Softball Continues Homestand on Wednesday Against Cardinals

FORT WAYNE, Ind. - The IPFW Mastodons continue their homestand on Wednesday afternoon, when the squad plays host to the Ball State Cardinals starting at 3 p.m.

Opponent: Ball State Cardinals
When: Wednesday, April 3, 2013 | 3 p.m. and 5 p.m.
Where: IPFW Softball Field | Fort Wayne, Ind.
All-Time Series: Ball State leads 7-4
Live Stats: IPFW Live Stats

ABOUT IPFW

The IPFW Mastodons showed little rust after a 18-day stretch without games because of weather, sweeping Western Illinois in the first day of a Summit League three-game series, winning 11-3 and 9-1.

Over the two games, the Mastodons hit .444 (24-of-54) with 20 runs scored, a .648 slugging percentage, and a .559 on-base percentage. Individually, Dani Pugh was 5-for-6 for the Mastodons (.833), with a home run and seven RBI's, as Larissa Franklin was 6-of-8 (.750) with seven runs scored. Ashleigh Bousquet led the team with eight RBI's, going 4-for-6 at the plate with a home run, triple, and double - slugging 1.667 on the afternoon. Megan Flenniken drove in a run at the plate, while also giving up just two hits in the afternoon finale, striking out five in five innings of work.

For the season the Mastodons have three regular players batting over .400, with another on the cusp. Ashleigh Bousquet and Franklin each hit .431 for the 'Dons, while Brittany Kachur is hitting .429. Pugh is at .397, while Alex Bousquet hits .315. Alex Bousquet and Franklin have scored 19 and 18 runs this season, while Ashleigh Bousquet and Pugh have driven in 20 runs. Three players - Ashleigh Bousquet, Pugh, and Alex Bousquet - each have three home runs to lead the team.

The pitching staff is led by Miranda Kramer and Megan Flenniken, as Kramer is 7-3 with a 2.46 ERA and Flenniken 4-3 with a 3.62 ERA. Kramer has 76 strikeouts on 57 innings of work, while Flenniken has 44 strikeouts in 48.1 innings this season.

ABOUT BALL STATE

Ball State comes into the mid-week meeting riding a seven-game win streak, including sweeping through the first weekend of MAC play with two wins over Bowling Green, and two over Toledo.

In the pair of wins over Toledo, Ball State recorded 27 hits (.380 average), scoring 24 runs, including five home runs. Of those five home runs, four were hit by Jennifer Gilbert, who went 6-for-8 on the day with six runs scored, seven RBI.

This season the team is led by Gilbert, who ranks inside of the top-10 in the NCAA in home runs per game (5th, 0.43), batting average (6th, .484), slugging percentage (6th, .967), and runs per game (6th, 1.18).

Taylor Rager bats .407 for the Cardinals, as Amanda Carpenter, the NCAA leader in doubles per game, bats .389. Hanne Studemann (.347) and Taylor Cox (.319) each bat over .300 as regular players for Ball State. Gilbert's 33 runs pace the team, with Studemann close behind with 27, as the Cardinals have scored 198 times in 28 games (7.1 per game).

The team leads the country in doubles per game (2.18), and have hit 30 home runs, and have a team batting average of .324, a team slugging percentage of .519, and a team on-base percentage of .402.

Leading the pitching staff is Nicole Steinbach, who is 7-7 with a 2.23 ERA, while Kelsey Schifferdecker is 6-1 with a 3.52 ERA, and Audra Sanders 5-2 with a 4.40 ERA. Steinbach has struck out 73 on the year, while walking 24 in 94.1 innings of work, with Sanders (33) and Schifferdecker (21) second and third on the team in strikeouts.

ALL-TIME SERIES

IPFW and Ball State have met 11 times on the softball field, six times in Fort Wayne, and five times in Muncie. The Cardinals hold a 7-4 lead in the all-time series, winning the first three meetings between the teams in 2003 and 2004. Since the initial 3-0 Ball State run, the teams have played even, each winning four games, including a 5-4 IPFW win in Muncie in 2010.

~ Feel the Rumble ~

Purdue University Fort Wayne Athletics

Softball Continues Homestand on Wednesday Against Cardinals

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