Ball State University Athletics
Cards Play Hoosiers In Home Opener
March 27, 2007 | Softball
ABOUT THE GAME
The Ball State Cardinals will face the Indiana Hoosiers for their home opener March 28 at the BSU Softball Complex . . . This game marks the second match-up between the Cardinals and the Hoosiers as the two teams faced off in the Kay Brechtelsbauer Southern Classic held in Carbondale, Ill. . . . IU won the game 6-2.
ABOUT THE CARDINALS
Ball State left the Hawkeye Classic with a 1-3 record and a 8-17 overall mark . . . Abby Gross leads Ball State with a .395 batting average and 18 RBI . . . Allie Pennock is batting .253 on the year and has a team-high 18 steals . . . Elizabeth Milian and Amanda Pick will share a majority of the innings this week . . . Pick is 2-8 with eight complete games and 48 strikeouts . . . Milian has 45 strikeouts and an ERA of 2.61.
ABOUT THE HOOSIERS
The Indiana Hoosiers are led by Jennilee Huddleston, a junior from Peachtree City, Ga . . . Huddleston leads the team, batting .404 with nine doubles and 24 RBIs . . . Indiana's other power hitter is junior Tory Yamaguchi . . . Yamaguchi has 10 home runs . . . She is hitting .337 with six doubles and 21 RBIs . . . On the mound, Monica Wright is 11-7 with a 2.46 ERA . . . Wright has 84 strikeouts in 136 innings pitched . . . Indiana leads the all-time series 34-23.
LAST MEETING
Indiana defeated Ball State 6-2 earlier in the season at the Kay Brechtelsbauer Southern Classic . . . In that game, Jennifer Moore started on the mound for the Hoosiers, but it didn't take long for IU coach Stacey Phillips to make a pitching change that would send Wright to the mound after Ball State put up two runs in the first inning . . . Freshman Elizabeth Milian went 2-for-3 in the game with an RBI . . . That performance was over shadowed by Indiana's Stephanie Pellerito's sixth-inning grand slam which gave the Hoosiers a commanding 6-2 lead . . . Amanda Pick was on the mound for the Cardinals . . . Pick held Indiana scoreless through the first four innings of the game . . . She ended the game with a six-hitter and struck out one batter.
FOUR GAME HITTING STREAK FOR GROSS
Junior Abby Gross recorded a hit in every game during the Hawkeye Classic giving her a four game hitting streak.
HOME SWEET HOME
The game March 28 against Indiana marks the first home game of the season for Ball State . . . The next five games are on the road . . . The Cardinals will end the season playing the last 14 out of 15 games at the BSU Softball Complex . . . The Cardinals start their home stretch on April 19, in a doubleheader against Wright State . . . The season finale will be against Buffalo on May 6 . . . The only game Ball State has between those dates not at home is April 24 at Butler . . . In 2006 the Cardinals last eight games of the season were away.
HOME RUN RECORD
The Cardinals have already set the single-season team home run record . . . The old record was 18, set by the 2005 team . . . Abby Gross broke the record by hitting a solo home run to left field against the Jacksonville Dolphins March 14 . . . Ball State currently has 22 home runs in 2007.
STEALING THE SHOW
The Cardinals have stolen 75 bases this season . . . Last year's team only stole 16 bases the entire season . . . At the current rate, BSU should break the school record of 98 stolen bases in a single season (1991).
GROSS DIGS THE LONG BALL
Junior Abby Gross currently ranks second all-time for career home runs with 11 . . . The record stands at 12 by Ruth Hjelmeland who played from 2000-03.
FAB FIVE
Kelli Jeziorski and Taylor Yancey each have five home runs in the 2007 season . . . The BSU single-season record for home runs in one season is six by Misty Snider during the 1999 season.
MILIAN ON THE MOUND
Freshman Elizabeth Milian has made an immediate impact for the Cardinals on the mound . . . Milian has started nine games . . . In eight of those games she has gone the distance and pitched all seven innings . . . She has the best record on the team at 5-6 and posts the best ERA on the team at 2.61.
12 STRONG
The 2007 Ball State team is complete with only 12 players. . . The team looks for leadership from the two seniors, Kelli Jeziorski and Taylor Yancey . . . Elizabeth Milian and Amanda Pick share the workload on the mound as Milian has pitched 82 innings and Pick has thrown for 68.
SEND HER HOME
The Cardinals have scored 96 runs midway through the 2007 season . . . In 2006, Ball State only had one player score over 20 runs and ended the year with 98 total . . . This year's team has three players with 15-or-more runs scored . . . The BSU record is 214, set by the 1998 team.
UP NEXT
Ball State will travel to Athens, Ohio this weekend to play Ohio University in a doubleheader March 30 . . . The Cardinals will then travel to Akron, Ohio to play the Zips . . . Ball State's first game against Akron will start at 2 p.m. March 31, then April 1 the Cardinals play, Akron at 1 p.m.
