“There’s no ‘I’ in ‘team’” is a concept that the Bowling Green baseball team struggled with early in the season.
Struggling to move runners over, hit consistently with runners in scoring position and lacking much rhythm and continuity from player to player, the Falcons faintly resembled a team.
They started a mediocre 5-6 before dropping 10 consecutive games, falling to 5-16 as they neared the season’s
midpoint.
But the team put aside personal milestones, started playing together and the wins have piled on as a result.
“We’re starting to realize — we’re playing more as a team, whereas before we might have played more as individuals, worrying about stats,” said catcher Trey Keegan. “Now we’re pulling together knowing we need to make a run in the MAC to get a high seed in the MAC tournament.”
The team is 7-3 since and have won back-to-back Mid-American Conference series pushing its overall record to 12-19 and 5-7 in the MAC.
“Nothing’s really changed, we’re just playing better baseball now,” Keegan added.
Playing better baseball indeed, as the Falcons have improved on each aspect of their game.
During its recent 7-3 stretch, BG has held its opponent to five runs or less in seven games — winning six. Over the same span, it has averaged 7.3 runs per game including games with 10, 11 and as high as 18 runs.
“It’s more of a mindset that we know we can win these games. So far the pitchers are giving us a chance and we’re hitting the ball behind them,” Keegan said.
To maintain this recent success, the Falcons — a balanced team — have relied on each phase of the game to contribute in order solidify
consistent wins.
“When we win the ball game, I would venture to say we had all three phases working,” said head coach Danny Schmitz. “That’s just the type of team we are. We have to do the three phases to be successful. If we have two, we have a chance, if we only have one we’re probably not going to be successful.”
However, BG has regularly struggled to put all three phases together over a full nine innings.
When the offense is producing timely hits, the pitching gives up the big hit shortly thereafter. And vice versa. And when both the offense and pitching are thriving, a defensive miscue changes the game.
But over its last 10 games the team has been able to put all three phases together on a regular basis, something that has helped alleviate the early season tension.
“Right now I think they have some confidence going — and they should,” Schmitz said. “Our confidence was way down for a three-week stretch, we couldn’t win to save our lives to be honest. [Now] I think they’re feeling better about themselves.”
This confidence will be critical as they prepare for their weekend series at home against Western Michigan — the same team that knocked them out of the MAC tournament a year ago.
And if that isn’t enough motivation for BG, the two teams are currently tied with each other at 5-7 in the MAC. This only heightens the pressure for the Falcons to come out and secure its third straight MAC series win.
“We’re tied with [WMU] so it’s a big series for both schools,” Schmitz said.
