Ball State University Athletics
Softball Hosts Eastern Illinois; Travels To Columbus
April 22, 2008 | Softball
ABOUT THE GAMES
The Cardinals will host the Eastern Illinois Panthers on Tuesday, April 22, at the BSU Softball Complex . . . The first game of the doubleheader will begin at 2:00 p.m. . . . Ball State will also travel to Columbus Ohio for a mid-week match-up against the Ohio State Buckeyes . . . The Cardinals are 3-1 against Big Ten opponents this season . . . Eastern Illinois defeated the Cardinals last year in Charleston 4-3.
ABOUT THE CARDINALS
The Cardinals are currently 30-24 with a 6-8 mark in Mid-American Conference play . . . Alicia Barkley leads the team with a .298 batting average . . . Abby Gross is hitting .280 and leads the team with 41 RBI . . . Lisa Rozanski leads the team in runs scored (30), hit by pitch (14), and stolen bases (32) . . . Elizabeth Milian has been consistent at the plate, and on the mound for BSU . . . Milian has 10 doubles, three triples, three home runs and 25 RBI . . . She leads the pitching rotation with an ERA of 2.35 and a record of 14-10.
ABOUT THE PANTHERS
Eastern Illinois comes into Tuesday's doubleheader with an overall record of 15-20, including an 8-6 record in the Ohio Valley . . . The Panthers most recently split a doubleheader against Jacksonville State . . . Eastern Illinois won game one 5-4, but were defeated in game two 4-2 . . . Megan Nelson and Sarah Coppert each had two hits in game one . . . They were nearly shut out in game two as Robyn Mackie recorded their only hit of the game . . . Coppert and Mackie lead the Panther offense . . . Coppert is hitting .356 with three doubles, two home runs and 20 RBI . . . Mackie is hitting .310 with three doubles, three home runs and a team-high 22 RBI . . . Mackie also has the best pitching record on the team (7-8) with an ERA of 3.11 . . . Eastern Illinois leads the all-time series 11-7.
ABOUT THE BUCKEYES
Ohio State has an overall record of 27-20 with a 5-11 conference record in the Big Ten . . . The Buckeyes most recently split with Penn State over the weekend . . . Penn State took game one 3-2, as the Buckeyes battled back to win game two 4-3 . . . Sam Marder is hitting .467 for Ohio State . . . Marder leads the team with six doubles, 13 home runs and 47 RBI . . . Brittany Vanderink adds two triples, and leads the team with 15 stolen bases . . . Kim Reeder and Megan Miller split time on the mound for OSU . . . Reeder is 14-14 with an ERA of 2.37, and leads the team with 171 strikeouts . . . Miller is 7-4 with an ERA of 3.76 . . . Ohio State leads the all-time series 6-5.
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 116 RBI . . . Gross started the 2008 season with a home run against LSU, Feb. 15 at Tiger Park . . . Gross is hitting .280 with a .420 slugging percentage and 41 RBI this season . . . Amanda Pick has five doubles, four home runs and a batting average of .283 . . . Pick is second on the team with 26 RBI.
FANTASTIC FOUR
Alicia Barkley, Alyssa Collins, Kate Wilczynski and Lisa Rozanski have all made an impact for the Cardinals during their freshmen season . . . Barkley has started all 54 games at shortstop for BSU . . . Barkley is hitting .298 with seven doubles and 18 RBI . . . Collins starts in right field and has a batting average of .269 . . . She has six doubles, one triple and 18 RBI . . . Wilczynski starts at third base for BSU . . . She is hitting .290 with six doubles and 19 RBI . . . Rozanski starts in center field for the Cards . . . Rozanski is hitting .210 and leads the team with 32 stolen bases, and 30 runs scored.
STEALING THE SHOW - 3 AWAY FROM 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 124 stolen bases in 2008 . . . Lisa Rozanski leads the team with 32 . . . Alyssa Collins, Allie Pennock, and Alicia Barkley each have over 20 steals . . . The single-season school record for steals is 37, held by Heather Hinkle.
MAC WEST PITCHER OF THE WEEK (Feb. 27 - March 19 - April 15)
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) Garofano went 2-1 with an ERA of 0.39 April 7-13 . . . She pitched 18 innings and only allowed nine hits while striking out 23 batters.
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 14-10 with an ERA of 2.35 . . . Of her 22 starts, she has thrown 20 complete games and also has three saves . . . Milian has thrown a team-high 164 innings and is second on the team with 103 strikeouts.
SEND HER HOME - NEW SCHOOL RECORD
The Cardinals broke the runs scored record in 2007 with 221 . . . The 2008 team has scored 224 runs this season to set a new runs scored school record . . . Allie Pennock scored 37 runs last year which placed her second all-time in the single season BSU record books . . . Six Cardinals have scored over 20 runs in 2008 pushing the total to 224 . . . Lisa Rozanski leads the team with 30.
STRIKE THREE, YOUR OUT!
Tiffany Garofano has shut down opponents so far this season . . . Garofano has recorded a team-high 150 strikeouts, and has an ERA of 2.13 . . . She has an overall record of 11-11 including 17 complete games.
WALK IT OUT
The Cardinals set a single-season team record with 200 walks . . . The old record was 164 set by the 2007 team . . . Amanda Pick has been walked 29 times this season . . . She set the record for most walks in one season on the BSU records list . . . Pick has been walked 66 times in her career moving her to first on the all-time BSU records list
SINGLE-SEASON RBI RECORD - GROSS 41
Abby Gross leads the team with 41 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 Eastern Illinois and Ohio State . . . 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 in a season was in 2001 when they finished 32-20 . . . Ball State beat Buffalo 6-1 to pick up their 30th win of the season.
BALL STATE VS IN-STATE RIVALS
The Cardinals have proven that they are one of the best teams in the state of Indiana . . . BSU has defeated Indiana State (5-1), Valparaiso (4-3), Butler (6-2) and IPFW (2-1) at least once this season . . . The team swept the Indiana Hoosiers (4-2 , 8-0) and the IUPUI Jaguars (6-0 , 15-0) . . . Most recently the Cardinals beat the Purdue Boilermakers 7-3 at the BSU Softball Complex.
12 HOME RUNS
The Cardinals have 14 team home runs this season placing them third all-time in BSU history . . . The 2007 team holds the record with 33 homers . . . Amanda Pick and Elizabeth Milian hit back-to-back home runs against Indiana . . . Kamilah Holle had a multi home run game against Wright State . . . Abby Gross is second on the team with three home runs this season.
NEW RBI RECORD
Ball State has 193 team RBIs in 2008 . . . The 2007 team previously held the school record with 188 . . . Abby Gross leads the team with 41 . . . Seven other players have all recorded over 10 RBI for the Cardinals this season.
UP NEXT
Ball State will continue Mid-American Conference play this weekend as they host a doubleheader against Eastern Michigan on Friday . . . The Cardinals wrap up the weekend with a pair of single games against the top team in the MAC West, Central Michigan.
