A trip to DeKalb, Ill., to face Mid-American Conference rival Northern Illinois in a Wednesday doubleheader starts another busy week for the Ball State softball team.
Following their showdown with the Huskies, the Cardinals return home to square off twice with IPFW on Saturday, then face MAC rival Toledo in another doubleheader on Sunday.
But first, the Cardinals face a struggling Huskies team that is in the midst of a 14-game losing streak. Northern has not won a game since March 29, but coach Terri Laux doesn't want to take anything for granted.
"If you look at recent history, they've put up a good fight," Laux said.
Despite the Huskies's current struggles, history does not look down kindly on Ball State when facing its MAC West counterpart. In 38 meetings with NIU, the Cardinals have won only 13 and have lost the last four.
The Huskies (10-32 overall, 2-10 MAC) come off a weekend in which they were swept in a three-game series with Central Michigan. They lost 2-0 and 5-4 on Saturday, then were stomped on Sunday 12-1. NIU could only produce one hit in game one and three hits in game three.
Kelly Drozd leads the Huskies with a .258 batting average, but the team has a .202 batting average for the season.
"They've a very good hitting team," Laux said. "They're not hitting well lately, but their offense can be very potent."
Heading into today's games with the Cardinals, Northern Illinois is tied for last with Toledo in the West Division. Ball State finds itself in fourth place after falling three times to third-place Bowling Green.
Kris Burdine remains the team's leader in hitting with a .322 batting average, which ranks 11th in the MAC. Quincy Duran has the team's lowest ERA at 2.18 and holds a 4-4 record.
Laux is looking for an aggressive mindset and more urgency from her team.
"If you have an aggressive mindset, you're going to play that way," she said.
The Cardinals are looking at Tuesday as a possible makeup date with Purdue. The contest with the Boilermakers has been postponed twice, with the original date having been set for March 1.
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