Ball State University
Toledo (Game 1)
Softball Visits Toledo For Weekend Series
March 27, 2024 | Softball
| Ball State (15-17; 2-4 MAC) at Toledo (13-12; 4-2 MAC) | |
| Games 33 & 34 at Toledo | Friday, March 29 at 1 p.m. (DH) Live Stats | ESPN+ Game 1 | ESPN+ Game 2 |
| Games 35 at Toledo | Saturday, March 30 at 3 p.m. Live Stats | ESPN+ |
| Tickets Info | Free Admission |
| Notes | Ball State | Toledo |
| Social Media | Twitter | Instagram |
» THIS WEEK IN BALL STATE SOFTBALL: The Ball State softball team continues Mid-American Conference play Friday, when it opens a three-game series at Toledo with a 1 p.m. doubleheader at Scott Park ... The teams are also slated to play a single game at 3 p.m. Saturday.
» HOME SWEET HOME: After playing its first 26 games of the season on the road, Ball State saw its first homestand of the season cut to six games when Tuesday's contest versus Butler was rained out ... The six-game run tied as the longest homestand since the COVID adjusted 2021 season which saw Ball State play 12 straight at home from April 23 to May 4 ... Looking at the road numbers, the program record for consecutive road games to start a season is 33 games set in 2018.
» THE OVERALL RECORD: Ball State enters its weekend series at Toledo with a 1163-1159-4 (.501) overall record dating back to 1975 ... The Cardinals have tallied 30-or-more wins in 16 seasons, most recently a 37-18 mark in 2021 ... Of the 16 seasons with 30-or-more wins, 11 have come in the past 16 years.
» A QUICK LOOK AT THE CARDINALS: Led by first-year head coach Helen Peña, the Cardinals own a 15-17 overall record ... Ball State maintains a .245 team batting average, led by redshirt junior utility player McKayla Timmons who ranks 14th in the MAC at .359 ... Timmons ranks third both in the MAC and nationally with 15 home runs, while ranking third in the league and 19th nationally with 37 RBIs ... Graduate third baseman Haley Wynn is second on the squad in average (.318), home runs (6) and runs scored (24) ... In the circle, the Cardinals own a 4.04 ERA led by senior Francys King who boasts an 8-7 record and a 3.49 ERA over 100.1 innings of work ... King has also tallied three complete game shutouts this season and leads the team lead with 47 strikeouts ... Sophomore Bridie Murphy has a team-best .273 average against over 69.1 innings, to go along with a 6-6 record, one save and 41 strikeouts ... Murphy picked up her first complete game shutout of the season in last Saturday's 5-0 victory over Ohio.
» CARDINALS VERSUS THE ROCKETS:
- Ball State owns a 65-52-1 lead in the all-time series versus Toledo, with the teams deadlocked at 28-28-1 in games played on the Rockets' home field ... Last season, Toledo took the first two of a three-game set in Muncie, with the Cardinals closing the series with a 6-1 win on April 8 ... UT scored a 5-1 win on April 7, while shutting out BSU, 5-0, in the opener the next day.
» SCOUTING THE ROCKETS: Toledo entered the week with a 13-12 overall recorded and were scheduled to play at Michigan Wednesday afternoon ... Eli Enriquez currently leads the team with a .424 average and has scored a team-high 21 runs ... Riley Mohr is right behind with a .408 average and has a team-high 20 RBI ... Sophia Knight leads the Rockets in the circle with a 9-4 record and 1.96 ERA over 92.2 innings of work ... She has limited opposing batters to a .227 average and has a team-high 65 strikeouts.
BALL STATE NEWS & NOTES:
» MAC PRESEASON PROGNOSTICATIONS: Ball State was picked to finish fourth among 11 teams in the Mid-American Conference's annual preseason poll ... The Cardinals, who finished fourth in the league last season with a 17-12 MAC record, are looking for a second consecutive MAC Softball Championship berth, with the league's top six teams advancing to Firestone Stadium in Akron, Ohio, for the three-day event which runs May 8-11.
» THE WYNN FACTOR: Graduate third baseman Haley Wynn has taken advantage of her extra year of eligibility, leading the team with 35 hits so far this season ... That raises her career total to 216 which is seventh in program history ... Wynn has registered at least one hit in 23 of first 32 games of the season, including six home runs to up her career long ball total to 25 which is tied for ninth in program history.
» MORE ON WYNN: Haley Wynn is one of the most prolific batters in program history ranking 15th on Ball State's career charts with a .332 career average ... She is also 12th all-time in slugging percentage (.545) and 16th in on base percentage (.410) ... In addition, her 156 career runs scored are third in program history and 31st among all active NCAA Division I players ... She also ranks 24th among active DI players with 43 career doubles which is eighth in program history.
» TIMMONS CLIMBING THE CHARTS TOO: After leading the Ball State offense with a .359 batting average, a .902 slugging percentage and a .484 on base percentage through the first 32 games of the season, McKayla Timmons continued her climb up BSU's career charts ... She currently ranks fourth in program history in slugging percentage (.700), fourth in on base percentage (.454) and eighth in batting average (.347) ... Timmons, who has blasted a team-leading 15 home runs so far this season, including her first collegiate grand slam at Georgia State (Feb. 24), is also one of the program's top home run hitters with her 31 career long balls tying for fifth on BSU's all-time list.
» RBI LEADER: McKayla Timmons enters the Toledo series ranked 19th nationally with her 37 RBIs this season ... The effort included seven RBIs in the 9-5 (9) win over Georgia State (Feb. 24) and six in the 13-9 victory at Marshall (March 7) ... The program record for RBIs in a single game is eight by Stacy Payton versus Oakland on May 4, 2019.
» BALL STATE'S BEST THIEF: Senior outfielder Remington Ross enters the Toledo series as the greatest base thief in program history with a .965 (55-for-57) career stole base percentage at Ball State ... Last season, she went a perfect 23-for-23 in stolen base attempts and ranked second in the MAC and 54th nationally with a 0.47 steals-per-game average ... Ross, who is seventh in program history with 55 career stolen bases, had been successful in her previous 36 stolen base attempts before being caught stealing for just the second time in her Ball State career at Georgia State (Feb. 24) ... She has stolen six straight bases since.
» SPEAKING OF STOLEN BASES: Ball State enters the weekend ranked second in the league and 24th nationally with 57 stolen bases this season ... Haley Wynn and Remington Ross are tied for the team lead with 10 apiece, while McKayla Timmons and senior outfielder Kaitlyn Mathews are right behind with nine ... Overall, 10 different Cardinals have stolen at least one base this season ... Ball State's 57 stolen bases in 2024 are already tied as the 17th-most in a season in program history ... The program record is 151 set by the 2008 squad.
» A SLAMMING FIRST HIT: Redshirt sophomore Jessica Hoffman had just two career at bats when she stepped up to the plate with bases loaded in the 10-8 win over Fordham (Feb. 11) ... She proceeded to blast her first career hit over the fence in right center field for her first career home run and Ball State's first grand slam since April 6, 2022 ... A regular in the lineup since, Hoffman has 24 career hits and is third on the team with a .282 average this season ... Of her 24 hits, 11 have driven in at least one RBI and she currently ranks second on the squad with 21 RBIs.
» KING OF THE PEN: Senior Francys King leads the Ball State pitching staff with a 3.49 ERA over 100.1 innings of work ... She has earned the victory in eight of BSU's 15 wins, including three of the team's four complete game shutouts ... King has 17 career collegiate pitching victories, with 11 coming at Ball State and six coming in her two seasons at Tennessee State (2021-22).
» TRIPLING UP: The Ball State defense owns one of the nation's three triple plays this season, turning what was a squeeze bunt attempt into a triple killing in the fifth inning of the 5-4 win over Jacksonville State on Feb. 17 ... The bunt was fielded by Haley Wynn at third base, who threw to McKayla Timmons to get the out at first ... The play then went to catcher Jazmyne Armendariz to get the runner out trying to advance home, who in turn threw to shortstop Maia Pietrzak to get the final out ... It was just the second recorded triple play in program history, with the first coming in 1985.
