Softball Heads to Eastern Michigan for Weekend Series

Game 46 - Ball State at Eastern Michigan
Friday, April 27, 3 p.m.
Listen | Live Stats | Social Media (@BallStateSB)

Game 47 - Ball State at Eastern Michigan
Saturday, April 28, 1 p.m.
Listen | Live Stats | Social Media (@BallStateSB)

Game 48 - Ball State at Eastern Michigan
Saturday, April 28, 3 p.m.
Listen | Live Stats | Social Media (@BallStateSB)

• The Ball State softball team heads back on the road this weekend, when it travels to Ypsilanti, Michigan, for a three-game series at Eastern Michigan ... The Cardinals and Eagles, who will be hosting their final Mid-American Conference series at Varsity Field, are scheduled to play a 3 p.m. game Friday and a 1 p.m. doubleheader Saturday.

• With two weeks remaining in the regular season, the Cardinals enter the weekend holding the No. 3 slot in the MAC standings with an 11-6 league record ... Ohio currently leads the league at 15-2, while Toledo tops the MAC West Division and is second overall at 14-3 ... Eastern Michigan is battling for a berth in the eight-team MAC Tournament with a 5-12 conference slate, which is currently 11th overall, but only 2.5 games out of eighth.

• SERIES VERSUS EASTERN MICHIGAN: While Ball State holds a 60-41 lead in the all-time series with the Eagles, EMU has won four of the last seven meetings, including a 1-0 victory in the 2017 series finale played April 15, 2017 at the Softball Field at First Merchants Ballpark Complex ... Eastern Michigan also won all three games played in the Cardinals last trip to Varsity Field, picking up a 1-0 win April 15, 2016 and sweeping an April 16, 2016 twin bill by scores of 2-0 and 15-11 ... This weekend will serve as the final regular season meetings between the two programs, as the EMU softball program will be disbanded following the conclusion of the 2018 season ... Overall, the Eagles hold a 27-23 lead in games played on its home field, including four straight wins ... Ball State's last win in Ypsilanti was a 2-1 victory April 15, 2011 ... A complete series history can be found on page four of this release.

• SCOUTING EASTERN MICHIGAN: The Eagles enter the weekend with a 9-33 (5-12 MAC) record, having lost its last four games ... EMU suffered a 9-1 (5) setback at Michigan State Tuesday, after being swept by Northern Illinois last weekend by scores of 7-0, 9-1 (6) and 4-3 ... Amanda Akles leads Eastern Michigan with a .375 batting average, and also has team-highs of 31 RBI, 12 doubles and nine home runs ... Olivia Logan is second on the squad with a .280 average, while Haley Hostetler has scored a team-high 25 runs ... In the circle, Nicolle Miranda has thrown a team-high 127.0 innings and has a 3-16 record and a 4.63 ERA ... Trisha Trujillo is second with 99.1 innings of work and has a 4-9 record and a 4.37 ERA ... Both Miranda and Trujillo have struck out 72 batters ... As a team, the Eagles have a .229 batting average, a 4.83 ERA and a .936 fielding percentage.

BALL STATE TEAM/PLAYER NOTES
• The Ball State softball team earned the 1,000th win in program history with a 7-6 victory over Western Michigan in the second game of an April 13, 2018 doubleheader ... After the Broncos rallied for three runs in the top of the sixth to tie the game, sophomore left fielder Haley Dominique drove in the eventual game-winning run in the bottom of the sixth with an RBI double to left-center field ... Freshman pinch runner Taylor Castleberry scored what proved to be the game-winning run, scoring from first on Dominique's two-out double.

• Another key player in the program's 1,000th win was sophomore closer Alyssa Rothwell who struck out all three batters she faced in the seventh inning to record her program-record 10th career save.

• The reigning MAC West Division Pitcher of the Week, Alyssa Rothwell recorded her eight save of the season in last Saturday's 2-1 second game victory over Central Michigan ... Rothwell's eight saves are tied for the MAC single season record originally set by BGSU's Lisa Mountjoy in 1993 ... In addition, her 11 career saves are five shy of the MAC career record of 16 set by BGSU's Jamie Kertes (2012-15).

• Opening weekend saw the Cardinals play the 2,000th game in program history, earning a 5-1 win over Georgetown (Feb. 10).

• The Ball State softball team played its first 33 games of the season on the road which is the longest stretch of road games in program history ... Ball State played 32 straight road games to open the 2016 season, while starting the 2012 campaign with 31 straight road games.

• Ball State softball enters Friday's game at Eastern Michigan with a 1002-1035-4 (.492) all-time record ... Established as a varsity program in 1975, Ball State has won five MAC regular season titles (2009, 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2014), six MAC West Division crowns (2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015), three MAC Tournament championships (1998, 2010 and 2015) and advanced to the NCAA Regionals three times (1998, 2010 and 2015).

• Since the 2009 season, Ball State has proven to be the MAC's premier program by compiling a 142-63 (.693) league record ... Kent State is second on the list over the same span at 135-72 (.652), while Ohio is third at 126-84 (.600) ... Ball State boasts a 414-416-1 (.499) all-time MAC record in 35 years.

• Ball State enters the weekend ranked first in the MAC and 27th nationally with a .475 slugging percentage ... The Cardinals lead the MAC and are 17th among all NCAA Division I teams with a 1.07 home runs per game average, while Ball State's 1.56 doubles per game average is also tops in the MAC and 18th nationally.

• Five Ball State starters enter the weekend with slugging percentages above .500, led by sophomore slugger Janae Hogg who is sixth in the MAC and 102nd nationally at .669 ... Senior second baseman Maddy Labrador is right behind at .667, which is seventh in the MAC and 108th among all NCAA Division I players.

• The Ball State pitching staff enters the week ranked second in the MAC with a 2.77 team ERA ... Sophomore closer Alyssa Rothwell owns a league-low 1.81 ERA over 62.0 innings, while junior starter Aeshia Miles is fourth in the MAC with a 2.29 ERA over 146.2 innings.

• In addition to boasting one of the best ERAs in the MAC, Ball State's pitching staff also ranks second in the conference with 270 strikeouts ... All three Cardinals pitchers rank in the top 14 in the league in total strikeouts, with Aeshia Miles in fourth (126), senior starter Carolyn Wilmes in 10th (80) and Alyssa Rothwell in 14th (63).

• Alyssa Rothwell, who holds both the Ball State single season (8) and career (11) saves records, made history at the ECU Pirate Invitational by becoming the first Ball State player to record three saves in a single weekend ... She picked up saves versus both Canisius (Feb. 23) and ECU (Feb. 23) on the opening day of the tournament, while adding her third in the tournament finale against Canisius (Feb. 25)

• Of Ball State's 11 league wins, Alyssa Rothwell has factored in seven, boasting a 3-0 record and four saves ... Over eight appearances and 16.1 innings of work in the team's MAC wins, Rothwell has struck out 19 batters and held the opposition to a .143 batting average.

• Aeshia Miles earned her first career no-hitter in Ball State's 8-0 (6) victory over Robert Morris (March 2) ... She retired the first 17 batters she faced before issuing a two-out, sixth-inning walk to spoil the perfect game ... She responded by inducing a grounder to herself for the final out to also lock up her first career complete game shutout ... Miles also joined Alyssa Rothwell in a combined no-hitter versus St. Bonaventure (March 17) ... Miles threw the first 3.0 innings with the only baserunners coming from a pair of Ball State errors ... Rothwell pitched the final two, with her only baserunner coming via a walk.

• It's been an interesting career for Aeshia Miles, who was originally recruited as a fielder ... In fact, Miles has earned 86 starts at eight different positions over her Ball State career; 30 (P), 22 (3B), 17 (2B), six (LF), five (RF), four (1B), one (CF) and one (DP) ... She made her first career pitching appearance in the 2017 season opener versus DePaul (Feb. 10), starting the game in left field before entering the circle to throw the final two innings and earn her first career save.

• Carolyn Wilmes has established herself as one of the top 10 starting pitchers in program history ... Entering this weekend's series at Eastern Michigan, Wilmes is eighth in program history with 289 career strikeouts and tied for ninth with 33 career wins ... She is also seventh in both appearances (103) and starts (72), while her 386.2 innings pitched are 10th.

• Ball State enters the week with the 35th-most prolific scoring offense in the country, averaging 5.53 runs per game ... The Cardinals have scored six-or-more runs in 19 games, owning an 18-1 record in those contests ... In fact, Ball State has scored six-or-more runs in an inning nine times this season.

• Ball State's 16 runs in the series finale at Akron (March 31) were the most runs the Cardinals have scored in a regular season MAC game since a 17-4 (5) win over Bowling Green April 23, 2010 ... Ball State also scored a 16-1 victory over NIU (May 13) in a 2010 MAC Tournament game played at Firestone Stadium.

• In addition, the Cardinals finished the three-game series sweep of Akron with 30 total runs, which is the most runs Ball State has scored in a MAC series in the current three-game format which started in 2016 ... The previous record was 23 runs in the March 23-24, 2018 series at Bowling Green.

• In Ball State's 12-0 (5) win at Bowling Green (March 24),Maddy Labrador did something not even the MAC's career RBI leader Jennifer Gilbert (2011-14) could accomplish in her Ball State career; tally seven RBI in a single game ... Her first three RBI came on a three-run home run in the top of the third inning ... She one-upped herself in the fourth by blasting her first career grand slam for the Cardinals to raise her RBI total to seven on the day ... Her seven RBI are the most in a single game in program history.

• A two-time MAC West Division Player of the Week, sophomore left fielder Haley Dominique leads the Ball State offense and ranks fourth in the MAC with a .395 batting average ... Dominique has scored a team-high and MAC-leading 40 runs this season and is third on the team and 12th in the league with 31 RBI ... She also tallied Ball State's first triple of the season versus Fordham (March 2) and hit the Cardinals' first grand slam of the year against Robert Morris (March 2).

• A .342 career batter, Haley Dominique enters the weekend ranked third on Ball State's career list with a .456 career on base percentage, including a team-best .489 mark so far this season ... Dominique has reached base safely in 41 of Ball State's 45 games this season ... She has also put together a career-long 12-game hitting streak and a career-best 17-game streak of reaching base safely this season.

• Sophomore slugger Janae Hogg enters the weekend ranked third in the MAC and 42nd nationally with 12 home runs this season ... Of her 12 home runs this season, four have driven in what has stood to be the game-winning run ... Hogg leads Ball State's active players with 10 career game-winning RBI, including her four this season ... Six of her 10 career game-winning RBI have come via the long ball; vs. Miami (April 2, 2017), at Northern Illinois (April 4, 2017), vs. Boston University (Feb. 17. 2018); at New Mexico State (Feb. 17, 2018), vs. Florida A&M (March 9, 2018) and at Bowling Green (March 24, 2018).

• Ball State enters the weekend with a league-leading 48 home runs ... Nine different Cardinals have hit at least one home run this season which ties with Western Michigan for the league lead ...Janae Hogg's 12 home runs are tied as the eighth-best single season total in program history, while Maddy Labrador's 10 are tied for 10th ... Hogg and Labrador are also tied for 11th in program history with 17 career home runs.

• Ball State batters have drawn 187 walks so far this season which ranks first in the MAC and eighth nationally ... Janae Hogg leads the Cardinals and is second in the MAC with 39 walks ... The team total already ranks as the sixth-best single season mark in program history ... The program record for walks in a season is 238 set by the 2008 squad, while last season's squad is third on the list with 197.

Softball Heads to Eastern Michigan for Weekend Series

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