Ball State University Athletics
Softball Travels To Bloomington; Hosts Purdue
April 15, 2008 | Softball
ABOUT THE GAMES
The Cardinals will travel to Bloomington, Ind. to face the Hoosiers on Tuesday at 4 p.m. . . . Ball State will then host the Purdue Boilermakers on Wednesday at the BSU Softball Complex at 4 p.m. . . . Ball State beat Indiana earlier this season 4-2 at the South Florida Tournament . . . A year ago BSU split with IU as the Hoosiers won the first game 6-2, but the Cardinals run ruled Indiana at the BSU Softball Complex 8-0 . . . Ball State did not play Purdue last year.
ABOUT THE CARDINALS
The Cardinals are currently 27-21 with a 5-5 mark in Mid-American Conference play . . . Alicia Barkley leads the team with a .305 batting average . . . Abby Gross is hitting .297 and leads the team with 39 RBI . . . Lisa Rozanski leads the team in runs scored (26), hit by pitch (12), and stolen bases (25) . . . Elizabeth Milian has been consistent at the plate, and on the mound for BSU . . . Milian has nine doubles, three triples, two home runs and 21 RBI . . . She leads the pitching rotation with an ERA of 2.43 and a record of 13-8.
ABOUT THE HOOSIERS
Indiana has an overall record of 12-27 with a 2-8 record in the Big Ten Conference . . . The Hoosiers most recently defeated the Ohio State Buckeyes 4-0 at the IU Softball Field . . . Monica Wright threw a one-hitter and struck out five batters to lead the Hoosiers . . . Jenni Huddleston leads the team with a .304 batting average and three triples . . . Tory Yamaguchi has a team-high five home runs and 20 RBI . . . Wright has a 3.37 ERA and an overall record of 9-11 on the mound . . . Indiana leads the all-time series 34-25.
ABOUT THE BOILERMAKERS
Purdue has an overall record of 28-11 including a 5-3 record in conference play . . . Candace Curtis leads the team with a .369 batting average including a team-high seven home runs and 31 RBI . . . Suzie Rzegocki and Dana Alcocer split time on the mound for the Boilermakers . . .Alcocer has pitched 133 innings and leads the team with 90 strikeouts. . .Purdue leads the all-time series 14-7.
STAR SENIORS
Abby Gross entered her senior season as the career home run leader in Ball State history . . . She also ranks first on the career BSU records list with 114 RBI . . . Gross started the 2008 season with a home run against LSU, Feb. 15 at Tiger Park . . . Gross is hitting .297 with a .457 slugging percentage and 39 RBI this season . . . Amanda Pick has five doubles, three home runs and a batting average of .291 . . . Pick is third on the team with 20 RBI.
FANTASTIC FOUR
Alicia Barkley, Alyssa Collins, Kate Wilczynski and Lisa Rozanski have all made an impact for the Cardinals during thier freshmen season . . . Barkley has started all 48 games at shortstop for BSU . . . Barkley is hitting .305 with six doubles and 14 RBI . . . Collins starts in right field and has a batting average of .264 . . . She has five doubles, one triple and 17 RBI . . . Wilczynski starts at third base for BSU . . . She is hitting .297 with six doubles and 16 RBI . . . Rozanski starts in center field for the Cards . . . Rozanski is hitting .217 and leads the team with 25 stolen bases, and 26 runs scored.
RBI RECORD - GROSS 2 AWAY
Abby Gross leads the team with 39 RBI . . . Gross set the single-season RBI record last year with 41 . . . Look for Gross to set the new record this week with games against Indiana and Purdue . . . Gross picked up seven RBIs in two games against IUPUI.
30 WIN SEASON
There have only been five teams in Ball State softball history to win 30 games in a season . . . The last time the Cardinals picked up 30 wins was in 2001 when they finished 32-20 . . . Follow the Cardinals through the last 18 games to see if they will make it to 30 wins!
STEALING THE SHOW - 19 AWAY FROM NEW SCHOOL RECORD
The Cardinals stole a school record 127 bases in 2007 . . . the old record was 98 stolen bases in a single season set by the 1991 team . . . Ball State has 108 stolen bases in 2008 . . . Lisa Rozanski leads the team with 25.
MAC WEST PITCHER OF THE WEEK (Feb. 27 & March 19)
Tiffany Garofano went 1-1 at the Panera Bread Tournament with an ERA of 2.00 . . . She recorded 21 strikeouts and only gave up four runs through 14 innings pitched . . . She recorded a career high 12 strikeouts against St. Francis to lead BSU to a 2-1 victory. (Feb. 27) Garofano went 2-0 at the USF Under Armour Tournament. She shut down Long Island leading the Cardinals to a 1-0 victory. Garofano picked up her other win against Georgia Southern. She had an ERA of 1.00 over the weekend and struck out 11. (March 19)
MAC WEST PLAYER OF THE WEEK (Feb. 27)
Amanda Pick hit .429 with a slugging percentage of 1.000 at the Panera Bread Tournament . . . She had two doubles, two home runs and five RBI helping the Cardinals to a 4-1 record in the tournament . . . Pick hit her first home run of the season against East Tennessee State . . . She also hit a three-run home run against Lipscomb to lead Ball State to a 5-3 victory.
MILIAN ON THE MOUND (PLAYER OF THE WEEK APRIL 1)
Elizabeth Milian is having another fantastic year on the mound for the Cardinals . . . Milian leads the team with an overall record of 13-7 with an ERA of 2.48 . . . Of her 18 starts, she has thrown 16 complete games and also has three saves . . . Milian has thrown a team-high 135 innings and is second on the team with 79 stikeouts.
SEND HER HOME - 24 AWAY FROM SCHOOL RECORD
The Cardinals broke the runs scored record in 2007 with 221 . . . The old record was 214 set by the 1998 team . . . Allie Pennock scored 37 runs last year which placed her second all-time in the single season BSU record books . . . Five Cardinals have scored over 20 runs in 2008 pushing the total to 197 . . . Lisa Rozanski leads the team with 26.
STRIKE THREE, YOUR OUT!
Tiffany Garofano has shut down opponents so far this season . . . Garofano has recorded a team-high 130 strikeouts, and has an ERA of 2.02.
WALK IT OUT
Amanda Pick has been walked 26 times this season . . . She set the record for most walks in one season on the BSU records list . . . Pick has been walked 63 times in her career moving her to third place on the all-time BSU records list . . . Kelli Jeziorski holds the record with 65 walks.
UP NEXT
Ball State continue MAC play when they travel to play the Kent State Golden Flashes in a doubleheader on Friday . . The Cardinals end the weekend with a match-up against Buffalo.
