Kent State, Ball State Lead Baseball Divisions With Two Weeks Left

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May 6, 2002

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*KENT STATE, BALL STATE LEAD DIVISIONS:
Kent State, which had a 12-game winning streak snapped last Saturday against Marshall, won three of the four games in the series against the Thundering Herd and still leads the East Division by three and a half games over Bowling Green. The Golden Flashes, who have a 12-3 record at home this season, host the Falcons this weekend. BGSU will enter this weekend's action winners of 11 of its last 14 games.

In the West Division, Ball State took over possession of first place by winning three of four games at Eastern Michigan. The Cardinals hold a percentage points lead (.025) over the Eagles, with BSU traveling to face Central Michigan this weekend. EMU is idle this weekend in conference action.

*KENT STATE MOVES INTO CBN TOP-30:
Kent State, which leads the MAC with a 30-13 record, became the first MAC school to be nationally ranked this season. The Golden Flashes are No. 29 in this week's Collegiate Baseball newspaper's Top-30. KSU is 17-3 in its last 20 games and 21-4 over the past 25 contests.

*MAC TOURNAMENT IS AROUND THE CORNER:
Two weeks in the regular season remain before the MAC Tournament kicks off on Wednesday, May 22. The top two teams in each division automatically qualify, while the next two best conference winning percentages are the fifth and sixth teams to earn spots in the double elimination tourney.

2002 Mid-American Conference Tournament
Wednesday-Saturday, May 22-25

Wednesday, May 22
Game 1 -- No. 3 seed vs. No. 4 Seed 	10 a.m.
Game 2 -- No. 2 Seed vs. No. 5 Seed	1 p.m.
Game 3 -- No. 1 Seed vs. No. 6 Seed	4 p.m.


Thursday, May 23
Game 4 -- Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 2	10 a.m.
Game 5 -- Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 1	1 p.m.
Game 6 -- Winner Game 2 vs. Winner Game 1	4 p.m.


If four teams remain after Game 6:


Friday, May 24
Game 7 -- Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6	10 a.m.
Game 8 -- Winner Game 4 vs. Loser Game 6	1 p.m.
Game 9 -- Winner Game 8 vs. Loser Game 7	4 p.m.


Saturday, May 25
Game 10 -- Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 9	TBA
(if necessary)
Game 11 -- Same teams as in Game 10	TBA


If five teams remain after Game 6:


Friday, May 24
Game 7 -- Loser Game 5 vs. Loser Game 6	10 a.m.
Game 8 -- Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5	1 p.m.
Game 9 -- Winner Game 6 vs. Winner Game 7	4 p.m.


If two teams remain after Game 9:


Saturday, May 25
Game 10 -- Winner Game 8 vs. Winner Game 9 	TBA
(if necessary)
Game 11 -- Same teams as in Game 10	TBA


If three teams remain after Game 9:


Saturday, May 25
Game 10 -- Winner Game 8 vs. Loser Game 9	TBA
Game 11 -- Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 10	TBA

*BULLINGTON SETS STRIKEOUT RECORD:
Ball State's Bryan Bullington set the MAC career strikeout record, a mark that has stood since 1976, in his start this past Friday at Eastern Michigan. The junior hurler, who became only the second player in league history to reach the 300 career strikeout plateau, moved past former EMU standout Bob Owchinko, who fanned 309 batters from 1973-76. Bullington fanned 15 Eagle batters in Friday's 6-1 win to push his career total to 322.

The junior is 9-2 this season and has a 1.96 ERA, which leads the MAC. He also leads the league with 104 strikeouts, while surrendering only eight free passes.

*KSU'S HAYHURST SIZZLES IN LEAGUE GAMES:
Junior Dirk Hayhurst has been dominate against MAC teams this year for Kent State. The right-hander is 5-0 with a 1.18 ERA in five starts and 38.0 innings in league play. He has struck out 35 and walked just six while holding opposing hitters to a .220 batting average. Hayhurst currently has a streak of 16 straight scoreless innings pitched.

*FLASHES MAKING THEIR MARKS:
Kent State head coach Rick Rembielak is just six victories shy of 300 for his career and reached the 30-win mark for the fourth straight season, while numerous KSU players have closed in on other milestones.

Junior Eric O'Brien has stolen 18 bases this season to up his career total to 55 swipes. He became the Kent State all-time stolen base leader with two steals on May 3 against Marshall. Senior Ben Galbreath has continued to increase his Kent State career leading appearance total. Galbreath now has made 79 career appearances which is tied for sixth in MAC history. Junior Pat O'Brien has entered two Kent State top-tens. With his 15 homers this year he now has 33 which is fourth at KSU, while his 637 putouts is ninth all-time in Flashes' history.

*ANOTHER RECORD FOR BGSU'S ELIAS:
Bowling Green's Len Elias became the school's career leader in a fourth category over the weekend, pushing his career at-bats to a Falcon-best 668. He passed Chuck Black (1976-79) who had 664 career at-bats. Elias already holds career records in runs scored (193), doubles (54) and total bases (391) at BGSU. His runs scored total ranks him fifth all-time in MAC history while he is tied for 10th in doubles, 12th in total bases, and tied for 17th in RBIs among league record holders.

*TRIO SWING BIG BATS FOR CHIPPEWAS:
Three Central Michigan players had big weekends at the plate in the Chippewas' series with rival Western Michigan. Ryan Krueger was 8-for-13 with five RBIs against the Broncos and reached base 11 of 18 times. In addition, Tim Bullinger was 8-for-16 with eight runs scored while Mike Gates was 7-for-17 with eight RBIs.

*PRODUCING AS A RELIEVER AND A STARTER:
Miami's Shawn Landis moved to a perfect 5-0 this season following a win to open the series with Ohio. Landis, who is a converted reliever, went eight innings and struck out six in the win. In each of his three starts this season, Landis has tallied a victory. He has also notched a pair of saves.

*MAIER CONTINUES TO SWING HOT BAT:
Sophomore catcher Mitch Maier has 73 hits this season for Toledo and is one short the school single season record, which is currently held by teammate Phil Pilewski. He has also scored 53 runs scored (school record is 70) this season, smacked 16 doubles (school record is 17) and hit 14 home runs (school record is 15). Maier also set a school record this year with 135 total bases.

*NOVOSEL PITCHES GEM FOR OHIO:
Ohio's Walt Novosel allowed only one hit over six innings in Saturday's first game against Miami en route to picking up his fourth win of the season. In the victory, the junior struck out three and walked three while surrendering two earned runs.

Freshman Dan O'Rourke struck out two batters in the seventh and gave up one hit to notch his fourth save. O'Rourke is the first Bobcat hurler to register at least four saves in a year since Tom Miller had six in 1997.

*FRANKHOUSE NEARING DOUBLES RECORD:
Senior Tim Frankhouse is just one double shy of tying the Western Michigan single-season record for two-baggers, set just last season by teammate Tom Fabrizio. Frankhouse leads the MAC with 19 doubles in 2002. Fabrizio hit 20 doubles in 2001 and currently has 15 this season. Frankhouse went without a double against Central Michigan after hitting one in five consecutive games April 21-28.

*FRESHMAN MAKING MARK FOR FALCONS:
Bowling Green freshman Tyler Saneholtz picked up his fourth-consecutive decision on Saturday with a 3-2 win over Eastern Kentucky. Saneholtz now leads the Falcons with a 5-1 record and a staff-best 4.64 ERA among starters. His ERA is ninth in the league tops among freshmen. In his last four outings his ERA is 2.74 with 14 strikeouts and seven walks. He has held opposing batters to a .263 average for the season.

*BLAIR GUIDES BULLS TO SERIES WIN:
Buffalo's Corey Blair hit .500 (6-for-12) with a home run and two doubles in the Bulls' series with Akron. Blair drove in four of his five runs in the Akron series. UB took three of four games with the Zips, which was Buffalo's first series victory in the MAC. Last year, which was UB's first season as a baseball member, saw the Bulls salvage a four-game split with Ohio.

*GOLESKI NEARS EMU HOME RUN MARK:
Eastern Michigan's Ryan Goleski needs two more home runs to tie the single season record of 19 and five to tie the career home run record at Eastern Michigan, both held by current BGSU assistant coach Chris Hoiles. As a team, the Eagles have tallied 60 this season, 17 less than the single season team record of 77, set in 1997.

*MARSHALL'S HIT PARADE:
Marshall tied a season high for hits in the 20-10 victory against Eastern Kentucky with 24. The other time was when the Thundering Herd had 24 hits in the victory at Charleston Southern. Seven different players registered two or more hits, including Craig Dziedziejko who had four hits and four RBIs. David Colangelo was 3-for-6 with five RBIs and two homers.

*TARPLEY CONTINUES HOME RUN CLIMB:
Junior first baseman Chad Tarpley totaled two home runs for Western Michigan in its series with Central Michigan, giving him 13 on the year. He is now fourth on the single season homer list, tied with former major league Matt Mieske (1988) with 13 homers. Teammate Greg Graham's 14 home runs in 2001 are next for Tarpley as he tries to continue his climb. John Toner belted 16 in 2000. Frank Alfieri holds the Bronco record with 18 home runs in 1999.

*BOBCAT BRIEFS:
Ohio's Scott Brownlee had four hits last week, all of them home runs. Three of the homers came against Miami. For the week, Brownlee drove in 10 runs and scored seven times. Freshman Ben Crabtree had his 14-game hitting streak end on Saturday, the second longest one by a Bobcat this season. He has hit safely in 26 of his last 28 games. Mike Arbinger, who has a team-high 15 home runs this season, is two shy of tying the school's single season record.

*LINDHE LEADS AKRON TO WIN:
Akron snapped a season-high six-game losing streak with its 10-4 win over Buffalo Friday. Shortstop Tom Lindhe, who leads the Zips with nine home runs this season, knocked in a career-high six runs in the game, including his first career grand slam. Lindhe was one of the bright spots for UA over the weekend, batting a team-best .333 (4-for-12) during the four-game series with UB.

*GANGI IMPRESSIVE LAST THREE TIMES OUT:
With seven solid innings of work as a starter versus the Bulls Friday, Akron's Aaron Gangi picked up his third win of the season and improved to 3-2 on the season. After a pair of rough outings, Gangi has posted a win and a save in his last three appearances. In those three outings, the sophomore has struck out 16 batters in 17 innings and posted a 4.24 ERA.

*SCHRAGE IMPROVING NIU PROGRAM:
The 19 wins this season by Northern Illinois gives the program 71 during Dave Schrage's first three seasons, the second most during any three-year stretch in school history. From 1994-96, the Huskies picked up 79 wins with three-straight seasons of 20 or more ones, the only such stretch in school history. Saturday's victory over Toledo also moved Schrage ahead of Ralph McKinzie into seventh on the school's career win list.

*RECORD CROWD WATCHES UT-BGSU:
The Apr. 27 doubleheader between Toledo and Bowling Green at the new Fifth Third Field drew a school-record 6,823 fans for the Rockets. The new stadium is home to the Toledo Mud Hens, the Triple A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. The Falcons won both games of the twinbill, 3-2 and 11-3. Kyle Knoblauch tossed a five-hitter for BGSU, which maintained a game and a half lead over Miami for second place in the East Division standings. In the second game, the Falcons' Corey Loomis notched his ninth home run of the season and was 3-for-4 with four RBIs.

*MALONEY HAS ANOTHER 20-WIN YEAR:
With the 9-8 win over Butler on Apr. 24, Ball State head coach Rich Maloney recorded his seventh-straight season of 20 or more wins. Former BSU head coach and current BSU Assistant Athletics Director Pat Quinn is the only other BSU coach to have that same distinction. Quinn had 11-straight 20-plus win seasons from 1983-1993.