Softball Closes Out 2014 Regular Season on the Road

EASTERN TRAVELS FOR FINAL WEEKEND OF THE REGULAR SEASON: Eastern Michigan University (12-34, 3-13 MAC) will hit the road for its final weekend of the regular season when it travels to both Ohio and Indiana for Mid-American Conference competition. The Eagles will first take on Miami University (19-25, 6-10 MAC) Friday, May 2 in a doubleheader before heading to Muncie, Ind. to play two single games against MAC West leader, Ball State University (29-16, 9-3 MAC). EMU is slated to take on the Cardinals Saturday, May 3 at 2 p.m. before wrapping up the series Sunday, May 4 at 1 p.m.

FINDING THE GAME AT HOME: Fans can follow along with the action from Miami Softball Stadium by heading to EMUEagles.com. The RedHawks will provide live stats for fans, while Saturday and Sunday's single games against Ball State will have live stats as well as radio provided by the Cardinals at EMUEagles.com.
    Fans are also encouraged to follow @EMUSB on twitter for live updates and can join in on conversation using #timetoshine.

EAGLES FALL TWICE TO IPFW IN FINAL HOME CONTESTS: The Eastern Michigan University softball team dropped its final home contest of the 2014 season, falling twice to non-conference foe, IPFW Tuesday, April 29. The Eagles were mercied, 9-0, in game one before falling 7-4 in game two to the Mastodons.
   Sophomore Abi Clark led the Green and White offense at the plate with three hits and one RBI, while Myranda Barnes, Amanda Stanton and Jenn Lucas each had two hits and one RBI for Eastern.
    Larissa Franklin was the story of the day for the Mastodons, going 7-for-8 at the plate with three RBI, while Caitlyn DeLong drove in four runs in game one and Ashleigh Bousquet brought in three in game two for IPFW.

KRIEGSHAUSER DOUBLES DOWN: Freshman Michelle Kriegshauser has turned into somewhat of a double machine for the Green and White offense as of late. The freshman outfielder currently sits in a tie for the 2014 NCAA single-game record after notching three doubles against Valparaiso University, April 2.
   Since then, Kriegshauser has tacked on seven more doubles and ranks eighth in the nation and third in the Mid-American Conference with 0.39 doubles per game. The New Lenox, Ill. native leads the Eagles with her 13 doubles on the season, which also ties for fourth in conference standings.

SACRIFICE FOR THE TEAM: The Eagles have recently started to implement the "get them on, get them over, get them in" style of play when they are at the plate. Against Western Michigan, April 18, freshman Taylor Wagner laid down two sacrifice bunts to advance the runner on first and added her third against Northern Illinois, April 19. As a team, Eastern has put down 46 sacrifice bunts, which ranks third in the conference. Senior Lindsay Smith leads the Eagles with eight sacrifice bunts, while Amanda Stanton has laid down six sacrifice bunts for EMU this season.
   Furthermore, the Green and White has found other ways to bring in the runner, using sacrifice hits as junior Jenn Lucas ranks second in the MAC and 64th in the nation with three sacrifice hits on the season. As of April 28, Lucas is just one sacrifice fly behind conference leaders Alexandria Basquez of Ohio and Chelsea Raker of Bowling Green and five behind national leader Alexa Peterson of Oregon. Lucas is not the only Eagle who ranks nationally for sacrificing herself at the plate as Smith ranks 77th in the nation and sixth in the conference for her 0.20 sacrifice hits per contest.

STILL LOOKING FOR THE RIGHT FIT: Head Coach Melissa Gentile has continued to switch up the lineup in all 46 games the Eagles have played as she has only handed in the same card on seven occasions.
   Junior Jenn Lucas has made the most appearances in the leadoff spot with 16, while Abby Davidson has batted in the first and third spot on 14 occasions. Junior pitcher Lindsay Rich has also made 14 appearances on the lineup card in the cleanup spot, while senior Amanda Stanton has hit in the four hole a team-best 19 times.
   This past weekend, Gentile decided to mix things up in the field once again as Stanton and Lucas switched spots in the middle infield. Stanton has made 43 starts at shortstop and made her first start of the 2014 campaign at second base, while Lucas has started at three different positions this season. The junior infielder has made a team-best 34 starts at second base, while starting eight times in center field and once at short. Davidson has made 38 starts at third base, while senior Lindsay Smith has made 42 starts in the field for EMU, 29 in center and 13 in left field.
     Left field has been a position with a lot of change as of late for the Eagles as well. Sophomores Myranda Barnes and Elaine Whitbeck have been battling out for the spot as they have made 14 and 13 starts, respectively. This past week, Barnes started five contests in the left field spot, while also leading off for the offense for the first time this season.
   Sophomore Mady Hostetler has made an appearance in all three outfield positions, the most coming at center field with seven. Furthermore, Michelle Kriegshauser, Davidson and Smith have been on the card in seven different spots in the order, while five other Eagles have appeared in six of the nine spots in the batting order.

CLIMBING THE ALL-TIME RANKINGS: The pitching duo of Lauren Wells and Lindsay Rich is making its way up the Eastern Michigan all-time pitching lists.
   Wells's 344 career strikeouts rank fourth all-time at Eastern Michigan, while her 374 innings of work rank 10th in EMU laurels. The senior left-handed hurler needs just 30 strikeouts in the Green and White's final four contests to break into the top three in strikeouts and tie with former EMU ace Jenna Ignowski.
   Rich has been making a name for herself this season as the Eagles' ace pitcher with a team-high 35 appearances and 15 starts. The junior right-hander has thrown 136 innings this season and has tallied 83 strikeouts to bring her career total to 207. Those 207 strikeouts rank 11th all-time in EMU laurels.

MIAMI AT A GLANCE: The RedHawks head into the Friday doubleheader with a 19-25 overall record and a 6-10 Mid-American Conference record. Miami has struggled in MAC play, ranking sixth in the East Division.
   Junior outfielder Bree Lipscomb leads the MU offense in five catergories including: Doubles (18), home runs (8), RBI (36), total bases (81) and slugging percentage (.623). Lipscomb's 0.42 doubles per game currently ranks fourth in the nation and holds the conference standard, while her 18 doubles on the season ties for first in MAC with Ball State's Jennifer Gilbert. Starting second baseman Kristy Arbour ranks second in both the nation and the conference with her 0.40 sacrifice hits per contest, while she has proven to be the second hardest player in the nation to strikeout. Arbour has struck out just two times in her 138 at-bats on the season.
   Time in the circle for the Redhawks is split between Paige Myers and Amber Logemann. Myers, a senior right-handed hurler, has made 25 appearances and 20 starts with a team-best 2.83 ERA, while Logemann, a sophomore right-hander, has also made 25 appearances with 22 starts and carries a 3.52 ERA. Logemann has struck out 106 batters in 105.1 innings, while relief pitchers Jenna Modic and Meagan Mattera have made 23 and 19 appearances, respectively.

SERIES HISTORY: Eastern holds a 43-35 all-time record against Miami, having swept the RedHawks in a doubleheader at Varsity Field, April 26, 2013.
   In game one, Eastern used three home runs to take the 5-2 lead over MU. Amanda Stanton tallied two round trippers, going 3-for-3 on the afternoon en route to the Eagles' 8-4 victory. Game two came down to pitching as Lauren Wells secured her first win of the season, tossing 4.2 innings and giving up just four hits, while Jenna Ignowski came on in relief to pick up her first save of the season after hurling the final 2.1 innings without allowing a run.

SCOUTING BALL STATE: The Cardinals lead the West Division of the Mid-American Conference with their 29-16 overall record and 9-3 MAC record.
   Senior Jennifer Gilbert not only leads the Ball State offense but also the conference in seven categories, including: Batting average (.416), slugging percentage (.964), on-base percentage (.506), runs scored (48), RBI (57), home runs (18) and total bases (132). The senior outfielder also has notched a team-best 57 hits, which rank second in the MAC. Nationally, Gilbert ranks in the top-10 in four categories which include: Slugging percentage (2nd - .964), home runs per game (4th - 0.40), home runs (6th - 18) and RBI per game (9th - 1.27). Gilbert leads a Ball State team that ranks first in the conference in five catergories and top-10 in the nation in two. The Cardinals not only lead the MAC in doubles per game, but rank second nationally with 1.71, while their .535 slugging percentage ranks first in the league and ninth nationally.
   Kelsey Schifferdecker (14-5) and Nicole Steinbach (12-9) are a one-two punch for the BSU pitching staff as the two have combined for 51 appearances and 41 starts in the 2014 campaign. Schifferdecker has thrown 126.1 innings and 11 complete games with 66 strikeouts, while Steinbach has tossed 117.2 innings and 13 complete games.

LAST TIME OUT AGAINST THE CARDINALS: Ball State holds the 57-35 all-time advantage over Eastern Michigan despite the Eagles coming away with a victory in the two teams' only contest of the 2013 campaign.
   Last season, EMU picked up its third-straight victory defeating Ball State, 6-4, at Varsity Field, April 26, 2013. Jenna Ignowski made the start for the Eagles, tossing 5.2 innings in the victory, scattering five hits and allowing four runs, three earned, with five strikeouts. Nellie Coquillard went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI, while Amanda Stanton kept swinging a hot bat, going 1-for-1 with a double and three RBI. Katy Blaharski continued her hitting streak, extending it to 13 games after tallying one hit on the afternoon.

Eastern Michigan Athletics

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