Ball State University Athletics
Softball Set To Host Eastern Illinois In Tuesday DH
April 06, 2015 | Softball
► THIS WEEK IN BALL STATE SOFTBALL: The Ball State softball team returns to action Tuesday, when it hosts Eastern Illinois in a 2 p.m. non-conference doubleheader at the Softball Field at First Merchants Ballpark Complex ... The Cardinals continue league play Friday with a 1 p.m. doubleheader at Toledo, before traveling to Bowling Green for single games Saturday (2 p.m.) and Sunday (1 p.m.).
► FOLLOW THE ACTION: Cardinals fans can follow the action this week with live stats for all six games on the live stats page of BallStateSports.com (http://BallStateSports.com/livestats) ... Fans can also get updates by following the team on Twitter: @BallStateSB, Instagram: @BallStateSB and Facebook: BallStateSoftball.
► LISTEN LIVE: Ball State Sports Link Radio will stream Tuesday's doubleheader vs. Eastern Illinois LIVE and FREE on BallStateSports.com, with Mick Tidrow calling the action ... Fans can tune in by visiting http://BallStateSports.com/liveevents on their computer or purchasing the premium upgrade ($4.99) on the BallStSports app found in iTunes.
► CARDINALS ALL-TIME: With a 16-18 record so far in 2015, Ball State softball enters the week with a 903-952-4 (.487) all-time record in 40-plus seasons of play ... Established as a varsity program in 1975, Ball State has won five Mid-American Conference regular season titles (2009, 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2014), two MAC Tournament championships (1998 and 2010) and advanced to the NCAA Tournament twice (1998 and 2010).
► HEAD COACH TYRA PERRY: After leading Ball State to a 12-4 league record, the 2014 MAC regular season title and the No. 1 seed in the 2014 MAC Softball Tournament, Tyra Perry became the first first-year coach in program history to earn MAC Coach of the Year accolades ... A two-time Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year (2009 & 2013), Perry was named the eighth head coach in Ball State softball history Aug. 6, 2013 ... Perry enters the week with a 391-381-1 (.506) career record, including a 49-37 (.570) ledger at Ball State ... Prior to Ball State, Perry had six-year head coaching stints at both Western Kentucky (2008-13) and Birmingham-Southern (2002-07) ... In 2013, Perry guided WKU to the program's first-ever NCAA Regional appearance and to a final ranking of 26th in the NCAA Ratings Percentage Index (RPI), the highest final ranking in program history ... The Lady Toppers also posted the program's first 40-plus win season (43-18) under Perry's tutelage in 2013, and earned its first SBC regular season title with a 20-3 league record.
► SCOUTING THE CARDINALS: Ball State enters the week with a 16-18 overall record, including a 4-1 mark in Mid-American Conference play ... The Cardinals suffered a 10-9 loss at Purdue Wednesday, while Kent State handed Ball State its first league loss by a score of 7-3 Friday ... The Cardinals rebounded, however, with a pair of Saturday wins over Buffalo in games played at Miami University's Softball Stadium ... Ball State won the first game 7-6 (9) and the nightcap 12-4 (6) ... Ball State is batting .294 as a team, with junior second baseman Emily Dabkowski leading the squad with a .375 average, 42 hits and 10 home runs ... Junior Nicole Steinbach leads the Ball State pitching staff with an 8-10 record, two saves and a 4.57 ERA ... She has compiled 109 strikeouts over 116.1 innings of work ... Ball State's staff has a 5.33 ERA and is holding opponents to a .316 average.
► IN THE RPI: Ball State enters the week ranked 114th in the latest NCAA Division I Softball RPI rankings ... The Cardinals were 106th last week ... Ball State is the second-highest ranked team from the MAC, trailing only Kent State who is 61st ... Eastern Illinois enters the week ranked 148th, while Toledo is 232nd and Bowling Green is 221st.
► STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE: Based on the latest NCAA Division I Softball RPI rankings, the Cardinals have played the 91st-toughest schedule in the nation out of 295 teams ... Of Ball State's 18 losses, 12 have come versus top 50 teams, including LSU (2) and Auburn (3) ... In fact, the Cardinals only have two losses outside the top 150 ... Buffalo has the second-toughest schedule among MAC teams at 134.
► THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS
EASTERN ILLINOIS: The Panthers enter the week with a 12-18 overall record, including a 7-7 mark in Ohio Valley Conference play ... Last weekend, EIU split a Saturday doubleheader versus Tennessee Tech (L, 0-1 / W, 3-2 [10]) and a Sunday twinbill versus Jacksonville State (W, 2-1 / L, 1-5) ... Eastern Illinois enters the week with a .274 team batting average and is averaging 3.83 runs per game ... Bailey O'Dell leads the squad with a .365 batting average, 28 RBI, 25 runs scored and eight home runs ... In the circle, EIU's pitchers have combined for a 4.54 ERA, with Michelle Rogers serving as the team's top pitcher making 21 appearances with a 6-8 record, a 3.46 ERA and 53 strikeouts over 91.0 innings of work ... EIU holds a slim 12-9 lead in the overall series, despite the Cardinals scoring a 4-3 win earlier this season in the Tiger Invitational (Feb. 15) ... The teams have met six times in Muncie, with each pulling out three wins, including splitting an April 22, 2008 doubleheader in the Panthers' last trip to Ball State's home field ... EIU won the first contest 3-2 (8), while the Cardinals won the second 3-2 (8).
TOLEDO: The Rockets enter the week with a 12-22 overall record, including an 0-6 mark in MAC play ... Toledo is scheduled to play at Michigan State Wednesday, before hosting the Cardinals for a Friday twinbill ... Last weekend, UT dropped both ends of a Friday doubleheader at Western Michigan (7-5, 11-2 [6]) and single games at Northern Illinois Saturday (6-5) and Sunday (14-5 [5]) ... Toledo enters the week with a .281 team batting average and is scoring 4.21 runs per game ... Celeste Fidge leads the team and ranks third in the MAC with a .420 batting average and also has a team-best 28 RBI ... In the circle, the Rockets have a 5.28 team ERA, with Emily Anderson serving as the team's top pitcher with a 5-9 record, a 4.67 ERA and 68 strikeouts over 108.0 innings of work ... Ball State holds a 53-40 advantage in the all-time series, despite having a 19-game winning streak snapped in the most recent meeting ... Last season, the Cardinals scored an 8-1 home win April 5, before falling to the Rockets by a score of 6-4 the next day ... Ball State holds a 23-22 edge in games played in Toledo, including seven straight wins.
BOWLING GREEN: The Falcons enter the week with a 12-16 overall record, including a 3-3 mark in MAC play ... BGSU will host Miami in a Friday twinbill before the Cardinals visit for games Saturday and Sunday ... Last week, Bowling Green scored a pair of Tuesday wins over Detroit (W, 2-1 / W, 6-5 [9]), split a Friday doubleheader at Northern Illinois (L, 3-5 / W, 10-5) and lost single games at Western Michigan Saturday (L, 1-10 [5]) and Sunday (L, 2-3) ... The Falcons enter the week with a .264 team batting average and are scoring 4.11 runs per game ... Molly Holliday has a team-best .378 batting average, while Aspen Searle is second at .366 and has team-highs of 27 runs, 22 RBI and eight home runs ... In the circle, BGSU's pitchers a combined a 3.94 ERA, with Jamie Kertes serving as the team's top pitcher with a 7-6 record, a 3.95 ERA and 68 strikeouts over 79.2 innings ... The Falcons hold a 47-37 lead in the all-time series, despite five straight Ball State wins ... With last season's games being rained out, the teams have not met since BSU swept a March 29, 2013 doubleheader (4-1 and 3-1) to improve to 16-20 all-time at Bowling Green.
► CLASS OF THE MAC: Ball State's three-member senior class, which includes Jessica Craft, Hanne Stuedemann and Loren Cihlar, are in the position to do what no Mid-American Conference senior class has ever done, finish their careers as four-time MAC regular season champions ... In fact, the three comprise one of only two classes in league history to win three consecutive titles, joining last season's Ball State senior class of Audrey Bickel, Jennifer Gilbert, Taylor Rager and Lauren Schroeder.
► CLASS OF THE MAC PART 2: Over the past six-plus seasons, the Cardinals have proven to be the MAC's premier program by compiling a 99-27 (.786) league record ... BSU has claimed five (2009, 2010, 2012, 2013 & 2014) of the last six MAC Regular Season titles, the first five in program history, and won the 2010 MAC Tournament to earn the program's second NCAA berth ... Kent State has the second-best MAC record over the span at 82-45 (.647), followed by Miami in third at 82-54 (.603).
► PICKING UP WHERE SHE LEFT OFF: Junior second baseman Emily Dabkowski has picked up right where she left off the 2014 season, providing the game-winning run in seven of Ball State's 16 wins this season ... She has driven in four game-winning runs, with three provided via home run (South Dakota, Feb. 6 / Mercer, Feb. 14 / Stephen F. Austin, Feb. 28) and the other a sacrifice fly (IUPUI, Feb. 7) ... She has also scored three game-winning runs (IPFW, March 18 / Central Michigan, March 28 / Buffalo Game 1 / April 4) ... Last season, Dabkowski tied for first on the team by helping account for 13 game-winning runs ... She scored the winning run eight times, while adding five game-winning RBI.
► STEINBACH MOVING UP THE CHARTS: With a pair of saves at the Purple & Gold Challenge (Feb. 27-March 1), junior pitcher Nicole Steinbach moved into a tie for first in program history with eight career saves ... She also enters the week ranked sixth in program history with 37 career pitching victories ... Steinbach broke into the top 10 on BSU's career strikeouts chart after fanning nine batters in the win over Eastern Illinois (Feb. 15) ... Steinbach is currently seventh on the list with 315 career strikeouts.
► THE LONG BALL; 2015 EDITION: Senior outfielder Hanne Stuedemann enters the week as Ball State's active career leader with 24 home runs, including a two-run blast in the second game of last Saturday's doubleheader versus Buffalo ... Stuedemann's 24 career home runs also rank fifth on Ball State's all-time list and are just one shy of fourth which is held by Audrey Bickel (2011-14) at 25 ... Emily Dabkowski is eighth on BSU's all-time list with 16 career home runs, including a MAC-leading 10 so far in 2015 ... Junior shortstop Selena Reyna leads Ball State's active players with three career grand slams, while five other players have one ... Reyna is also tied for ninth on Ball State's career list with 13 home runs.
► STUEDEMANN BECOMES 7TH IN 100/100 CLUB: Hanne Stuedemann became the seventh player in program history to score 100 runs and drive in 100 RBI with a RBI fielder's choice in the first inning versus Jacksonville (Feb. 21) ... She scored her 100th career run in the first inning at Lipscomb (Feb. 8) ... She enters the week ranked sixth in program history in runs scored (125) and seventh in RBI (121).
► TRIPLE THREAT: After collecting her first career triple in the series finale versus Western Kentucky (March 22), senior catcher Jessica Craft finds herself tied for third in the league with three triples this season after adding two more in the 14-7 victory at Central Michigan (March 28) ... She nearly had her fourth triple of the season later in the day, but was thrown out by inches on a two-run double in the 9-5 win over the Chippewas.
► MAKING A RUN FOR IT: Senior outfielder Loren Cihlar ranks 10th in program history with a .833 (35-for-42) career stolen base percentage ... Cihlar picked up her first stolen base of the 2015 season versus Georgia State (Feb. 13) and is currently 6-for-10 on the year ... She went 9-for-10 in stolen base attempts last season, after finishing the 2013 campaign as one of only two players in program history to finish a year with a perfect stolen base percentage (min. 10 attempts), going 11-for-11 ... Cihlar is also seventh in program history with 116 career runs scored.
► BURNING UP THE BASE PATHS: So far this season the Cardinals have stolen 52 bases, which is already 23 more then they stole the entire 2014 campaign when they finished the year 29-for-40 ... Emily Dabkowski leads the team at 10-for-11 this year, while sophomore outfielder India Steward and Selena Reyna each have seven.
► THE BIG INNING: Ball State has scored 11 runs in an inning twice this season, once in the fourth inning versus IPFW (March 18) and once in the seventh inning at Central Michigan (March 18) ... The effort stands as the second-best single-inning output in program history, trailing only the 16-run seventh inning at Toledo (April 13, 2007) ... Ball State also had an 11-run seventh inning versus Grambling State (Feb. 22, 2013) ... The Grambling State game marks one of only two games in program history the Cardinals have scored 20-or-more runs, as they won the contest 20-3 ... The other game was a 24-0 victory over St. Leo March 2, 1987.
► JERSEY WATCH 2015: Ball State is 6-8 in its black jersey, 5-5 in its red jersey and 5-5 in its white jersey this season.
