After a 10-day layoff, the Bowling Green baseball team will finally get another chance to play today when Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne comes to town.
Last Wednesday, the Falcons defeated Dayton 7-5 at Steller Field, but haven’t played since. Their three-game series with Kent State was cancelled last weekend due to poor weather conditions and the Falcons hit another snag when their Wednesday match up at Xavier was cancelled because the Falcons had too many players with class conflicts.
Falcons head coach Danny Schmitz said the layoff has taken its toll on the entire team.
“I think we’re all getting bored out of our minds here,” Schmitz said. “We’re really getting anxious to get back out on the field.”
This weekend, the Falcons (23-11, 7-5 MAC) will see plenty of action when they host a pair of seven-inning doubleheaders against IPFW (19-15) which begin today at 2 p.m. and conclude on Saturday at 1 p.m.
The series was originally scheduled to be played on Saturday and Sunday but was changed to free up Sunday in case any of the games get rained out.
The last meeting between these teams on April 19 ended in an offensive slugfest, but the Mastodons came out on top 15-14 after they put 10 runs on the board during the seventh and eighth innings. Schmitz said IPFW is a good contact hitting team that loves to steal bases and will be tough throughout the entire weekend.
“They’re a scrappy bunch, the type of team that whenever you get a lead it’s never safe,” he said. “When we were last over at their place we had a 12-5 lead and ended up losing so we’re going to have to play hard the full seven innings each game.”
The Falcons will look for a scoring punch from senior Andy Hudak who crushed a career-high three home runs in the loss at IPFW. Hudak, who leads the Mid-American Conference in batting average (.381) and is tied for the league lead in RBI’s (39), was named the MAC West Player of the Week for last week. It was the second time this month he’s been honored with the award.
Schmitz said while Hudak and some of the others have picked up the offense, he needs more consistent production from everyone if they are going to make a run for the postseason.
“Andy Hudak has been really solid swinging the bat,” Schmitz said. “But we still need to get some people going and get ready for the stretch run. We need to make sure that we’re running on all cylinders if we’re going to make a push at the playoffs.”
While the four-game series with the Mastodons will give the Falcons an opportunity to boost their momentum towards the end of the regular season, it will also give Schmitz another chance at his 400th career victory. In 15 years with the Falcons, Schmitz has amassed a record of 399-355-4 and would become the first coach in any sport in BG history to win 400 games.
“I’m sure when it happens I’m going to very excited about it,” Schmitz said. “It’s something that I’m really going to relish a few years from now when I really get a chance to sit back and think about it.”
Schmitz will get his first crack at career win No. 400 at Steller Field today in a seven-inning doubleheader against IPFW which begins at 2 p.m. Tomorrow’s doubleheader with the Mastodons begin at 1 p.m..
