Preview: Central Michigan University

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