After taking two straight games against Toledo and six of their last seven, the Falcons will host the first place Central Michigan Chippewas in a three-game series at Steller Field.
The Falcons are coming off three consecutive series wins against Northern Illinois, Western Michigan and Toledo.
Catcher T.J. Losby, who also received Mid-American Conference Male Scholar Athlete of the Week this week, contributed to the team’s success. This past weekend against Western Michigan, Losby tied a career-high in hits, getting five in all five at-bats.
Over the past week, Losby has raised his average to .314, and is second on the team in runs batted in with 17, one behind team leader Jeremy Shay.
“He’s seeing the ball extremely well right now along with Shay and we’re going to need that in the middle of our lineup this weekend,” said coach Danny Schmitz.
Central Michigan comes to Bowling Green with an overall record of 20-13 and a record of 8-1 in the make. While leading the West division, the Chippewas could be a difficult task to handle.
“They’ve been outstanding so far this season, and we have one of the top teams in the conference coming into town,” Schmitz said.
The Falcons continued their two game winning streak by defeating Toledo Wednesday with a score of 5-3. Brandon Howard was a large reason why that was the case. With two outs in the top of the 10th inning, Howard tripled to right center, clearing the bases and scoring two fellow Falcons.
Howard leads Bowling Green with a .364 average on the season.
“We’re playing really were as of late, and the hard work at practice has been showing … this will be a challenge for us, they have a good pitching staff and we’re going to keep our approach,” Schmitz said.
Back-to-back MAC East pitcher of the week Mike Frank has been throwing well as of late. In Frank’s last outing, he tossed a complete game, striking out 12 and allowing just four hits in a 3-1 victory over Western Michigan. “It’s an honor to be recognized for pitching well,” Frank said.
Frank comes into the Central Michigan series with a record of 2-4 and an ERA of 3.40, and leads the team with 45 innings pitched and 33 strikeouts.
“He’s thrown the ball extremely well his past outings. And we’re going to need him to set the tone for the series this weekend for us on Friday,” Schmitz said.
With both the all-time strikeout and innings pitched record within distance, the Senior looks to keep his positive momentum going this weekend against the Chippewas.
First pitch is set at Steller Field for 3:05 p.m. Friday, while Saturday and Sunday will begin at 1:05 p.m.
