Ball State University Athletics
Softball Set To Face In State Rivals
April 24, 2007 | Softball
ABOUT THE GAMES
The Cardinals have an overall record of 19-28, including a 6-8 record in Mid-American Conference action . . . April 24 the Cards will travel to Indianapolis, Ind. to play Butler at 4 p.m. . . . Ball State will then host Purdue in a doubleheader April 25 with the first game scheduled to start at 2 p.m.
ABOUT THE CARDINALS
Ball State dropped two games against the Miami Redhawks to take its MAC record to 6-8 . . . The Cards lost game one, 5-0 and fell short in game two, 4-2 . . . Abby Gross leads Ball State with a .343 batting average and leads the MAC with 34 RBI . . . Taylor Yancey is batting .289 for the Cards including five doubles, four triples, eight home runs, 21 RBI and 23 stolen bases. . . Elizabeth Milian and Amanda Pick will share a majority of the innings this week . . . Pick is 6-10 with 13 complete games and 80 strikeouts . . . Milian is 11-15, has a team-high 89 strikeouts and an ERA of 2.74.
ABOUT THE BULLDOGS
The Butler Bulldogs are 21-16 in 2007 with a conference record of 6-3 . . . Most recently the Bulldogs had a three-game series against Youngstown State . . . Butler won the first two games -- 10-2 and 4-1 -- but was defeated in game three, 2-0 . . . Amy Hyerczyk leads the Bulldogs with a .442 batting average including 12 doubles, two home runs and 23 RBI . . . Jenny Jacobs leads the team in home runs with six and in RBIs with 25 . . . On the mound, Jennifer Chasteen is 9-4 with a 2.42 ERA . . . Chasteen has recorded 45 strikeouts in 78 innings . . . Nikki Naffziger has a team-high 55 strikeouts . . . Ball State leads the all-time series 14-1.
ABOUT THE BOILERMAKERS
The Boilermakers are 28-29-1 on the season with a Big Ten Conference record of 6-7 . . . Most recently Purdue swept Michigan State 4-3 and 8-6 . . . The Boilermakers scored five runs in the final two innings for the win in game two . . . Ashley Hall leads the team with a .401 batting average . . . She has four doubles and four triples in 2007 . . . Purdue's Katie Mitchell provides power at the plate with 15 doubles, 13 home runs and 47 RBI . . . On the mound, Brooke Baker is 21-15 with an ERA of 2.42 . . . Baker has a team-high 153 strikeouts . . . Last season Ball State was defeated at Purdue 7-0 . . . Purdue leads the all-time series 14-7.
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 177 innings and Pick has thrown for 108.
RUNNING OVER THE COMPETITION - YANCEY BREAKS RECORD
Taylor Yancey leads the team and the MAC with 39 runs scored . . . Yancey's total is a new single-season BSU record . . . The old BSU record was 36 by Heather Hinkle in the 1998 season.
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 31 home runs in 2007.
SWEET SIXTEEN
Ball State trailed Toledo in game two of a doubleheader April 13, 7-1 in the top of the seventh inning . . . Ball State scored 16 runs in the inning to win the game 17-10 . . . Abby Gross hit a grand slam at her first at-bat, then followed with a double . . . Amanda Pick recorded three at-bats during the seventh inning . . . She hit a double during her first at-bat, followed by a two-run home run and finished with another double . . . The Cards recorded 12 hits in the inning; five singles, five doubles and two home runs.
STEALING THE SHOW - CARDS SET NEW RECORD
The Cardinals have stolen 115 bases this season . . . Last year's team only stole 16 bases the entire season . . . BSU broke the old school record of 98 stolen bases in a single-season set by the 1991 team.
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MILIAN MOWS DOWN BIG TEN
Freshman Elizabeth Milian is 2-1 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 BREAKS SINGLE-SEASON HOME RUN RECORD
Kelli Jeziorski hit her seventh home run of the year against Michigan (April 10). . . The solo home run by Jeziorski broke the individual single-season home run record . . . The BSU single-season record for home runs in one season was previously six, held by Misty Snider during the 1999 season.
YANCEY ALSO BREAKS SINGLE-SEASON HOME RUN RECORD
Taylor Yancey hit a home run in the seventh inning against IPFW (April 20) to put the Cardinals ahead 6-0 . . . The solo shot took her season total to eight a team-high and out right leader of the single-season home run record . . . Teammate Kelli Jeziorski was the first to break the record and currently has seven on the year.
SPEAKING OF HOME RUNS, GROSS BREAKS CAREER HOME RUN RECORD
Abby Gross hit a grand slam against Toledo (April 13) to record her fifth home run of the season and then homered against IPFW (April 20) in the seventh inning to break the BSU career home run record with 13 home runs . . . Gross had two home runs in 2005 and five in 2006 . . . The old BSU record of 12 was held by Ruth Hjelmeland during 2000-03.
MILIAN ON THE MOUND
Freshman Elizabeth Milian has made an immediate impact for the Cardinals on the mound . . . Milian has started 23 games . . . In 21 of those games, she has gone the distance and pitched all seven innings . . . She has the best record on the team at 11-15 and posts the best ERA on the team at 2.74.
NEW AND IMPROVED
Under first year head coach Craig Nicholson the Cardinals have already recorded more overall wins in 2007 than they did in 2006 . . . After sweeping Toldeo, the Cardinal's MAC record is currently at 6-8 . . . Last year's team only recorded six MAC wins all year.
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 14 out of the last 17 games at the BSU Softball Complex . . . The Cardinals started their home stretch on April 19, in a doubleheader against Wright State . . . The season finale will be against Buffalo on May 6 . . . The only games Ball State had between those dates not at home was an April 20 doubleheader at IPFW and an April 24 matchup at Butler . . . In 2006, the Cardinals' last eight games of the season were away.
GROSS CHASES BSU RBI SINGLE-SEASON RECORD - FOUR AWAY
Abby Gross has recorded 34 RBIs on the season which puts her at third all-time on the BSU single-season RBI chart . . . Amy Doyle holds the BSU single-season RBI record with 38.
SEND HER HOME
The Cardinals have scored 189 runs in 2007 . . . 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 30-or-more runs scored and five players with 10-or-more . . . The BSU record is 214, set by the 1998 team.
UP NEXT
Ball State wil return to Mid-American Conference action as they face the Eastern Michigan Eagles April 27 in a doubleheader . . . Ball State will then host Central Michigan for a two-game series with the first game scheduled for April 28 at 2 p.m.
