Fresh off a career-high three homerun effort by junior right fielder Nolan Reimold Wednesday, the Bowling Green baseball team will host Eastern Michigan in a three-game series at Steller Field this weekend.
The Falcons were originally slated to play in Ypsilanti on Friday and Sunday, with BG hosting a double-header on Saturday. But the poor playing conditions at Oestrike Stadium resulted in a slight scheduling change and gave the Falcons home field advantage throughout the entire weekend.
But don’t be surprised if the series gets delayed just as the home opener did. Schmitz said the team will be ready regardless.
“Mother nature is going to have the final say,” BG head coach Danny Schmitz said. “But we’re going to go after them.”
Since losing their first game of the season against Murray State, the Falcons have been hot, with wins in nine of their last ten games. Their only loss came against Indiana on March 12.
During Wednesday’s 10-3 victory over Findlay, the Falcons used nine different pitchers on the mound. Schmitz said his pitching strategy will likely change against the Eagles.
“We’ll stretch the pitchers out,” Schmitz said. “If we play four games you won’t see what we did [Wednesday]. We’ll let our starters extend themselves a little bit and use our bullpen whenever it’s called upon.”
The Falcons’ recipe for success so far this season has come from the explosive offensive production from Reimold and senior third baseman Andy Hudak. After totaling 14 home runs combined in his first two seasons, Reimold has already crushed five homers in the first 11 games and is hitting .395 with 18 RBI’s. Hudak is also off to a strong start hitting .444 with two home runs and 15 RBI’s.
“(Reimold) is one of our go to guys along with Andy Hudak in the middle of the lineup,” Schmitz said. “Hitting is contagious so we hope to keep Nolan hot and hopefully everyone feeds off him.”
After a strong start to the season in non-conference play, the Falcons look to continue their hot winning streak against the Eagles, which is their first match-up against a MAC opponent this season. Schmitz said he likes the way the overall team has played thus far and hopes they can continue on a high note against the Eagles.
“I think we have a pretty solid lineup from top to bottom,” Schmitz said. “So I feel pretty good about our offensive attack at this point in time.”
The Falcons enter the weekend with a 9-2 record, while the Eagles have an overall record of 3-11. Reimold said as long as the team continues to play well together, the success will continue.
“I think we’re playing real well right now,” Reimold said. “We have good pitching, defense and hitting so in all three stages of the game we’re playing well right now. As long as we keep doing what we’re doing things will play out for us.”
The Falcons host the Eastern Michigan Eagles at Steller Field, Friday through Sunday. Friday’s contest is scheduled for 3 p.m., while Saturday and Sunday’s games will begin at 1 p.m.
