Team comparisons (rank in the MAC)
Ball State
Batting average - .267 (7)
Runs scored - 161 (6)
Earned run average - 5.72 (11)
Runs allowed - 235 (12)
Eastern Michigan
Batting average - .278 (4)
Runs scored - 168 (4)
Earned run average (5.04)
Runs allowed - (235)
Ball State softball dropped to fourth in the Mid-American Conference West Division rankings and is set to play the team directly above it: Eastern Michigan.
Ball State (18-23, 4-8 MAC) travels to Eastern Michigan (15-23, 5-6 MAC) for a three-game series April 15-16.
The Cardinals have dropped five of their last six games, the most recent of which coming in a 12-4 loss against Northern Illinois (27-11, 8-3 MAC) on April 13. Eastern Michigan has also struggled in its last six games, winning only two of them.
Recently, mistakes have been the story for Ball State, and senior pitcher Nicole Steinbach thinks her team needs to come out and play the way they did earlier in the season.
“This weekend, we just need to come out and play Ball State softball,” she said. “We need to learn from our mistakes and just push forward as a team.”
Eastern Michigan ranks above Ball State in both hitting and pitching categories, but not by much. Eastern Michigan's team ERA is 5.04, compared with Ball State's 5.72 season mark. On the offensive side, Eastern Michigan has a team batting average of .278, compared with Ball State's .267 mark.
Head coach Megan Ciolli Bartlett said scoring runs to support the team's pitchers will be a key to victory on the road.
“We have to find any way to manufacture a run. Any way we can push one across the plate we’ve got to do,” she said. “It doesn’t have to be flashy.”
Ball State has scored 17 runs in its past six games, which includes two games where the team went scoreless.
The series begins at 3 p.m April 15 in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Games two and three will be at 1 and 3 p.m. April 16.
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