Ball State University Athletics
Cardinals Host Western Michigan and Nothern Illinois
April 06, 2007 | Softball
ABOUT THE GAMES
The Ball State Cardinals will face MAC rival Western Michigan in a doubleheader April 6 starting at 1 p.m. . . Ball State will then host Northern Illinois in a pair of games, with the first game April 7 at 2 p.m. and game two April 8 at 2 p.m.
ABOUT THE CARDINALS
Ball State battled rain and cold weather as the Cardinals only played one game -- of a scheduled four -- during the week. . . Abby Gross leads Ball State with a .363 batting average and 21 RBI . . . Allie Pennock is batting .287 on the year and has a team-high 20 steals . . . Elizabeth Milian and Amanda Pick will share a majority of the innings this week . . . Pick is 2-9 with nine complete games and 53 strikeouts . . . Milian is 8-8, has a team-high 58 strikeouts and an ERA of 2.18.
ABOUT THE BRONCOS
Western Michigan comes into the game against Ball State with a four-game losing streak and a 1-3 MAC record . . . The Broncos most recently dropped two games to 10th-ranked Michigan in Ann Arbor making them 9-11 overall . . . Becky Bartosz is batting .304, with a team-high three home runs and 12 RBI . . . Amanda Heckman has two doubles, a home run and 10 RBI . . . On the mound, Kyla Sullivan is 5-7 with an ERA of 1.61 . . . Sullivan has pitched a majority of the innings throwing for 82 of the 132 total innings while recording 62 strikeouts for the Broncos . . . Western Michigan leads the all-time series 54-41.
ABOUT THE HUSKIES
The Huskies enter Saturday's contest 3-1 in MAC play and 13-14 overall . . . Northern Illinois lost to eighth-ranked Northwestern 6-1earlier this week . . . The Huskies defeated Ball State 6-4, earlier in the season at Hawkeye Classic . . . At the Hawkeye Classic, the Huskies took the lead early and held on to win the game despite a Ball State comeback including a RBI double from Amber Wolf and a two-run home run from Kelli Jeziorski . . . Randi Kreiter leads Northern Illinois with a .305 batting average, seven doubles, two home runs and 18 RBI . . . Ellen Stoddard is batting .319 in 2007 with three doubles, one triple, two home runs and 12 RBI . . . On the mound, Kate Greenough has an ERA of 2.98 and 52 strikeouts to lead the team . . . Greenough has pitched 108 innings on the year and has a record of 8-8 . . . Northern Illinois leads the all-time series 32-14.
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 115 innings and Pick has thrown for 74.
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 23 home runs in 2007.
STEALING THE SHOW
The Cardinals have stolen 88 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 14 games . . . In 13 of those games, she has gone the distance and pitched all seven innings . . . She has the best record on the team at 8-8 and posts the best ERA on the team at 2.18.
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 118 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 two players with 20-or-more runs scored and four players with 10-or-more . . . The BSU record is 214, set by the 1998 team.
UP NEXT
Ball State will travel to Ann Arbor, Mich. to face the Wolverines April 10 at 5 p.m. . . . Michigan leads the all-time series 4-2.
