green has won eight in a row and ten out of their last eleven games. Bowling Green is peaking at the absolutely right time and will be playing Miami this weekend at Stellar Field.

Most exciting time of the year is also the craziest.

Roll Along!

Buckeye State Baseball

2010-04-21T20:19:00.001-07:00

I will be contributing to Buckeye State Baseball now officially, probably writing mostly about the MAC and Bowling Green, but you should check out the website because it's pretty nifty. Especially if your a die-hard baseball fan.

Falcons Continue Hot Streak

2010-04-21T20:14:00.000-07:00

On a perfect day in Bowling Green, Ohio the Falcons continued their winning ways beating down the Western Michigan Broncos to the tune of 19-4. Bowling Green had a first round KO of sorts that was reminiscent to the Mike Tyson glory days.

Freshman pitcher Michael Klett of WMU loaded the bases in the bottom of the first by walking the first two batters of the game then giving up a single to Dennis Vaughn. Senior Derek Spencer then threw the first haymaker of the day when he blasted the first pitch he saw opposite field over the wall right beside the scoreboard. The grand slam set the tone for the game and proved that the Falcons were not going to give this game up.

Every single Bowling Green starter scored at least once and had at least one RBI with the lone exception being super Sophomore Jon Berti, who went 3 for 5 with a single, two doubles, two stolen bases, and scored three times.

Bowling Green threw six pitchers to the mound, but starter Nick Bruns earned the win going five strong innings, giving up seven hits and four runs on the day. The five other relievers combined to throw four innings of shutout relief.

Coach Danny Schmitz was pleased with the performance today.

“Three hour baseball games are only fun when your on the winning side of things, and hey, we were on the winning side today”.

The win improves Bowling Green’s overall record to 15-18-1 while Western Michigan falls to 9-27. Nick Bruns gets the win to improve to 2-1 on the season while Michael Klett gets the loss on the day and is now 0-1 for the season.

Even though both teams are in the MAC conference today’s game was considered an out of conference matchup.

Bowling Green On The Rise!

2010-04-21T19:59:00.000-07:00

As two-time defending regular season MAC champions, Bowling Green came into conference play this year with lofty expectations. Bowling Green played a really tough out of conference schedule to start the year, facing potential Omaha bound squads Louisville and Kentucky, so when the team started out slow it wasn’t a huge worry for the Falcons.

When the trend continued into conference play however, things weren’t looking very good. Coach Danny Schmitz’s ballclub was reeling, only winning one game in each of the first three conference weekend series matchups for a 3-6 conference record.

Something Changed for the squad this past Friday night however when the Falcons traveled up I-75 to play rival Toledo. Schmitz knew the importance of the upcoming series.

“I just told our guys, hey this is a big series against a rival. This right here determines whether we’re pretenders or contenders this season.”

Oh man did his boy’s respond.

After recently being on the wrong side of a 32-10 affair with Ball State during the previous Saturday, Bowling Green decided to have a scoring spree of their own this past Friday, beating the Rockets to the tune of 20-15.

“That game really knocked the wind out of their sails… they came to the ballpark the next day and weren’t quite as loud and didn’t bring the same emotion we had.” Said Bowling Green Senior Derek Spencer.

Game one not only set the tone for a weekend series sweep of Toledo, but it might end up being a season changing win for Bowling Green. Rivalry games can do that to you sometimes. They bring out intensity sometimes that can’t be brought out any other way, and for the first time this season Bowling Green is looking like a team that deserves the lofty expectations given to them at the beginning of the year.

Red-hot Sophomore Jon Berti added, “It’s been sort of a snowball effect. We know we can win ballgames now… we have to go out and take two out of three in every series from now on.”

Before playing Toledo last year Bowling Green was 7-6 in conference play, but after beating their rival reeled off 12 of their last 14 conference games including beating Toledo to win the MAC regular season crown. After sweeping Toledo this past weekend Bowling Green has set sail on a similar path, improving to 6-6 in conference and only sitting one game back of MAC East leader Kent State (20-18, 7-5).

This upcoming weekend is also huge in determining how Bowling Green is going to finish the season as they travel to Athens to play Ohio University who, despite struggling at the beginning of the season, is 6-6 in MAC play and tied with the Falcons for second in the MAC East.

After winning six of their last seven, including today’s 19-4 beatdown on Western Michigan, Bowling Green might finally have the momentum needed to make a strong second-half push at a third MAC regular season crown. So, to the Buckeye State, watch out because this is a dangerous team that is peaking at the perfect time this season.

Weekend Review: Holy Toledo!

2010-04-20T11:32:00.000-07:00

Oh man! I believe Bowling Green State University just swept rival Toledo! All I can say is wow!

The sweep puts Bowling Green into second place in the MAC East standings as of today, putting them in position to play in the MAC baseball tournament.

I'm going to give you the scores and box scores and not much else today because I have a ton of school work to get to right now.

4/16/10

Bowling Green: 20

Toledo: 15

Box Score

4/17/10

Bowling Green: 8

Toledo: 7

Box Score

4/18/10

Bowling Green: 4

Toledo: 2

Box Score

Falcons Blow Past Rockets As Rivalry Heats Up

2010-04-16T18:17:00.000-07:00

Bowling Green today showed glimpses of their 2009 form, crushing rival Toledo 20-15 in game one of the battle of I-75. To clue you in on how crazy of a game this was today, the winning pitcher Brennan Smith gave up 12 hits and 9 earned runs in 5.1 innings pitched. And he was credited with the win for the Falcons.

Bowling Green scored two or more runs in six of the first seven innings. The scoring spree started with four runs in the first and second innings, six in the third and two runs in the fourth, fifth, and seventh innings.

Every single Bowling Green hitter had at least one RBI in the game, with catcher Ryan Schlater leading the pack hitting a home run and batting in four runs. Senior Derek Spencer also homered for the Falcons, recording three RBI’s on two hits.

Toledo’s bats were hot as well however, and Dan Sherwood led the way hitting two home runs on the day, recording five RBI’s today. Seven of the nine Rocket hitters recorded an RBI and every single one crossed home plate at least once. Toledo was held scoreless only in the first and ninth innings, but the 15 runs was just not enough to get by Bowling Green on this day.

If Friday afternoon is any indication might want to stop by Scott Park if you live near Toledo because this weekend is going to be a fun one, especially if you love offense.

Bowling Green’s overall record improves to 11-18-1 with a 4-6 record in MAC play. With the loss Toledo falls to 21-11 on the year with an 8-2 record in conference play.

Preview: Toledo

2010-04-15T20:57:00.000-07:00

Who have they played?
Coming into this current week Toledo was the #1 ranked team in all of Ohio, ranking 85th in the RPI overall nationally, where as the powerhouse Ohio State team was ranked 87th coming into this weekend. In out of conference play the Rockets have played a fairly week schedule, with a single game against Coastal Carolina (#7 RPI), and College of Charleston (#41) being the only two RPI top 50 teams they’ve played so far. Michigan and Pittsburgh are also two good baseball teams in the top 70 RPI wise that Toledo has played. Inside MAC play Toledo is 8-1, which is tied for tops in the conference with Central Michigan. The most impressive thing about the record is that five of those wins have been against the MAC East favorites Kent State (19-16, 6-3) and Akron (15-16, 2-7).

Key Players
Toledo can really hit the ball, hitting 39 moon shots (too easy) in 31 games as compared to opponents only hitting 24 during the same games. Joe Corfman is hitting .373 on the year with 32 RBI’s and has a .439 On Base %. Chris Dudics leads the team with a .384 batting average and is 9 for 10 in stolen base attempts on the year. Jared Hoying has a team leading 36 dingers on the year and 36 RBI’s while Dan Sherwood has a team leading 37 RBI’s with 8 home runs so far.

The pitching staff so far can be described as dominant. The three expected weekend starters are a combined 10-4 on the year, with Mike Hamann leading the Rockets showing off a stellar 2.47 ERA and a WHIP of 1.01 after seven starts. Kyle Shaw and Lincoln Rassi are not far behind with both pitchers having ERA’s under 4.00 and a WHIP of 1.22 and 1.65 respectively. The bullpen is downright disgusting as well, with four relievers all having an ERA of under 4.00. Matt Suschak is the go to guy however as he has an outrageous 1.66 ERA in 21.2 Innings Pitched over the span of 13 appearances.

Conclusion
Toledo is one of the best teams Bowling Green will see all year and probably the best team in the MAC conference. Toledo can hit and pitch better then anyone in the MAC but sometimes they do have trouble fielding the ball. If Bowling Green is to take the series and win at least two they have to rely on the starting pitchers to go deep into ball games and hope the bullpen holds up. The only way to beat great pitching is to pitch just as good. Bowling Green’s offense also needs to score at least eight runs a game to win. In the battle of I-75 the Rockets clearly have the edge this year, not even close.

Prediction
As much as I would love my Falcons to finally put up a series win in MAC play, I don’t see it happening this weekend. Frankly Bowling Green will be lucky to steal one game from Toledo. If BG can do that they will set themselves up to go on a conference winning streak with lowly Ohio and Miami coming up in the next two series.

Bowling Green Hangs On To Beat Pesky Vikings

2010-04-14T13:45:00.000-07:00

Today two schools in BSB territory faced off in a mid week inter-conference game that ended up being one of the better games I’ve seen so far this year. A battered and bruised Bowling Green squad managed to squeak by a young Cleveland State team 6-5 in ten innings. Freshmen Nick Bruns and Patrick O’Brien combined to pitch all ten innings for Bowling Green, tallying eight strikeouts and only recording one walk the whole game.

Bowling Green head coach Danny Schmitz proudly remarked, “Nick and Pat really provided us with a great pitching performance today, and since we only have eleven healthy pitchers at the moment we really needed them to go out and do that.”

Catcher Ryan Schlater started off the scoring blasting a shot over the left field fence to put Bowling Green up 1-0 in the bottom of the second inning and by the end of the third Bowling Green was up 4-1. The Vikings scored two in the seventh and then in the eighth inning Bob Suitca singled into centerfield to score third baseman Kyle Shaffer and tie the game up. The game remained tied until the bottom of the tenth inning when Bowling Green Senior Tyler Elkins of Hamilton, Ohio doubled down the third base line to score Jon Berti and win the ballgame for the Falcons. The win improves Bowling Green’s record to 10-17-1 overall while Cleveland State falls to 8-20 on the season.

Even though Cleveland State lost today their head coach Kevin Kocks was fairly optimistic.

“We’re a young team, we have mostly freshman and sophomores on the roster… I’m encouraged by today because we gained experience.”

When asked about the Vikings past weekend in which they took two games from Horizon League favorite Wright State Kocks had this to say.

“After this weekend (against Wright State) we are building for the future. Wins like that prepare us for the future, building a program takes time... our goals are still to win a conference championship, which is very much still in reach, and to get better everyday.”

Senior centerfielder TJ Blanton went 0-4 on the day to snap a 21-game hit streak. The hit streak was the longest in the MAC and ranked in the top 10 nationally. Patrick O’Brien earned his second win on the season to improve to 2-2 while Pat Shedlock gets the loss to drop his record to 1-3 on the year.

Bowling Green travels to Ann Arbor today to face the University of Michigan (19-11, 4-2) and then to Toledo (21-10, 8-1) this weekend to face their arch rivals. Cleveland State plays Kent State (18-16, 6-3) today and at Valparasio (11-19, 2-1) in a conference series matchup this weekend.

Weekday Games: Cleveland State & Michigan

2010-04-13T08:20:00.000-07:00

This week Bowling Green welcomes Cleveland State to the Stell Tuesday and then travels up to Ann Arbor for a game Wednesday. I don't have extensive previews for either but I will put up records and such.

For a preview of the Michigan game however go check an interview Mgoblog.com contributor Formerly Anonymous had with me. In the interview he discusses the matchup and gives a preview of how the game will go.

Anyways. Here are the matchups for Tuesday and Wednesday.

4/13/10

Bowling Green (9-17-1, 3-6)

vs.

Cleveland State (8-19, 2-4)

4/14/10

Bowling Green (9-17-1, 3-6)

vs.

University of Michigan (18-11, 4-2)

I'll be posting a preview of Toledo in the next day or two for everyone. By the way, I would love it if you became a fan of Roll Along Baseball on facebook! Thanks for the support!

Recap: Ball State

2010-04-12T07:45:00.000-07:00

Well... Friday and Saturday were both full of facepalm moments for Bowling Green, as they were outscored by a, no joke, 44-15 margin. Ball State put up 32 runs Saturday alone. No lie. The Ball State Cardinals put up 32 runs Saturday and setting a record for the most runs ever scored by an opponent against Bowling Green.

The crazy thing about this weekend was that just as Bowling Green looked like a cellar-dweller this year in the MAC, freshman walk-on Michael Fahle hit a grand slam home run in his first ever collegiate at bat in the bottom of the 9th Saturday which seemed to spark the club and push them to a victory Sunday. Although Saturday was for a long time a lost cause, that home run was the start of nine positively amazing innings for the Falcons. Ball State is a great baseball team capable of making the NCAA tournament this year and while getting one win from this team might sound discouraging, the journey of the weekend might get this team going finally.

4/9/10

Bowling Green: 6

Ball State: 12

Box Score

4/10/10

Bowling Green: 10

Ball State: 32

Box Score

4/11/10

Bowling Green: 9

Ball State: 3

Box Score

Game 1 Recap

After all the baseball I saw Saturday and Sunday, Friday seems like a long time ago. Basically, another bad loss by Bowling Green that followed the same pattern as most of BG's losses. Bad pitching, bad fielding, and hitting that can't capitalize on opportunities. Bowling Green left 12 on base and also committed four errors. The starting pitcher Brennan Smith only threw 2.1 innings, giving up eight hits and six earned runs.

- TJ Blanton extended his hitting streak to 19 games.

- The game lasted 3 hours and 29 minutes. Ouch! I was getting tired just watching the game. It felt like a Red Sox-Yankees game.

- Jon Berti went 3-4 and really had a good day at the plate.

- Ball State's starting pitcher Perci Garner hit 96 mph on the radar multiple times. The kid was a scholarship quarterback for Ball State and walked-on to the baseball team last year. Now he's quit football and is on scholarship for baseball and a draft prospect for this June's MLB draft. He has a mid-80s slider and a nasty curveball that makes hitters knees buckle.

- There were over ten scouts at Friday's ballgame, presumably to see Perci Garner and All-American second baseman Kolbrin Vitek, who is projected to be a 1st or 2nd round pick in the upcoming MLB draft.

Game 2 Recap

Wow. Saturday's game. Wow. I have seen lots and lots of baseball in my life... but I've never seen all the things I saw in one game.

- I haven't seen one team score 32 runs.

- I've never seen 42 total runs scored in a game either.

- I've never seen a pitcher with an ERA of 243.00 until I saw the stat line for pitcher Justin Warrington after Saturday's game.

- I've never seen a player walk up to the plate in his first ever collegiate at bat and hit a grand slam... that cut the deficit from 26 runs to 22 runs.

- This game lasted 3 hours and 21 minutes... somehow beating Friday's game but nonetheless taking forever. This series would've made Joe West cry.

Game 3 Recap

Losing the first two games of this series by a combined score of 44-18 the Falcons had a new look to them Sunday dominating and winning the final game of the series 9-3.

- The team came out and played the best defense I've seen them play this year. Jon Berti and Logan Meisler combined to make at least five outstanding defensive plays that held Ball State to only two runs in the first and one run in the ninth.

- Ball State imploded in the sixth inning, committing all four errors. The team kind of looked tired after the whooping they layed on BG the day before.

- TJ Blanton recorded a hit in every game this weekend extending his MAC best 21-game hitting streak.

- Kevin Leady is the ace of the Bowling Green staff. He now has four of the nine overall wins by Bowling Green this season. He threw 45 pitches in the first inning alone but rebounded to go seven full innings... striking out seven and only walking three despite the fact he got into nine full counts on the day.

What Does This Mean?

Bowling Green drops to 9-17-1 overall and 3-6 in the MAC after this weekend... putting them in 5th place in the MAC East and 10th place overall in conference. To make the conference tournament Bowling Green needs to finish 8th or better in conference. Bowling Green needs to start winning weekend series and it has to start this weekend against I-75 rival Toledo. Unfortunately for BG, Toledo is 8-1 in conference and 21-9 overall, boasting both the best conference and overall records in the MAC.

Bowling Green just doesn't have the pitching depth to keep up with their opponents this year and if the bats don't have a great day the team is going to lose. It's point blank as simple as that.

Preview: Ball State

2010-04-08T19:06:00.000-07:00

First off, sorry this preview took so long. I had a lot of school work this week and for the next two weeks I'll be pretty backed up, so posts might be slightly sporadic. I'll still be posting the basics though at least.
How have they played?

Ball State is coming off a tough 12-6 midweek loss to Indiana Tuesday and it 11-16 overall but is 5-1 in conference play. The team is the favorite to win the MAC West this season and so far has backed up the hype taking care of Miami and Ohio, going 5-1 in the two series, two teams they are supposed to beat. The defense is good, having only committed 39 errors in 27 games played, compared to Bowling Green’s 49 errors in 24 games this season. That could play a significant factor this weekend especially since the weather might be chilly, every baserunner will be crucial. One interesting weakness though is that Ball State strikes out a lot. They are second in the MAC with 229 strikeouts so far this season. They rank in the middle of almost every other statistic in the MAC however. The relief pitching has performed very well this season, and the bullpen of Ball State gives them a direct advantage in the later innings over Bowling Green once the starting pitchers have been replaced. This is a solid team that plays to win but is not great. They just get the job done.

Common Opponent

Up to this date Louisville is the only baseball team that has played both opponents. Bowling Green played Louisville in a very cold opening-season series in Kentucky, getting swept by the Cardinals, although the last game was an extra inning affair that the Falcons could've easily stolen. Ball State stole the last of a three game series back in the third weekend of March at Louisville. This was a quality win for Louisville as they were ranked #7 nationally at the time. There aren’t any inter-conference teams to compare these two with yet.

Key Players

Kolbrin Vitek is by far and away the best hitting on the Ball State roster this season, boasting a .413 batting average in 109 at bats. He also leads the team with seven home runs, 31 RBI’s, and a whopping .716 slugging %. He is to the Cardinal lineup what TJ Blanton has been to the Falcon lineup; their stats as of today match up almost evenly. The pitching staff of Ball State has a lot of good pitchers. There really aren’t any dominating top pitchers aside of relief pitcher Morgan Coombs, who has a 2.11 ERA in five appearances and 21.1 innings pitched. That being said, the Cardinals have eight pitchers with significant (10+ IP) playing time that have an ERA under six. Meanwhile, Bowling Green only has four pitchers with such a distinction. If it counts for anything though, Justin Warrington has a 99.00 ERA in two appearances for Ball State, and hasn’t recorded one single out but has managed to walk four and allow four earned runs. Can he please pitch against Bowling Green this weekend please?

Conclusion

Ball State is the type of team I wish Bowling Green would play more like. Efficient defense, efficient offense, efficient pitching. Bowling Green has showed flashes of all three of these things this season… just not in the same game. Hopefully things will turn around for Bowling Green this weekend, but they have to play darned good baseball to do it. If Bowling Green wants to make the conference tournament they need to start winning conference games and weekend series.

Prediction

As much as I would love for my sister on sibs and kids weekend to come down and see a Bowling Green series win, I just don’t see it happening. Ball State will win the Friday and Saturday games while Bowling Green steals the final Sunday game.

Weekend Review: Eastern Michigan

2010-04-05T10:31:00.000-07:00

Bowling Green went into this weekend needing to win this conference series, and unfortunately for them they only won one game. There were a lot of positives to take out of the series though that showed the Falcons are not nearly as bad as their record indicates.

4/02/10

Bowling Green: 1

Eastern Michigan: 4

Box Score

4/03/10

Bowling Green: 8

Eastern Michigan: 9

Box Score

4/04/10

Bowling Green: 4

Eastern Michigan: 3

Box Score

Defense

The defense of Bowling Green is something I have been critical about as of late, but this weekend they only committed four errors in the three games. Now maybe it was because of the fact that Eastern has an infield that is field-turf so the bounces are very predictable, but honestly I don't care because there was good baseball being played and that was very nice. Unfortunately though for BG, Eastern played defense just as well this weekend, only committing two errors in the first game and none the rest of the series.

Pitching

The starting pitching this weekend for Bowling Green was awesome, and just based off of the starting pitching and defense the Falcons should have at least won two games this weekend.

- Brennan Smith went 7.2 innings Friday, striking out six, walking three, and giving up only six hits and two runs (one earned).

- Michael Frank had the worst outing for a starting pitcher, going five innings, striking out three and giving up three earned runs. The main concern is the fact he gave up 10 hits in the five innings, but he got out of jams really well though.

- Kevin Leady pitched the Sunday game and absolutely carried the squad through 7.1 innings, striking out ten, walking just two, and only giving up three runs.

The relief pitching and lack of scoring is what doomed the team though.

- Ross Gerdeman gave up a three-run home run in the 8th inning that put the Eagles up 4-1 in game one. Gerdeman did redeem himself though getting a tough 1.2 inning save Sunday afternoon in BG's lone 4-3 win on the weekend.

- Charles Wooten blew multiple late-game leads Saturday, hitting two batters and giving up six earned runs off of six hits in just three innings of work.

Offense

The wind was blowing out in Ypsilanti this weekend, where seven long balls were hit in the three games, with five coming during game two. I saw at least three home runs leave the park that had it not been for the jet stream at Oestrike Stadium, they would've just been regular fly balls, granted deep fly balls, but just fly balls.

- Interesting development with the lineup, TJ Blanton, argueably BG's best hitter, was moved from his traditional nine spot in the lineup to hit fourth, second, and fifth this weekend.

- Bowling Green was really shut down Friday night, with only TJ Blanton scoring in the 4-1 loss. The game was a pitching duel until the first home run of the series was belted by Eastern DH Matt Skirving.

- Saturday was a slugfest in which Bowling Green had home runs from Blanton, Mark Galvin, and Patrick Martin. The offense was spread out very nicely for the Falcons, as they scored at least one run in the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th innings. Unfortunately though the pitching couldn't match the effort they gave the day before, as they gave up 18 hits and nine runs, including a walk off single by Bo Kinder in the bottom of the 9th.

- Sunday was a quiet but solid performance by the offense, as they scored three in the 6th and one in the 7th. Matthew Pitzulo had the best day for BG, going 2-4 with a double and two RBI's.

- TJ Blanton got a hit in every game this series, extending his hitting streak to 17 games which is now the longest active hitting streak in the MAC.

Verdict

Bowling Green is now 8-14-1 overall and 2-4 in the MAC. The hope of winning the MAC is quickly fading and the focus needs to now be on making the postseason MAC championships so they can try to qualify for the NCAA's. The defense looks to be back on track now after this series where the errors were kept to a minimum. This team is a good team and when they can get the pitching, offense, and defense working together they can compete with any MAC team.

Whats Up Next?

Weekday game against the Big 10 dark horse candidate Michigan State. A win over Jake Boss and company would really be impressive and look very good for Schmitz's squad.

The upcoming weekend series is at home (!) which means you can follow along at home on the computer with my liveblog that can be found by clicking the '2010 gameday central' button on the baseball home page, or you can go to this site and scroll down to the bottom of the page.

Ball State (11-15, 4-1) will be taking on Bowling Green on Friday at 3 p.m. Saturday at 1 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. at Stellar Field. My preview of the Cardinals will hopefully be up by Friday. Normally it would be sooner but school is getting down to the end here and I have a lot of work to do.

How Important Is Defense?

2010-04-02T12:48:00.000-07:00

Watching Bowling Green play baseball this past weekend versus Northern Illinois I started to wonder, how big of an issue is defense in the MAC? Both teams committed quite a few errors during the series, espicially Bowling Green who committed nine errors in three games. The Falcons could have probably swept the series if it wasn't for crucial errors at key times which allowed NIU to score nine unearned runs over three games and win two of the three games.

So for the past week in between classes I calculated how many errors per nine innings each MAC team had, compared that with the team ERA, and also threw in the fielding % of each team. I then lined them up in a chart. I also got the data of a few major division one programs and compared them to the MAC teams.

In my "Other Teams" category I threw in Michigan and Ohio State in this area and then a team ranked in the top 30, 20, 10, 3, and the number 1 team in the nation. As you can see the best teams in the nation are all at 1.00 E/9 or below, and the only team in the MAC even close to that number is Miami University, who average 1.27 E/9.

If I were to look at the teams and their E/9 combined with the team ERA, I would have to give the defensive advantage to either Toledo or Central Michigan so far. Of course the strength of schedule has been different for a lot of teams so far so the numbers might not completely accurately represent every team in the MAC but it at least gives us an idea of who plays the best team defense (pitching is included) in the conference.

Miami's 1.27 E/9 is hard to ignore though and it shows that if they can get a strong outing from their pitching they have the baility to play with any team in the conference. Teams like Bowling Green and Ohio though will almost always have to sore more than six runs if they have a chance at winning a ballgame.

I will be doing a post soon on offensive statistics which will probably be more detailed and have a lot more categories in it and then after that I'll be taking a look at both the team offense and the team defense of each squad in the MAC and try to take a stab at who has the best team statistically speaking this year.

Not surprisingly, Bowling Green is towards the bottom of the conference in this category with only Ohio, who is 3-18, beneath them. If Bowling Green wants to make a run at another MAC title this year, the team has to play better defense overall, whether it's a position change for some players or giving the bench more opportunities out in the field something needs to be done. No team can expect to be consistently competitive while averaging 2.28 errors per nine innings unless they have a nasty pitching staff and consistantly hot bats. While the Falcons can hit the ball better than practically every other team, their .316 batting average is good enough for second in the MAC, you can't expect an offense to score 8+ runs a game.

If Bowling Green can pull the defense together and average less than 1.6 E/9 than I believe they can finish the season above .500 overall. That being said however, the turnaround must happen this weekend against Eastern Michigan.

I will try to update the E/9 for every weekend series from now on and track Bowling Green's progress.

Weekend Series Preview: Eastern Michigan

2010-03-30T10:29:00.000-07:00

I lived in Ypsilanti for the past seven years so my knowledge of Eastern’s sports is pretty extensive. Basically all you need to know about the athletic department is summed up in one sentence. Eastern is a division 2-caliber athletic department competing in division 1 sports. Losing and a lack of attendance continue to be the staple of a department that is constantly in the shadow of the school six miles away in Ann Arbor. That being said however, the baseball team does have a rich history and actually made the NCAA tournament within the last three years. That was the lone year Jake Boss, now the Michigan State head coach, was there.

How have they played?

This year so far EMU is doing just about as well as any MAC team as they are 10-14 on the year and 2-1 in conference play. Their best win of year so far was an opening day upset of #25 Kansas in the horrendous baseball stadium we call the Metrodome, formerly (thank God) the home of the Minnesota Twins. The Eagles also won the middle game of a series versus the University of West Virginia 23-0. Unfortunately they also happened to lose the other two games of the series by a pretty sizable margin.

Common Opponent

Up to this date West Virginia is the only baseball team that has played both opponents. Even with one very protruding loss to the tune of 23-0(!?), WVU is 3-1 against EMU and BG, beating the Falcons 10-7 just last Tuesday and winning two out of three the weekend before against the Eagles.

Key Players

Eastern only has four players hitting above .300 on the season, with Daniel Russell leading the team with a .362 batting average. Zack Leonard is the big cleanup man for EMU though, collecting 28 RBIs, two home runs, and eight doubles while being the only Eagle to start all 24 games.

There isn’t really any one player offensively who jumps out at you from the statistical data, and from the pitching side things don’t look much better. Steven Young is the only person on the team that has an ERA lower than five, and through only 10.1 innings of work he has an ERA of 0.00. 10.1 innings is not a lot of for a team that’s played 24 games, so calling him the ace of the staff is probably a reach. Junior Corey Chaffins is without a doubt the workhorse of the staff having thrown two complete games in only six starts. He has faced 171 batters in 42.2 innings pitched, and what’s even more remarkable is that the next closest stat line is from Jordan Glover’s 110 batters faced in 25.1 innings pitched. Chaffins has an ERA of 5.48 however and a WHIP of 1.47, which actually is not a terrible whip but not a great one. Brett Cisper (7.71 ERA, 2.20 WHIP) is the team’s closer, having collected four saves already. This staff looks shaky which can only mean good things for a Bowling Green team that’s looking to bounce back from a sub-par weekend series versus NIU.

Conclusion

Even though Eastern has just about as good of a record as any other MAC team, they shouldn’t end up at the top of the league if their lack of pitching continues. If Bowling Green can play good defense this weekend they should be able to score 8+ runs in every game, meaning this should be a sweep for the Falcons. Let me restate that, if Bowling Green is going to be a legitimate contender at the top of the MAC then they need to at least take two in Ypsilanti if not sweep the series.

Prediction

Bowling Green will take two out of the three games this weekend, and improve their record to 9-12-1 overall and 3-3 in conference.

Mac Opener: Northern Illinois Homestand

2010-03-27T20:27:00.001-07:00

Well, this is not the way Bowling Green would've liked to start MAC play. The Falcons let errors both defensively and on the base paths kill their chance at winning the series this weekend versus Northern Illinois. Here are the scores of the games this weekend.

By the way, the picture for this post is of the 1959 White Sox jerseys, aka the jerseys that NIU decided to replicate this season. The only difference is the hat says NIU not SOX on the hat. It was awesome for a geek like me.

3/26/10

Bowling Green: 5

Northern Illinois: 6

Box Score

3/27/10

Game 1

Bowling Green: 7

Northern Illinois 2

Box Score

Game 2

Bowling Green: 5

Northern Illinois: 8

Box Score

Game One

- My first thought yesterday was, "Wow, this is a better than expected attendance in the stands for the first home series of the year. People really want baseball around here, which is really nice." Ultimately though I'm pretty sure the fans would've been better off staying at home with the poor defensive performance BG put up.

- Unfortunately for Bowling Green the offense couldn't help save the defense and the ridiculous errors that occurred in the field Friday. The infield booted ball after ball, committing four errors during the game. In fact, the first five runs were unearned which in a backwards way helped Brennan Smith work his ERA down. Way too many errors for a team looking to compete for another MAC regular season crown.

- Another killer for Bowling Green is how many people they left on base. They left nine runners stranded on base Friday and pretty much just couldn't pull through. This is a team that will have to score eight or nine at least every time out if they are to guarantee themselves a win. LOB is a statistic that was way too high to win this series against NIU.

Game Two (Game 1 of the Double Header)

- First off, congratulations Michael Frank on earning your first ever collegiate baseball game. The kid pitches like Mark Buehrle, nice and fast paced and he pitches to contact. He will throw strikes so if you don't hit him early, your going to fall behind in the count. This game showed the potential Bowling Green has if they can play good defense behind the pitching staff.

- The offense can and probably will score 6+ runs every game so I'm willing to bet when BG makes two or less errors this year they will have a winning record.

- Jon Berti (three hits), Matthew Pitzulo (two RBIs), and Dennis Vaughn (two RBIs) all had great days at the plate.

- 48th round pick of the Cleveland Indians Troy White of NIU flashed some serious leather at third today, making at least three Web Gem-esque plays. He also stole a base this game. Kid projects to a second base in the majors and is a legitimate player.

- Michael Frank will be one of those consistant pitchers that BG will be able to rely on for the next four years. He might not have the best stuff on the staff, or even have close to the best stuff, but he's just a good solid pitcher who knows how to throw a good game.

Game Three (Game 2 of the Double Header)

- By far the most frustrating game I've seen in person so far. Bowling Green left 17 runners stranded on the base paths today... Seventeen! BG tagged starting pitcher Jeremy Gonzales of NIU to the tune of four runs in the first inning... then didn't score again until the 7th inning. That is frustration at its worst.

- Three more booted balls by BG and that was enough to give NIU enough chances to win the game.

- Extra innings and double headers don't mix well. I was ready for a nap during the 10th inning.

- TJ 'Towering Jacks' Blanton Blasted a ball that cleared the wall well into the fairway on the 16th hole behind the stadium was about one foot left foul pole. The fact that TJ ended up grounding out after that absolutely killed the spirit of the BG dugout.

- If Bowling Green could just convert offensively... or just play good defense for a full 9+ innings they would be such a dangerous team. Bowling Green has a chance to still win the regular season, but they have to figure out their defensive alignment... quickly.

- Troy White of NIU had a great game at the plate and justified his draft selection even more so this weekend. He was without a doubt the most impressive player on the field between the two teams this weekend.

- Right fielder Mark Galvin made some amazing catches today where he had to run full speed into the bullpen and make a catch. Once he even had to avoid a bullpen catcher.

Verdict?

If Bowling Green can pull their defense together, this is a team that is fixing to go on a winning streak. If the defense, mainly the infield, can't pull their act together this is a sub-.500 MAC baseball team. The club will hit the ball but at times plays defense like Jose Canseco.

What's Next?

Weekday game at Dayton and weekend series at Eastern Michigan. I'm not going to post previews for mid-week games so I can focus on the weekend series teams, but I will be posting other nuggets of statistical goodness this week so keep on the lookout.

Shameless Plug

- During any of the home games for BG, visit the 2010 Gameday Central link at the BGSU Baseball site and follow along at the bottom of the page with me as I do a live blog. We had over 20 people today!

- Also, please become a fan of Roll Along Baseball on facebook!

MAC Preview for Bowling Green

2010-03-25T21:25:00.000-07:00

Well, I just spent the day typing up a preview of Bowling Green for collegebaseball360.com. So, here is my preview of the BG baseball team for the MAC season.

BOWLING GREEN 2010 BASEBALL PREVIEW

Record 6-8-1

Team totals

Offense .321 AVG./12 HR/111 RBI/.395 OBP/.472 SLG

Defense 7.02 ERA/3 S/89 SO/69 BB/.315 BA

Expected rotation: Brennan Smith, Michael Frank, Kevin Leady

Key players: CF T.J. Blanton, SS Jon Berti, RP Ross Gerdeman

Weakness: Starting Pitching

Strength: Run Scoring Ability

The Bowling Green State University baseball team is coming into conference play this season trying to ready themselves for a run at a third straight MAC Regular Season crown. Going into MAC play, the Falcons are 6-9-1 with a weekend sweep of Eastern Kentucky being the bright spot so far. The offense has been what has powered Bowling Green so far and kept the team in almost every game. Getting On-Base has not been a problem for Bowling Green, maintaining a .395 OBP with the team batting average being a superb .321. Along with those stats the Falcons have amassed a gaudy .472 slugging percentage. Stud senior T.J. Blanton has six of the nine home runs hit so far by the Falcons along with a team high 19 of the 111 RBI’s recorded.

Unfortunately for Coach Danny Schmitz, the pitching staff has staggered through the non-conference portion of the schedule. While reliever Ross Gerdeman has amassed a 1.42 ERA over 19 innings pitched, the team as a whole have combined for an underwhelming 7.02 ERA. The staff have struck out 89 and walked 69 in 132 innings pitched and given up a .315 BAA.

Bowling Green has played a tough non-conference schedule so far, going to Kentucky on three separate weekend series to play Louisville, Kentucky, and Eastern Kentucky. The team lost the first six games of the season before going down to Florida during spring break, where they were able to defeat Northeastern for the first win of the season. The squad was only able to play five games out of the eight scheduled due to rain, but went 3-1-1 over those five games.

Offensively the Falcons should be able to slug it out with any team that comes their way in-conference, they have scored seven or more runs in 10 of the 16 games played so far. T.J. Blanton is a player to look out for and will be in contention for player of the year in the MAC conference. The senior belted four home runs in the Eastern Kentucky series, all on the same day during a double-header. The 2009 Academic All-MAC selection has a .895 slugging % so far and is hitting .456. Speedy lead off hitter Jon Berti leads the team with 10 stolen bases in 12 attempts, with Blanton the only other player on the team who has attempted to steal more than three stolen bases, swiping seven bags in nine attempts.

If Bowling Green is to win their third straight MAC Regular Season title, it is the pitching staff that will be the key for that is the most glaring weakness. The starting rotation consists of Brennan Smith, Michael Frank, and Kevin Leady, whose combined average ERA is a 7.10 over 63 innings pitched. The bullpen is led by Ross Gerdeman and Patrick Martin who have given up a combined seven runs in 31.2 innings of relief. For as potent as the bats have been for Bowling Green, the pitching has been just as shaky having allowed a .408 OBP and collected a WHIP of 1.81 so far.

Expectations for the season are to keep the ball rolling and win yet another regular season crown. However, with teams like Kent State in the mix this year will be a tough one. The team has the offense to compete in the MAC, but it will be the pitching that will determine fate of this year’s team.

-David Arnold

Home Opener: CMU

2010-03-24T22:06:00.000-07:00

First off, I am the blogger for Bowling Green baseball's athletic department, so during games if you go to the website click on the link for the game. The link should be to a live blog that should look something like this. Come join me for all the home games!

Well, today was a defensive struggle for Bowling Green while Central had no complaints, capitalizing by scoring eight runs in the first five innings.

3/24/2010

Bowling Green: 7

Central Michigan: 12

Box Score

Game Recap

- Bowling Green threw out to the mound to start the game freshman right-handed pitcher Cody Apthorpe. Unfortunately for Apthorpe, he had a lot of trouble hitting the strike zone today. His stat line for the day was brutal, in three innings pitched he gave up six runs, only four of which were earned, off of five hits. He had three walks and only two strikeouts.

- Bowling Green threw seven pitchers today, all except for one went for at least a full inning. Today was just a day to get a lot of guys work to be prepared for the weekend home series against NIU.

- The most distressing part of today though were the errors, both defensively and baserunning. Only seven of CMU's twelve runs were earned, and BG had three critical defensive errors, all of which leading to runs being scored by the Chippewas. In fact, that's a tied game if BG played a perfect defensive game.

- Baserunning errors killed BG too, in particular there were two crucial errors on the same play that killed the Falcons best chance at coming back. Down 12-6 in the seventh inning the Falcons had runners on second and third with no outs when Clay Duncan ripped a shot down to the third baseman. The runner at third took off for home when he probably should of stayed, and the third baseman threw out the runner at home, but the worst part was when the runner at second couldn't decide whether to stay at second or try to get to third but ended up getting caught in between. The double play absolutely killed the rally for BGSU and pretty much ended the game right then and there.

- TJ Blanton continued his hitting hot streak today going two for three with one RBI.

- Taylor Rhoades had his first collegiate hit today.

Verdict?

A home opening win against a conference opponent (even though it was out-of-conference) would've been nice but it was by no means necessary. This was game five of eight in nine days so today was just a game where pitching was just too thin to win. At least Bowling Green got some good reps in on the home turf, the fans got to watch the ball fly off the bat, and now the attention focuses on the start of the MAC season (officially) with Northern Illinois (5-14, 0-0). I will be hoping to post a preview of Northern Illinois by tomorrow night or Friday at the latest.

Preview: Central Michigan University

2010-03-23T21:32:00.000-07:00

Opponent: Central Michigan University (7-8, 0-0)

Place: Bowling Green, Ohio

Time: 3 p.m.

Just to be clear. CMU is in the MAC, but this is not an in-conference game. This is a tune up for both teams, as they both start up games this weekend that do count as conference games.

So lets size up the two teams.

Common Opponents?

Butler

- BG won the match up between the two teams 3-1 in a pitching duel between two offensive-minded teams. This was the only win for BG where they scored less than seven runs.

- CMU played Butler the day after BG did and lost the game 9-14. Central jumped on top in the beginning scoring eight in the first two innings, then failed to muster anymore than one more run the rest of the game. The most intriguing stat from the box score? Attendance at the game. 67 persons.

NDSU and Indiana were supposed to be other common opponents, but rain outs for BGSU ruined that. CMU lossed both games by the way.

Advantage? BGSU

Offense

Batting Average

BG: .319 (Matthew Pitzulo, .480)

CMU: .258 (Billy Anderson, .355)

Extra Base Hits

BG: 46 (TJ Blanton, 5 2B, 1 3B, 5 HR)

CMU: 39 (Billy Anderson, 7 2B, 1 HR)

Slugging %

BG: .476 (TJ Blanton, .900)

CMU: .365 (Billy Anderson, .516)

On Base %

BG: .393 (Matthew Pitzulo, .552)

CMU: .340 (Billy Anderson, .444)

Advantage? BGSU

Pitching and Defense

Earned Run Average:

BG: 6.81 (Ross Gerdeman, 1.50)

CMU: 4.65 (Rick Dodridge, 1.93)

XBH Allowed

BG: 50

CMU: 39

WHIP

BG: 1.74

CMU: 1.56

Errors

BG: 29

CMU: 21

Fielding %

BG: .944

CMU: .964

Advantage? CMU

Prediction:

After a completely scientific look at these two teams, it can safely be said that Bowling Green wins by hitting, hitting, hitting. Central is much more balanced of a team, and has not been that great at the plate this spring, at least compared to BG. I doubt neither team will use any dominating pitchers tomorrow, so the key will be errors. Who will make the key errors at key moments? Unfortunately for BG they average 1.9 errors a game while CMU averages 1.4 so that is an advantage for CMU.

However! Central's two highest scoring games this year however have both come against inferior NAIA teams in Davenport University and Concordia University, so CMU's offensive numbers might be slightly inflated.

Predicted Score:

BG: 14

CMU: 9

West Virginia Mid-Week

2010-03-23T20:47:00.000-07:00

West Virginia met with Bowling Green in Chillicothe, Ohio today for a quick mid-week game.

3/23/2010

West Virginia: 10

Bowling Green: 7

Box Score (None as of yet, only a game recap from WVU)

Quick Hits:

- This win put WVU above .500 for the first time all season.

- I don't know how good WVU is, or if this means anything, but WVU went 3-1 in a 4 game series this past weekend, but the game they lost they ended up losing the game 23-0.... uh.... whoops?

Verdict:

It's a loss, but it's a mid-week game, after three huge wins vs. WKU. And it's against a Big East Team. Gotta take this one with a grain of salt. In other news the home opener is tomorrow against Central Michigan!

Bowling Green has a chance to break .500 for the first time this season with a win tomorrow and two wins this weekend. I doubt BG will use any of the starting rotation tomorrow, and a preview will be coming up soon tonight.

Invasion of Kentucky! (Part 3)

2010-03-23T19:21:00.000-07:00

First off I would like to apologize, my schedule since I've been back from spring break has been brutal! But, I work with the Athletic Department and I'm scheduled to work every home game from now on. My focus this year is going to be the home games and keep you updated with other stuff when I can.

Hopefully I'll get a response for an interview with Head Coach Schmitz soon if I'm lucky (fingers crossed).

Quick recap of the last four games before the the preview of the home-opener which is tomorrow!

First off, BG earned a sweep of Western Kentucky! Three wins in two days!

3/19/2010

Bowling Green: 11

Western Kentucky: 9

Box Score

3/20/2010

Game 1

Bowling Green: 19

Western Kentucky: 10

Box Score

Game 2

Bowling Green: 7

Western Kentucky: 6

Box Score

Quck Hits:

- 2009 ESPN Academic All-American TJ Blanton had career highs when he went 4-5, belted three home runs, and had seven rbi's in game one of the double header saturday.

-37 runs by BG in a three game series just backs up what BG has done so far, proving that offense is what wins games for BG, not the defensive side.

- Unfortunately, of the 19 runs scored by BG in the first game of the double header Saturday, only 10 of them were earned. And seven of them were driven in by the the Falcons #9 hitter(!?) Blanton.

-Western Kentucky made a lot of errors defensively... to the tune of 11 errors in three games... maybe the home score keeper was a pitcher when he played...?

- Only four errors by Bowling Green during the whole series. Finally some good defense! In fact, rumor has it Blanton not only had three home runs but he also robbed WKU of one.

- BG won in the state of Kentucky! It took until game seven but hey. It's nice.

Spring Break: Baseball Players & Witches Melt In The Rain

2010-03-15T07:48:00.000-07:00

Well, Bowling Green didn't end on a five-game winning streak like I had hoped, but they did end up with a three game non-losing streak! Unfortunately for the Falcons though, their spring break trip to the Sunshine state ended with, well, a lack of sunshine.

I'll give short recaps of the Sacrad Heart and Yale games and links to the box scores. Unfortunately, the links are to the other team's websites, but for some reason BG's site doesn't have box scores.

3/9/2010

Bowling Green: 16

Sacred Heart: 10

Box Score

Recap:

Dennis Vaughn led the hit-fest last Tuesday by belting the ball for three hits and five rbi's, he also crossed home plate himself two times. Both teams had high lob numbers (BG: 10 SHU: 9) but also scored a ton of runs. Bowling Green had a nice comfortable lead after four innings, winning 16-5 at that point, so the fact they gave up 10 runs for the whole game might be a little decieving. Considering it was the fourth game in as many days, the pitching depth was probably starting to wain a bit because no pitcher for BG went past 2.2 innings on the day.

Verdict:

Good win. Rough day for SHU's Matt Fitton, as his 6'9" inch frame wasn't intimidating enough to stop BG from running up his tab for the day. The guy finished with a stat line that looked like this...

IP: 2.2 H: 10 R: 11 ER: 11 BB: 4 SO: 0 BF: 22

That is rough! No strikeouts in 22 faced batters? That's a team that must've been short on pitching because who lets a pitcher give up 11 earned runs before pulling him? Good job stepping on a team's throat and not letting up. Good win, although unfortunately it would be the last victory for BG before heading back up to Ohio.

Updates Coming

2010-03-15T07:36:00.000-07:00

Hey sorry guys, I just spent the last few days at my girlfriends house where we had no internet connection, and I also spent Saturday interviewing for a couple of internships with the Akron Aeros so it's been pretty busy.

So by the end of tomorrow hopefully I'll have:

-Updates on the rest of spring break.

-Data about tomorrow's oppenent for BG's first home game! (3 pm vs. Findlay)

It's looking like the spring break trip ended on a wet note, the last three games were cancelled due to the massive amount of rain everyone got this past week.

Spring Break Baseball: Butler University

2010-03-08T18:10:00.000-08:00

Today was a matchup of two teams with bad records playing each other in what should have been another high scoring affair. Butler (2-5) had given up 7+ runs in every single game up until today. Bowling Green (2-7, 0-0) had given up 6+ runs in every game except two so far. So when the teams engaged in a pitchers duel, it was quite a surprise for both clubs.

3/8/10

Bowling Green: 3

Butler: 1

Box Score (Not Posted Yet)

Recap

Senior Kevin Leady led the Falcons, striking out eight on the day. Ross Gerdeman recorded his first ever save on the day and Bowling Green came through with a tough, gritty win for the first time all season.

Verdict?

This is the type of grind-it-out win BG has to come through with as the season progresses. No qualms here about the lack of offense because that hasn't been an issue at all this year, it's been the pitching and defense that's slowed BG down. Without the box score I can't say for sure, but the defense and pitching must of been superb today. Good win. Five game winning streak to end spring break here we come!

Spring Break Baseball: Rhode Island

2010-03-08T17:16:00.000-08:00

Hey, I've got an idea... we're 1-6... let's play a team that's 0-7! Surely that'll give us a win right? Well, if BG was thinking that, they sure didn't play like it. Rhode Island got their first win of the season in a dramatic fashion during a offensive showcase Sunday.

2/7/10

Rhode Island: 9

Bowling Green: 8

Box Score

Recap

Rhode Island came out swinging a hot bat and went up 5-0 through the first four and a half innings of ball. Over the next two and a half innings though BG stormed back and took an 8-6 lead which they had until the 9th inning. An error here and a hit there and before ya know it Rhode Island had a 9-8 lead which proved too much for BG at the end of the day.

Verdict

These are the type of games Bowling Green must be able to pull out come late May if they want to have a chance to go to the NCAA's this season. It's starting to become a trend that BG can't win the tight ones, and that's something that starts to stick with a team. But hey, five more games over break so that means there's a possibility to go 6-1 and get to one game under .500!

One Last Cool Thing

Since this is probably the last we'll see of Rhode Island for a while, I thought I'd share this really sweet video from the URI baseball site. This is the kind of stuff BG needs to do, because if I was a ballplayer I would go suit up for that coach no matter where he coached.

Spring Break Baseball: Northeastern

2010-03-08T14:06:00.000-08:00

Over spring break Bowling Green baseball will play seven games in eight days. They started off this week by playing Northeastern University this past Saturday, and finally broke through with the first win of the season.

3/6/10

Bowling Green: 13

Northeastern: 9

I don't have a box score yet as neither BG or NU have posted it yet, but I'll post it asap.

Quick Recap: The game was a back and forth battle and BG ace Brennan Smith was roughed up a bit but seniors Logan Meisler and T.J. Blanton had huge games and had key hits that allowed Smith to escape with a win. Seven of the eleven Falcons that played crossed the plate in the win, with Meisler scoring four times himself.

Verdict?

Monkey is off the back for the Falcons, as they win the first game of their seven game Florida road trip. Pitching and defense was a little shaky, but hey, a win is a win. The offense stepped up and hit well all game long. No matter what, this can be nothing but a positive step for BG, and hopefully they can carry it into the next few games.

Invasion of Kentucky! (Part 2)

2010-03-08T13:27:00.000-08:00

So after being swept by Louisville in the first weekend of Bowling Green's "Invasion of Kentucky!" the second weekend brought another tough quality opponent in The University of Kentucky. The weekend before the Wildcats had beaten three quality opponents, Virginia Tech (15-6), West Virginia (6-0), and Coastal Carolina (3-2). Unfortunately for the Falcons, the weekend dealt with another trio of tough losses.

2/27/10

Game 1
Kentucky: 6

Bowling Green: 4

Box Score

2/28/10

Game 1

Kentucky: 4

Bowling Green: 3

Box Score

3/1/10

Game 1

Kentucky: 10

Bowling Green: 4

Box Score

Verdict?

Well, losing your first six games is not a good way to start a season, and at least winning one of these games would've been nice but Kentucky is a heck of a ball club. As of today the team is 9-1 and ranked 23rd in the nation, with the only loss coming against the Tony Gwynn-led San Diego State ball club.

Bowling Green was not expected to win either series in Kentucky over the first two weekends, but winning at least one game would've been nice. Good experience for the MAC season though.

Invasion of Kentucky! (Part 1)

2010-03-08T12:06:00.000-08:00

Bowling Green started out their season this year taking on two well-established baseball teams from the state of Kentucky, and started off playing Louisville (birthplace of yours truly) in a three game series, with a single game played on Friday and a double-header Saturday.

The results were as followed,

2/19/2010

Game 1

Louisville: 13

Bowling Green: 1

Box Score

2/20/2010

Game 1

Louisville: 5

Bowling Green: 2

Box Score

Game 2 (F/10)

Louisville: 8

Bowling Green: 7

Box Score

Verdict?

As I'm writing this Louisville is currently 11-0 this season, and ranked 8th in the nation. They have outscored opponents by a combined score of 85 - 35, so aside from our opening 13-1 loss, these can be considered good losses (if there is such a thing). As a matter of fact, the seven runs scored by BG in game one of Saturday's double header is the most runs given up so far by the Cardinals.

All in all, playing competition like this can only help prepare the team for when the MAC season rolls around, because in all honesty there's no way Bowling Green is going to make it to the NCAA's unless they win the MAC tournament in May.

What is Roll Along Baseball?

2010-03-05T07:50:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,

Roll Along Baesball is a new blog that will follow Bowling Green State University and MAC baseball as the 2010 NCAA baseball season progresses. My goal is to provide information to whoever wants to read it, even if BG's fanbase is not as large as other schools.

I know the season has already started, but over the next week I hope to post the following information:

- Results for the first three weekends that have/will have occured.

- Introduce players by class.

- Post schedule for rest of year.

I will be attending hopefully every home baseball game (school work permitted) and provide in-depth coverage on those games.

I think this could be a lot of fun, so for you BG fans,

Roll Along!