Ball State University Athletics
Cards Travel To Play Ninth-Ranked Wolverines
April 10, 2007 | Softball
ABOUT THE GAMES
The Ball State Cardinals will face ninth-ranked Michigan on Tuesday at Alumni Field . . . This is just the seventh meeting between the two schools as Michigan leads the all-time series 4-2 . . . The game is set for 5 p.m. . . . Ball State will then play IUPUI Wednesday . . . The game was supposed to take place March 8, but with cold weather conditions it was pushed back until April 11 at 2 p.m.
ABOUT THE CARDINALS
Ball State improved to 4-4 in the Mid-American Conference after sweeping Northern Illinois in a doubleheader April 8 . . . Abby Gross leads Ball State with a .385 batting average and 23 RBI . . . Allie Pennock is batting .310 on the year and has a team-high 21 steals . . . Elizabeth Milian and Amanda Pick will share a majority of the innings this week . . . Pick is 3-10 with 11 complete games and 62 strikeouts . . . Milian is 9-9, has 62 strikeouts and an ERA of 2.18.
ABOUT THE WOLVERINES
The ninth-ranked Michigan Wolverines come into Tuesday's contest with a 28-6 overall record . . . Alessandra Giampaolo leads the Wolverines with a .444 batting average, 16 doubles, two triples and 14 RBI . . . The Wolverines have eight players with 10 RBIs or more . . . Samantha and Angela Findlay are sisters both playing for Michigan this season . . . They each have four home runs with 17 RBI . . . On the mound, Michigan has a two-girl rotation with Lorilyn Wilson and Nikki Nemitz . . . Wilson is 16-3 with a 1.42 ERA . . . She has recorded 186 strikeouts in 128 innings pitched . . . Nemitz is 12-3 with an ERA of 1.61 . . . Michigan leads the all-time series 4-2.
ABOUT THE JAGUARS
The Jaguars come into Wednesday's doubleheader with a 7-19 record . . . Most recently they split games of a doubleheader against Eastern Illinois . . . Cayleigh Harvey leads IUPUI with a .355 batting average, two home runs and 12 RBI . . . Sarah Needy is IUPUI's all-time stolen base leader . . . She has 78 career steals, with 17 of those coming in 2007 . . . Needy is hitting .342 with four doubles and three triples . . . On the mound, Breanna Howell is 4-8 with an ERA of 4.11 . . . Howell has a team-high 33 stikeouts and also leads the Jags in innings pitched with 80 . . . Angelica Espinosa has the best record on the team at 3-2 . . . Espinosa has a 4.77 ERA with 14 strikeouts in 29 innings pitched . . . The Cardinals defeated the Jags last season 4-2 . . . Ball State leads the all-time series 6-1.
GROSS, JEZIORSKI MAKE IT 11
Abby Gross and Kelli Jeziorski each have 11 career home runs . . . The BSU career record stands at 12 by Ruth Hjelmeland who played from 2000-03.
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 129 innings and Pick has thrown for 88.
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 24 home runs in 2007.
STEALING THE SHOW
The Cardinals have stolen 94 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).
MILIAN MOWS DOWN BIG TEN
Freshman Elizabeth Milian is 2-0 against Big Ten opponents in 2007 . . . Milian faced the Wisconsin Badgers in Tampa, Fla. while pitching in the USF Speedline Tournament . . . Milian threw a one-hitter to shut out the Badgers and give Ball State a 3-0 win . . . The Cardinals had Milian on the mound for thier home opener against Indiana . . . Against the Hoosiers, Milian threw another one-hitter and allowed the Cardinals to win 8-0.
JEZIORSKI TIES SINGLE-SEASON HOME RUN RECORD
Kelli Jeziorski hit her sixth home run of the year against Akron on April 1. . . The solo home run helped the Cardinals defeat the Zips 7-1 and also placed Jeziorski in a tie for the individual single-season home run record . . . 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 16 games . . . In 15 of those games, she has gone the distance and pitched all seven innings . . . She has the best record on the team at 9-9 and posts the best ERA on the team at 2.09.
HOME SWEET HOME
The game March 28 against Indiana marked the first home game of the season for Ball State . . . 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.
SEND HER HOME
The Cardinals have scored 136 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 20-or-more runs scored and three players with 10-or-more . . . The BSU record is 214, set by the 1998 team.
UP NEXT
Ball State will return to conference play as they face the Toledo Rockets in a doubleheader on April 13 starting at 1 p.m. . . . The Cards will then travel to Bowling Green to play a pair of games with the first game April 14 at 2 p.m.
