Ball State University Athletics
League Leaders Square Off As Softball Hosts Northern Illinois Starting Tuesday
March 27, 2023 | Softball
| Ball State (14-12; 4-1 MAC) hosts Northern Illinois (13-12; 4-1 MAC) | |
| Game 27 hosts Northern Illinois | Tuesday, March 28 at 1 p.m. Live Stats |  Watch |
| Game 28 hosts Northern Illinois | Tuesday, March 28 at 3 p.m. Live Stats |  Watch |
| Game 29 hosts Northern Illinois | Wednesday, March 29 at 1 p.m. Live Stats |  ESPN+ |
| Tickets Info | Free Admission |
| Notes | Ball State |  Northern Illinois |
| Social Media | Twitter  |  Instagram |
» THIS WEEK IN BALL STATE SOFTBALL: Midweek #MACtion softball style starts this week with the league's current top two teams battling it out at the Softball Field at First Merchants Ballpark Complex when Ball State welcomes Northern Illinois for a three-game set ... The teams will play a 1 p.m. doubleheader Tuesday and a 1 p.m. single game Wednesday ... From there, Ball State will travel to Ohio for a 1 p.m. doubleheader Saturday and a Noon single game Sunday.
» A QUICK LOOK AT THE CARDINALS: Ball State enters the week with a 14-12 (4-1 MAC) record after sweeping Central Michigan at home last weekend ... The Cardinals picked up an 8-4 win in the opener Saturday, before earning a pair of walk-off wins Sunday by scores of 2-1 (8) and 10-2 (6) ... Ball State currently boast two of the nations' top 30 hitters with senior Haley Wynn ranking 15th among all NCAA Division I batters with a .468 average, while senior Amaia Daniel is 30th with her .442 mark ... In the circle, sophomore Angelina Russo leads the Ball State pitching staff with her 3.48 ERA and .218 batting average against.
» THE OVERALL RECORD: Ball State enters the midweek series versus Northern Illinois with a 1135-1128-4 (.502) overall record dating back to the 1975 season ... The Cardinals have tallied 30-or-more wins in 16 seasons, most recently a 37-18 mark under current head coach Lacy Schurr in 2021 ... Of the 16 seasons with 30-or-more wins, 11 have come in the past 15 seasons.
» ABOUT NORTHERN ILLINOIS:Â
- The Huskies are coming off an impressive weekend of their own, sweeping defending MAC regular season and tournament champion Miami in Oxford ... NIU earned a 3-2 win on Saturday, while sweeping a Sunday twinbill by scores of 7-6 and 7-2.
- Kelly Walinski leads the NIU offense with a .362 batting average, while Caitlyn Shumaker is batting .338 with a team-high 17 RBI ... As a team, the Huskies are batting .261.
- Danielle Stewart leads the NIU pitching staff with a 2.55 ERA over 68.2 innings of work ... She is holding opposing batters to a .206 average and has a team-leading 51 strikeouts to go along with a 6-5 overall record.
- Last season, the Cardinals took two of three games in DeKalb, starting with a 13-5 (5) victory on April 5 ... BSU won the first game of an April 6 doubleheader by a score of 11-0 (5), before dropping the nightcap 13-9 ... Northern Illinois holds a 19-12 edge in games played in Muncie after the teams split a May 4, 2021 doubleheader ... NIU won the opener, 7-2, while Ball State took the nightcap, 5-4.
BALL STATE NEWS & NOTES:
» GONE WITH THE WYNN: Senior infielder Haley Wynn opened the year with a bang, smashing a solo home run to center field for Ball State's first hit of the 2023 season in the team's 5-3 victory over Samford (Feb. 17) ... In addition, she has added back-to-back two home run games starting with three-run blast and solo homer in the 15-9 victory over Kent State (March 17) and followed by a pair of solo shots in Saturday's 8-4 victory over Central Michigan.
» MORE ON WYNN: Haley Wynn has only picked up speed after her season-opening performance, as she currently leads the Mid-American Conference and ranks 15th nationally with a .468 batting average ... She has reached base safely in 25 of Ball State's 26 games, including a career-best 12 game hitting streak ... Wynn also leads the squad with 26 runs scored, with her 1.00 runs-per-game average ranking 40th nationally.
» DRIVING THEM HOME: Amaia Daniel enters the NIU series with 20 RBI so far this season ... With her final of four RBIs in Ball State's 14-4 (6) victory over Bellarmine (Feb. 25), Daniel became just the 16th player in program history to reach 100 career RBI ... The moment came on a bases loaded sacrifice fly in the sixth inning to make the score 12-4 ... She is currently 13th in program history with 109 career RBI and needs five more to reach 12th.
» MORE ON DANIEL: Amaia Daniel, who has reached base safely in 23 of Ball State's 26 games this season, enters Tuesday's doubleheader ranked ninth in program history with a .426 career on base percentage ... She is also tied for 11th in career runs scored (112), tied for 11th in career doubles (38), and 16th in career home runs (16) ... On defense, she has helped turn 42 career double plays, which is the second-most in program history.
» SPEAKING OF DOUBLE PLAYS: Ball State's defense has registered 10 double plays over its first 26 games of the season and currently ranks second in the MAC and 49th nationally with a 0.38 double plays-per-game average ... First baseman Samantha-Jo Mata has had a hand in eight double plays, while Amaia Daniel at shortstop has factored in seven.
» ON THE BASE PATHS: Ball State picked up right where it left off last season, stealing a total of 33 bases over the first 26 games of the season ... The Cardinals currently rank second in the MAC and 89th nationally with a 1.27 steals-per-game average ... Junior Remington Ross leads the way, going a perfect 10-for-10 in stolen base attempts ... With the mark, Ross remains first in program history with a .970 (32-for-33) stolen base percentage ... In addition, her 32 career stolen bases are 18th in program history.
» NEAR PERFECTION: Sophomore pitcher Angelina Russo, who threw the first perfect game in program history last season, added to her lore in the 10-1 (5) victory over Lindenwood (Feb. 19), collecting just the 18th recorded no-hitter in program history dating back to the 1980 season ... The 2022 MAC Freshman Pitcher of the Year and a MAC All-Freshman Team selection, Russo retired 15 of the 17 batters she faced against the Lions with a walk and an error being the lone blemishes ... She also struck out three batters on her way to her second win of the weekend.
» WELCOME BACK MCKAYLA: After missing the last 18 games of the 2022 season due to injury, minus a pair of pinch running appearances in the Akron series, redshirt sophomore McKayla Timmons has reached base safely in 18 of the 24 games she has played for the Cardinals this season ... In fact, she ranks third on the team with a .369 batting average and leads the squad with 24 RBI ... She has also smashed five two-run home runs this season, including her walk-off blast to cap the CMU series Sunday ... Timmons, who smashed four home runs in her debut season in 2022, enters the week ranked fourth among active Ball State players with nine career home runs.
» WELCOME TO THE #BALLSTATESB BOMB SQUAD: Redshirt freshman McKenna Mulholland made sure her first collegiate hit was a memorable one, as she blasted a solo home run in her first collegiate at bat to open the bottom of the second inning in the 10-1 (5) win over Lindenwood (Feb. 19) ... Sophomore Kaitlyn Gibson added her first collegiate round tripper in the 14-8 setback at No. 16 Georgia (March 3) ... Overall, nine active Cardinals have at least one career home run heading into Saturday's doubleheader versus Central Michigan.
» CLUTCH AT BAT FOR MATHEWS: Junior Kaitlyn Mathews provided perhaps the biggest hit of the CMU series when she blasted her second home run of the season to tie the score of Sunday's opener, a 2-1 (8) BSU win ... The home run came with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning on a 1-1 pitch and was just short of hitting the scoreboard in left-center field.
» FRANCYS HEATING UP: Junior transfer Francys King turned in the best performance of her Ball State career in Sunday's 2-1 (8) win over Central Michigan, throwing the first 7.0 innings and limiting the Chippewas to four hits and one unearned run ... She struck out five of the first six batters she faced and ended the game with a season-high six strikeouts ... She also limited CMU to a .174 average for the game ... King only had five strikeouts over her first eight appearances, or 25.2 innings of work, this season.
