Eagles Close Out Home Schedule with Miami and Ball State

YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) - The Eastern Michigan University softball team (12-29-1; 2-12 MAC), is looking to turn things around to end this season as it finishes its home portion of the 2013 campaign this weekend Friday-Sunday, April 26-28, with four Mid-American Conference games at Varsity Field.
     The Eagles will first welcome Miami University to Ypsilanti Friday, April 26, for a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. The RedHawks are now 17-24 on the season, while going 10-4 in MAC contests.
    The Green and White will then host the conference leading Ball State University Cardinals Saturday and Sunday for a two-game series. The Cardinals are 29-13 on the season and have dropped just one MAC tilt, going a league-best 13-1 to this point in the season. Game one is set for 2 p.m. Saturday afternoon, while the finale is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Sunday. Sunday is also Senior Day when the Eagles will honor their graduates in their final game of home competition.

ALL-TIME AGAINST THE COMPETITION: EMU holds a a 41-35 all-time record against the RedHawks. Friday will serve as the date for the 77th and 78th meetings between Miami and Eastern. The last time these two teams squared off, the RedHawks came away victorious, topping the Eagles, 10-0, April 22, 2012.
    Ball State and Eastern have already seen each other once this season at the FAU Classic. That game was the 91st meeting between the schools in which BSU won, 9-1, March 2. Overall the Green and White is 35-56 against Ball State and look to hand the Cardinals their second and third conference losses this weekend.

AU REVOIR TO FIVE: The Eagles will celebrate five seniors that are in their last season of competition at Eastern Michigan Sunday, April 28, at Varsity Field. The Green and White will see the loss of Katy Blaharski, Nellie Coquillard, Jenna Ignowski, Courtney Loe and Courtney Nicholson, following the conclusion of the 2013 campaign.

TUNE IN ON EAGLE ALL-ACCESS: Eastern will be broadcasting a live audio stream of Friday's doubleheader with Miami. EMU's Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations, Greg Steiner and Media Relations Assistant, Adam Kuffner, will be on the call from Varsity Field beginning roughly 10 minutes prior to first pitch at 1 p.m. To listen in, visit EMUEagles.com/showcase. The free audio stream is sponsored in part by Pakmode Media and Marketing, as well as many other corporate sponsors of EMU Athletics.

STANTON NAMED MAC WEST PLAYER OF THE WEEK: EMU junior infielder, Amanda Stanton, was named the Mid-American Conference West Division Player of the Week for the period ending April 21. The league office announced the award Monday, April 22.
    The award was the first of Stanton's career, while she also is the first of the 2013 EMU squad to earn a weekly award.
    Stanton posted a stellar performance offensively this week for the Green and White hitting at a .500 clip (7-for-14), while accounting for 32.1 percent of the run production in Eastern's six games this week. The Homer Glen, Ill. native tied for the second-most home runs in a single game (2) in EMU history against Toledo, April 19, while her five RBI in that game tied her for third-most in a single game.
    On the week, Stanton slugged at a 1.143 clip, while driving in nine runs and scoring six of her own. The junior hit three home runs and struck out just two times in 17 plate appearances. Coming into this week, Stanton was hitting a respectable .301, but her stellar performance from April 16-21 pushed her batting average up 24 points, as she is now hitting .325 on the season.

OFFENSIVE EXPLOSION AGAINST TOLEDO: Runs were not at a premium in the Eagles' doubleheader with the University of Toledo Friday, April 19, when the two teams split a twinbill. After dropping the first game, 13-8, the Green and White rebounded with a 14-13 extra innings win on Friday.
There was a wealth of offense in the two games as there were 48 runs scored on 56 hits between the doubleheader. There were 17 extra-base hits, including eight home runs, six of which were hit by the Green and White.
     In the doubleheader the Eagles posted 27 hits, including seven from senior Katy Blaharski, who hit .875 for the series including a pair of doubles and a triple, while Amanda Stanton notched nine RBI after a 6-for-8 performance, while scoring five runs and hitting three big flies against the Rockets. As a team, the Green and White hit .391 in the doubleheader with a .754 slugging percentage and a .462 on-base percentage, while totaling 22 runs.

TOP DOGS IN THE MAC: There are multiple Eagles making their presence known individually within the conference. Katy Blaharski's recent hitting streak has moved her into seventh in the conference for hits with 47, while Amanda Stanton's 31 runs batted in also rank seventh in the MAC. Nellie Coquillard is tied for sixth in the conference for home runs with seven on the season, and Courtney Nicholson's nine sacrifice bunts are tied for second in the MAC.
On the pitching side of things, Jenna Ignowski has struck out 34 batters looking which ranks as the fifth most in the conference.

EARLIER THIS YEAR WITH BALL STATE: Eastern dropped its second straight game at the 2013 FAU Classic Saturday, March 2, as it fell, 9-1, to fellow Mid-American Conference member institution, Ball State University.
     The Eagles scored just one run on four hits, while making one error. BSU was able to take advantage of shaky EMU pitching, which allowed six walks, to score nine runs on seven hits. Nellie Coquillard had the only RBI for the Eagles after going 1-for-3 on the day.
    Lindsay Rich made the start for Eastern and was bounced out of the circle after being touched for three runs on three hits in just 1.1 innings of work. Rich (1-1) walked one batter and was charged with her first loss of the 2013 campaign. Lauren Wells tossed the final four innings for EMU and surrendered six runs, four earned, on four hits, while punching out five in the loss. Kelsey Schifferdecker threw a complete game for the Cardinals in her fourth win of the season. Schifferdecker (4-0) allowed just one run on four hits, walking three and striking out just one batter.

TOUGH COMPETITION THIS WEEKEND: Eastern Michigan will have one of its most difficult four-game MAC sets this weekend as they welcome both Miami and Ball State to Varsity Field. The Eagles sit in sixth place in the MAC West Division, while the RedHawks (10-4) and Cardinals (13-1) are each atop their respective divisions.

BLAHA STREAKING TO THE END: Senior shortstop Katy Blaharski has hit safely in 10-consecutive games dating back to the Eagles' first game with Western Michigan, April 12. In those 10 games, Blaharski is 18-for-35, good for a .514 batting average. The Carleton, Mich. native has a .714 slugging percentage, ripping three doubles, two triples and scoring eight runs in that span.

CLIMBING THE CAREER RANKS: Several players on the EMU squad are making their marks in the program's career records list. Katy Blaharski currently sits 10th all-time in runs scored with 90 in her career and her 38 stolen bases tie her for seventh in the Eagles' record book. Nellie Coquillard's seven home runs this season have brought her career total to 24, which ranks tied for third all-time in EMU laurels, while her 106 runs batted in are the fifth most in school history. Jenna Ignowski has made her presence known in the circle for EMU appearing in 110 games, good for second all time, while her 37 wins are the fourth most by any pitcher in EMU history. Ignowski has tossed 421.1 innings donning the Green and White which is the seventh most of any pitcher in the history of the program, while her 339 strikeouts are the third most in a career at Eastern. Lauren Wells has also struck out quite the amount of batters in her career. Her 259 punchouts ties her for eighth all-time at Eastern.

Eastern Michigan Athletics

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