Eagles Ready for Final Conference Road Games of 2015 Season

SOFTBALL COMPLETES MAC ROAD SCHEDULE: The Eastern Michigan University softball team will conclude its 2015 Mid-American Conference road schedule this weekend when it travels to DeKalb, Ill. to take on the Huskies of Northern Illinois University Friday, April 24, before heading to Kalamazoo, Mich. to match up against the Broncos of Western Michigan University Saturday, April 25 - Sunday, April 26. The Huskies and the Eagles will play at 1 p.m. CT on Friday, while the Broncos will meet EMU on the field at 2 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday.

ALL-TIME HISTORY WITH WEEKEND OPPONENTS: Eastern Michigan has met up a combined 162 times against Northern Illinois and Western Michigan. The Eagles have been on the losing side of both series, trailing NIU 25-33 in the all-time series and falling behind WMU 42-61-1. The Green and White split its series with the Huskies last season, picking up an extra-inning Senior Day victory, April 20. Prior to the win against Northern Illinois, the Eagles dropped a doubleheader to Western Michigan, April 18.

NORTHERN ILLINOIS BY THE NUMBERS: The Huskies come into the Friday doubleheader as the third-best team in the West Division of the Mid-American Conference with a 23-19 overall record and a 7-5 conference record. NIU has found ways to win at home this season with an 8-3 record at Mary M. Bell Field.
   Northern Illinois ranks fourth in the conference with a .283 team batting average, paced by sophomore Kayti Grable who leads the team in batting average (.418), hits (51), home runs (9), total bases (97), and on-base percentage (.507). Along with Grable, four other Huskies are hitting .300 or better on the season, including Bryanna Phelan who is hitting at a .348 clip with 40 hits, while Emily Naegele has brought in 33 RBI this season to rank second on the team. On the basepath, Kali Kossakowski has stolen 11 bases on 13 attempts, while the Huskies have swiped 50 bases on 61 attempts in the 2015 campaign.
   Opponents are hitting .269 against the Northern Illinois pitching staff, while the three-pitcher staff holds the third-best ERA in the conference at 3.17. Freshman Keegan Hayes has stepped into the starting role in her first season with the Huskies, making a team-high 30 appearances with 21 starts and seven complete games. The right-handed hurler has tossed 126.1 innings this season with 60 strikeouts, a 12-7 overall record and a 2.44 ERA, while senior Jessica Sturm has made 29 appearances and 16 starts for a 3.46 ERA in her final season. Finally, freshman Tara Thacker has made 15 appearances and four starts in her first season at NIU, pitching 40 innings.

SCOUTING WESTERN MICHIGAN: The Broncos return to Fran Ebert Field after a six-game road stretch in which they went 4-2 to improve to 18-19 overall and 8-4 in the Mid-American Conference. Currently, WMU sits in second in the East Division of the MAC.
   Western Michigan is currently the best hitting team in the conference with a league-high .304 batting average with 294 hits in 968 at-bats in the 2015 season. The Broncos have four players hitting .300 or better on the season, including reigning MAC East Player of the Week, Melissa Palmer. Palmer ranks third for WMU with a .368 batting average, while Jenny Rohn carries a team-high .378 batting average. Kelsea Cichocki has driven in a team-best 27 runs on the season, while Rohn has brought in 26 for Western Michigan.
   The majority of the Broncos pitching is split between junior Allyson Kus and sophomore Erin Binkowski, while EMU could also face off with Anissa Sanchez in the two-game series. Kus carries a team-best 3.38 ERA in 23 appearances and 16 starts in 2015 with a 7-6 overall record, while Binkowski has made 21 appearances and 11 starts. Binkowski is allowing batters to hit at a .306 clip in 81.0 innings, while the entire WMU staff is allowing opponents to hold a .292 batting average.

EAGLES SURPASS 2014 WIN RECORD WITH SWEEP OF YSU: The Eastern Michigan University softball team surpassed its win total from the 2014 season with a sweep over Youngstown State University in a non-conference mid-week contest Wednesday, April 22. EMU picked up a 5-4 victory in game one before grabbing a 12-10 win in game two of the doubleheader.
   The sweep not only surpassed the Eagles' win total from a season ago, but also marked the second sweep in the 2015 season for the Green and White. Furthermore, Eastern needs just two more wins in the final 10 games of the season to tie its win total in the 2013 season when the team went 17-33-1.

SOPHOMORE NEARING THE .400 MARK AT THE PLATE: Right fielder Michelle Kriegshauser is nearing the .400 mark this season as she is currently carrying a .393 batting average through the first 40 games of the 2015 season. As the number three batter in the order, the New Lenox, Ill. native has 48 hits to date with a team-high 29 RBI and nine home runs. Furthermore, Kriegshauser ranks third on the team with a .389 batting average in conference play.
   Heading into the weekend, Kriegshauser is riding a seven- game hitting streak and needs just one hit against Northern Illinois to match senior Jenn Lucas's team-high eight-game hitting streak. Moreover, the Eagle outfielder has a 14 game reached base streak which is the longest streak of any EMU player in the 2015 season.

RALLY ON TWO: Lately, the Eastern Michigan bats have come alive once there are two outs in the inning. The Eagles are hitting at a .293 clip when two outs have been recorded in the inning and have driven in 74 of their 156 RBI on two-out rallies, accounting for almost half of their RBI in 2015.
   Sophomore Taylor Wagner has been clutch for EMU with two outs, hitting at a .438 clip, while Abi Clark is hitting .435 with two outs and Michelle Kriegshauser is batting .413. Furthermore, Wagner has driven in 14 RBI during rallies for the Green and White, while Kreigshauser and Clark have brought in 12 and 10 runs, respectively.

RELIEF PITCHERS EARN DECISIONS AGAINST THE PENGUINS: Despite not getting the starts against Youngstown State, relief pitchers Alyssa Huntley and Abbie Minsker were the pitchers of decision Wednesday, April 22.
   Huntley came on in relief of Trisha Trujillo in the top of the third inning to toss 4.2 innings of work in which she gave up just one earned run and allowed five hits to pick up her third victory of the 2015 season for the Green and White.
   Minsker nabbed her first win of the 2015 season, coming in late in the contest for starter Lindsay Rich. The Penguins came back to take the 10-9 lead in the sixth before EMU plated three final runs in the bottom half of the inning to secure Minsker the victory. The sophomore threw just 1.2 innings for the Eagles, allowing no runs and just one hit.

ON DECK: The Green and White will conclude its 2015 regular season road schedule Wednesday, April 29 when it takes on Oakland University in a non-conference contest in Rochester, Mich.

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Players Mentioned

Abi Clark

Alyssa Huntley

Michelle Kriegshauser

Jenn Lucas

Abbie Minsker

Lindsay Rich

Trisha Trujillo

Taylor Wagner

Eastern Michigan Athletics