May 8, 2008

Final Stats

AKRON, Ohio - Head Coach Shannon Salsburg and the Falcons continued their winning streak over Ball State with their 16th consecutive victory against the Cardinals, shutting them out for the second time this season, 6-0. The Orange and Brown out hit the Cardinals 9-2 in round two of the Mid-American Conference as six different Falcons recorded at least one hit with three recording two hits, including four homers two by freshman Haleigh Bielstein and one from Katelynn Boso and Emily Gouge.

Falcon pitcher Hayley Wiemer picked up her 15th victory of the season as she threw a two hit shutout, her fifth shutout of the season. Between Wiemer and the solid Falcon defense they were able to keep the Cardinals scoreless throughout the seven innings only allowing Ball State two hits.

Falcon lead-hitter Dawnjene DeLong got the Falcons started with the first pitch of the game as she single through the right side.

Wiemer and the Falcon defense not only kept the Cardinals scoreless in the first three innings but gave up no hits with only two players reaching on base-on-balls.

The Orange and Brown on the other hand scored early in the top of the second as Bielstein hit a line drive homer over the right field fence, her first of two homers on the day, to put the Falcons on the score board first, 1-0.

With the Falcon defense keeping the Cardinal offense quiet, BG struck again the top of the fourth as Gouge led-off with a single to center field followed up by Boso who belted a two-run homer (295 ft.) over the left field fence that was just shy of the 300 ft. permanent fence at Firestone Stadium. Fellow rookie Bielstein stepped up with two outs in the fourth and crushed her second homer of the game over the left field fence to extend the Falcons lead, 4-0. Bielstein, became the seventh Falcon to hit two homers in a single game and only the second freshman in program history to accomplish such a feat as Jeanine Baca hit two homers at Detroit (April 29, 2004) in her rookie season. The only two other active Falcons to hit two homers in a single game are Hayley Wiemer and Allison Vallas.

In the bottom of the fourth the Cardinals recorded their first hit of the game with a single to left field but were kept scoreless.

In the top of the fifth Wiemer got the Falcons going with a one out double to right field, bringing up BG clean-up hitter Vallas. With first base open the Cardinals decided to intentionally walk Vallas, her fourth of the season.

The only other hit Ball State was able to record came in the bottom of the sixth with a lead-off single up the middle. With no outs and runners on second and third, the Cardinals looked as though they were going to score, but solid defense from the Falcons and pitching from Wiemer held Ball State once again.

Going into the seventh inning the Falcons were up, 4-0 over the Cardinals but the Orange and Brown offense wasn't done yet. Vallas got the Falcon bats started with a single through the right side. Fellow senior Gouge kept the rally going as she hit her first career homer soaring over the center field fence to give the Falcons two more runs, 6-0.

The Falcons were able to hold the Cardinals once again the seventh inning retiring the side, one, two, three shutting out Ball State, 6-0 to move on to the semifinals of the MAC Tournament.

The Falcon offense had three players recording two hits against the Cardinals, leading the way was Bielstein hitting a perfect two-for-two with a 4.000 slugging percentage, including two homers, two RBIs and two runs scored. Gouge went two-for-three with a 1.667 slugging percentage including her first career homer, two RBIs and one run scored. As a senior, Gouge has been a force to recon with at the plate recording 23 hits thus far, including her first career double, triple and home run. Boso was the other Falcon to record two hits on the night with a 1.250 slugging percentage, including homer, two RBIs and one run scored. Wiemer, Vallas and DeLong all recorded one hit on the night. DeLong is currently on a nine game hitting streaking.

The Falcons are set to take on the winner of the #5 Western Michigan and #6 Ohio match-up on Friday (May 9) at 7:30 p.m. at Firestone Stadium. The rest of the Falcons' games in the MAC Tournament will be live via GameTracker by visiting www.BGSUFalcons.com.

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Falcon Notes

MATCH-UPS ON THE DIAMOND
Ohio - Bobcats
The Falcons defeated #6 seed Ohio in the first round of the MAC Tournament, 3-1 ... the Bobcats finished the season 25-24 overall and 10-12 in the MAC, fourth in the East division ... the Falcons lead the all-time series 49-34 over the Bobcats ... the Falcons have won 11 of the last 15 meetings ... the Orange and Brown lead the Bobcats in MAC Tournament with a 2-1 record ... the last meeting between the two this season was a double-header in Athens, Ohio (May 2) where the Falcons fell to the Bobcats, 8-0 and 3-2.

BGSU vs. Ohio in the MAC Tournament
1986 Ohio defeated BGSU, 3-2 in Mt. Pleasant, Mich.
2001 BGSU defeated Ohio, 6-1 (10 inn.) in Mt. Pleasant, Mich.
2006 BGSU defeated Ohio, 3-0 in Midland, Mich.

Western Michigan - Broncos
Western Michigan finished the season 19-16 overall and 10-8 in the MAC, second in the West earning the #5 seed ... the Broncos are one of the two teams in the MAC West to lead the Falcons in the all-time series, 28-40 ... earlier this season the Falcons wrapped up their 10 game home stand as they swept the Broncos (2-1, 2-1) in a two game series.

BGSU vs. WMU in the MAC Tournament
1982 WMU defeated BGSU, 7-1 in Kalamazoo, Mich.
2004 WMU defeated BGSU, 3-0 in Akron, Ohio
2004 BGSU defeated WMU, 8-6 in Akron, Ohio
2005 BGSU defeated WMU, 4-0 in Akron, Ohio
2006 WMU defeated BGSU, 2-1 in Midland, Mich.
2007 BGDU defeated WMU, 5-2 in Midland, Mich.

A FIRST IN PROGRAM HISTORY
Head Coach Shannon Salsburg and the Falcons are the first team in program history to win the first two games of the MAC Tournament.

ALL THINGS BIGGER IN TEXAS
Freshman Haleigh Bielstein, a native of Inez, Texas became the seventh player in BGSU history to hit two homers in a single game. Bielstein posted a perfect two-for-two performance with a 4.000 slugging percentage, including two homers and two RBIs at the plate in the Falcons', 6-0 shutout over Ball State in round two of the MAC Tournament. She is also the second Falcon rookie to do so with Jeanine Baca the only other Falcon freshman to hit two homers in a game. Bielstein hit her first collegiate homer in the Falcons 8-5 win over Kent State. She has three homer this season thus far.

Bielstein is also one of few players to hit two homers in a MAC Tournament game.

SHE'S A 10 AND SOME
Falcon's short stop #10 Dawnjene DeLong is definitely a 10 in any score book. DeLong is currently on nine game hitting streak, recording 15 hits in the last nine games with five multiple hit performances. DeLong is also a scoring machine for the Orange and Brown as she has driven home at least one run and scored at least one run in the three of the last four games.

NO CLOWNING AROUND
Between freshman Katelynn Boso's unique last name and bubbly personality she makes people laugh but there is no clowning around when it comes to her play on the field. Boso has recorded at least one hit in seven of the last eight games and has now hit five homers on the season, two alone in the double-header against Akron (May 4) to closeout the regular season. She recorded her first collegiate grand slam and homer against Ball State (April 6) lifting the Falcons to an 8-4 victory over the Cardinals. Behind the plate for the Falcons she has recorded 229 putouts and caught 10 runners stealing on the base path.

WIEMER TOP IN THE NATION
Hayley Wiemer is not only at the top of the MAC but also ranked at the top of the nation in multiple categories. Wiemer is the most walked player in the MAC as well as the seventh most walked player in the nation (0.85 per game) and leads the MAC and is 28th in nation for homer per game (11, 0.28 per game). She also finds herself ranked in pitching categories as the top pitcher in the MAC and the seventh in the nation for the fewest walks allowed per seven innings as she averages only giving up 0.92 walks per seven innings. Other categories that Wiemer is ranked in the top 100 in the nation are on base percentage as she leads the MAC and is 50th in the nation (0.485), second in the MAC in slugging percentage and 59th in the nation (.693) and fourth in the MAC in ERA and 97th in the nation with a 1.99 ERA.

As a team the Falcons are ranked in the top 100 of nation in two categories. The Orange and Brown are 52nd in home runs averaging 0.74 per game and 54th in doubles averaging 1.31 doubles per game.

FEAR THE "V"
Falcons' clean-up hitter Allison Vallas is feared among other Mid-American Conference pitching staffs, which was obvious as she has been intentionally walked four times by MAC opponents. Vallas was given her fourth intentional base-on-balls in the Falcons second round shutout (6-0) over Ball State in the MAC Tournament. Ball State intentionally walked her twice as the Falcons swept the Cardinals in a two game series (April 5 & 6), which was the first time in her career being intentionally walked. Vallas was intentionally walked against Central Michigan in BG's 7-6 extra inning victory.

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Friday (May 9) MAC Tournament Schedule
Game 9 - #7 Ball State vs. #8 Akron - 11:00 a.m.
Game 10 - #6 Ohio vs. #5 Western Michigan - 1:30 p.m.
Game 11 - #1 Kent State vs. #7 Ball State/#8 Akron - 5:00 p.m.
Game 12 - #3 Bowling Green vs. #6 Ohio/#5 Western Michigan - 7:30 p.m.

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