Home At Last, Softball Hosts Kent State This Weekend

Game 34 - Ball State hosts Kent State
Friday, April 6, Noon
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Game 35 - Ball State hosts Kent State
Friday, April 6, 2 p.m.
Watch | Live Stats | Social Media (@BallStateSB)

Game 36 - Ball State hosts Kent State
Saturday, April 7, 2 p.m.
Watch | Live Stats | Social Media (@BallStateSB)

• After 33 straight road games, it's finally time for the Ball State softball team to make its 2018 home debut when Kent State visits the Softball Field at First Merchants Ballpark Complex for a noon Mid-American Conference doubleheader Friday ... The teams will also play a single game Saturday starting at 2 p.m.

• SERIES VERSUS KENT STATE:The Golden Flashes hold a 48-30 lead in the all-time series, including a 4-1 victory over the Cardinals to open the 2017 MAC Tournament on May 10 ... KSU has won the last three meetings in the series, including a 7-3 victory in its most recent trip to the Softball Field at First Merchants Ballpark Complex April 3, 2015 ... Overall, the teams have played 34 games in Muncie with each squad picking up 17 wins ... A complete series history can be found on page four of this release.

• SCOUTING KENT STATE:The Golden Flashes enter a Tuesday doubleheader at Ohio with a 17-13 (3-3 MAC) record ... Last week was a busy week for KSU, which split a pair of Tuesday games in Baltimore, Maryland, with an 11-7 loss to Mount St. Mary's and an 11-3 (6) victory over UMBC ... After earning a 17-5 (5) win at Georgetown Wednesday, the Golden Flashes went 1-2 in a weekend MAC series versus Toledo ... KSU won the first game, 7-6, before dropping the final two by scores of 11-3 (5) and 6-3 ... Holly Speers leads the Kent State offense with a .520 batting average, 36 RBIs, 29 runs scored, nine home runs and eight doubles ... Kennadie Goth is second on the squad with a .472 average ... Madi Huck has thrown a team-high 89.1 innings and leads the squad with a 3.29 ERA and a 9-4 record in the circle ... Huck has struck out 54 batters on the year and is holding opponents to a .268 average ... As a team, the Golden Flashes have a .307 batting average, a 4.93 ERA and a .970 fielding percentage.

BALL STATE TEAM/PLAYER NOTES
• Ball State's postponed game at Butler has been rescheduled for Wednesday, April 18 at 4 p.m. at the Bulldogs' Softball Field ... The game was originally scheduled for March 21, but snow and cold temperatures forced its postponement.

• The Ball State softball team played its first 33 games of the season on the road which is the longest stretch of road games in program history ... Ball State played 32 straight road games to open the 2016 season, while starting the 2012 campaign with 31 straight road games.

• Ball State's 23-10 start to the season is the program's best since the 2010 squad went 24-9 over its first 33 games ... The Cardinals finished the 2010 season with a 43-16 overall record, won the MAC regular season title with a 17-5 league ledger, captured the MAC Tournament title with a perfect 4-0 mark in the event and earned a NCAA Regional berth.

• Ball State softball enters the week with a 996-1029-4 (.492) all-time record ... Established as a varsity program in 1975, Ball State has won five MAC regular season titles (2009, 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2014), six MAC West Division crowns (2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015), three MAC Tournament championships (1998, 2010 and 2015) and advanced to the NCAA Tournament three times (1998, 2010 and 2015).

• Opening weekend saw the Cardinals play the 2,000th game in program history, earning a 5-1 win over Georgetown (Feb. 10).

• Since the 2009 season, Ball State has proven to be the MAC's premier program by compiling a 136-58 (.701) league record ... Kent State is second on the list over the same span at 129-67 (.658), while Miami is third at 121-81 (.599) ... Ball State boasts a 408-411-1 (.498) all-time MAC record in 35 years.

• Led by Aeshia Miles' three MAC West Division Pitcher of the Week honors, Ball State has claimed seven of the 14 possible MAC West Division weekly awards so far this season ... Sophomore Haley Dominique has been named the MAC West Division Player of the Week twice, while sophomore Kennedy Wynn and senior Maddy Labrador have each earned one player of the week honor.

• The Ball State pitching staff enters the week with a league-low 2.55 ERA ... Sophomore reliever Alyssa Rothwell leads the MAC with a 1.89 ERA over 40.2 innings of work, while junior starter Aeshia Miles is second in the league with a 1.92 ERA over a league-high 105.2 innings ... Senior starter Carolyn Wilmes rounds out the staff with a 3.90 ERA over 64.2 innings.

• The Cardinals pitching staff has turned it up in MAC play, boasting a league-low 1.85 ERA in conference action ... Aeshia Miles has a league-low 1.27 ERA among starting pitchers in MAC play, while also leading all league pitchers with 32 strikeouts in her four MAC starts.

• Aeshia Miles has a MAC-best 13 pitching wins this season ... Her win total ranks 31st nationally and is greater than or equal to the win total of six league schools this season; Central Michigan (13), Northern Illinois (13), Miami (13), Buffalo (11), Eastern Michigan (4) and Akron (1).

• Aeshia Miles earned her first career no-hitter in Ball State's 8-0 (6) victory over Robert Morris (March 2) ... She retired the first 17 batters she faced before issuing a two-out, sixth-inning walk to spoil the perfect game ... She responded by inducing a grounder to herself for the final out to also lock up her first career complete game shutout ... Miles also joined Alyssa Rothwell in a combined no-hitter versus St. Bonaventure (March 17) ... Miles threw the first 3.0 innings with the only baserunners coming from a pair of Ball State errors ... Rothwell pitched the final two, with her only baserunner coming via a walk.

• It's been an interesting career for Aeshia Miles, who was originally recruited as a fielder ... In fact, Miles has earned 80 starts at eight different positions over her Ball State career; 24 (P), 22 (3B), 17 (2B), six (LF), five (RF), four (1B), one (CF) and one (DP) ... She made her first career pitching appearance in the 2017 season opener versus DePaul (Feb. 10), starting the game in left field before entering the circle to throw the final two innings and earn her first career save.

• In addition to leading the league in team ERA, Ball State ranks second in the MAC with 209 strikeouts ... Aeshia Miles leads the team, ranks third in the conference and is 69th nationally with 104 strikeouts ... Carolyn Wilmes is seventh in the league with 64 strikeouts, while Alyssa Rothwell is 16th in the MAC with her 40 strikeouts.

• Ball State's 16 runs in the series finale at Akron Saturday were the most runs the Cardinals have scored in a regular season MAC game since a 17-4 (5) win over Bowling Green April 23, 2010 ... Ball State also scored a 16-1 victory over NIU (May 13) in a 2010 MAC Tournament game played at Firestone Stadium.

• In addition, the Cardinals finished the three-game series sweep of Akron with 30 total runs, which is the most runs Ball State has scored in a MAC series in the current three-game format which started in 2016 ... The previous record was 23 runs in March 23-24, 2018 series at Bowling Green.

• The Ball State offense has been nearly unstoppable over the last 10 games, producing 99 runs and a .374 team batting average .... 13 different Cardinals have recorded at least one hit in the run, with sophomore left fielder Haley Dominique paving the way with 17, including six doubles and a triple ... Senior second baseman Maddy Labrador has a team-high six home runs over the span, while also producing a team-leading 23 RBIs and a 1.125 slugging percentage.

• In Ball State's 12-0 (5) win at Bowling Green March 24, Maddy Labrador did something not even the MAC's career RBI leader Jennifer Gilbert (2011-14) could accomplish in her Ball State career; tally seven RBIs in a single game ... Her first three RBIs came on a three-run home run in the top of the third inning ... She one-upped herself in the fourth by blasting her first career grand slam for the Cardinals to raise her RBI total to seven on the day ... Her seven RBIs are the most in a single game in program history.

• A two-time MAC West Division Player of the Week, sophomore left fielder Haley Dominique leads the Ball State offense and ranks fourth in the MAC with a .411 batting average ... Dominique has scored a team-high 33 runs this season and is third on the team with 26 RBIs ... She also tallied Ball State's first triple of the season versus Fordham (March 2) and hit the Cardinals' first grand slam of the year against Robert Morris (March 2).

• A .342 career batter, Haley Dominique enters the week ranked fourth in program history with a .448 career on base percentage, including a .484 mark so far this season ... Dominique has reached base safely in 30 of Ball State's 33 games this season and is currently riding a 10-game hitting streak and a 12-game streak of reaching base safely.

• Sophomore slugger Janae Hogg, who has reached base safely in each of the past 16 games, enters the week ranked first in the MAC and 19th nationally with 11 home runs ... Of her 11 home runs this season, four have driven in what has stood to be the game-winning run ... Hogg leads Ball State's active players with 10 career game-winning RBIs, including her four this season ... Six of her 10 career game-winning RBIs have come via the long ball; vs. Miami (April 2, 2017), at Northern Illinois (April 4, 2017), vs. Boston University (Feb. 17. 2018); at New Mexico State (Feb. 17, 2018), vs. Florida A&M (March 9, 2018) and at Bowling Green (March 24, 2018).

• Ball State enters the week with a league-leading 36 home runs ... Nine different Cardinals have hit at least one home run this season which ties with Western Michigan for the league lead ...Janae Hogg's 11 home runs are the 10th-best single season total in program history, while Maddy Labrador's eight are tied for 20th ... Hogg currently ranks 11th in program history with 16 career home runs, while Labrador is tied for 12th at 15.

• Alyssa Rothwell tied the Ball State single season saves record by picking up her fifth save of the year in last Saturday's opener at Akron (March 31) ... Rothwell, who made history at the ECU Pirate Invitational by becoming the first Ball State player to record three saves in a single weekend, also raised her career saves total to eight, which is one shy of the program record of nine set by Nicole Steinbach(2013-16).

• With her 64 strikeouts so far this season,Carolyn Wilmes has raised her career total to 273 which is ninth in program history ... Wilmes needs nine more strikeouts to pass Audra Sanders(2010-13) career total of 281 for eighth on Ball State's all-time list ... Elizabeth Milian (2007-10) holds the program record with 762 strikeouts, while only seven pitchers have reached 300 strikeouts in program history.

• Ball State batters have drawn 126 walks so far this season which ranks first in the MAC and 20th nationally ... Janae Hogg leads the Cardinals and is second in the MAC with 27 walks, while Hailey Demnianiuk is fifth in the league with 16 free passes ... The total already ranks as the 11th-best single season mark in program history ... The program record for walks in a season is 238 set by the 2008 squad, while last season's squad is third on the list with 197.

Home At Last, Softball Hosts Kent State This Weekend

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Players Mentioned

Hailey Demnianiuk

Haley Dominique

Janae Hogg

Maddy Labrador

Aeshia Miles

Alyssa Rothwell

Carolyn Wilmes

Kennedy Wynn