Ball State visits for mid-week matchup


Grand Canyon Lopes (15-5)	vs.	Ball State Cardinals (5-9)
		Wednesday, March 9 6 p.m.
Game notes		Live video Live stats

The Grand Canyon softball team hosts its third mid-week game with Ball State coming to the GCU Softball Stadium on Wednesday at 6 p.m.

THREE THINGS TO KNOW

THIRD MID-WEEK: The Lopes have only played two other mid-week games this season. GCU took on Minnesota and Long Island on Feb. 17 and won both games.
RPI: GCU comes into Wednesday at No. 67 in NCAA Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) after four weeks of play. The Lopes have the best RPI in the WAC with Seattle U coming in at No. 82 and California Baptist at No. 97.
READY FOR FINAL TOURNAMENT: The Lopes will take on Ball State two days before they host the GCU/ASU Classic with Arizona State. GCU will take on BYU, Rutgers, Ball State and Kansas City in the tournament.

SCOUTING

Ball State comes to Phoenix with a 5-9 record after playing in three tournaments this season. The Cardinals and Lopes have not played a common opponent yet this season. However, the Cardinals played WAC opponent Seattle in a 7-5 loss on opening weekend. The Cardinals had their best weekend at the Winthrop Eagle Invitational, where they went 3-2 defeating Winthrop, Western Carolina and Towson. Ball State was picked to finish third in the Mid-American Conference behind Miami and Kent State.

Ball State is hitting .270 in 14 games with a slugging percentage of .430 and an on-base percentage of .331. The Cardinals totaled 100 hits with 15 doubles, one triple and 14 home runs. On the base paths, they are 15 for 23 on stolen bases. In the circle, the Cardinals have a combined 4.49 ERA with 90.1 innings pitched. Opponents are hitting .277 against them. The staff has given up 101 hits, including 19 doubles, one triple and five home runs. The have allowed 86 runs and 58 earned runs while striking out 73 batters.

Senior outfielder Faith Hensley is the Cardinals top hitter as she is first in almost every offensive category. She leads the team in batting average (.439), slugging percentage (.829) and on-base percentage (.540). She has a team-best 18 hits, 11 RBIs, and five home runs. Three other Cardinals have started all 14 games (Haley Wynn, Kayla Lissy, and Amaia Daniel). Wynn is second in batting average (.362), hits (17) and doubles (three). Lissy is third in batting average with a .326 and .340 on-base percentage. She has also stolen five bases. Daniel has totaled 10 hits with eight RBIs and one home run.

In the circle, Deborah Jones has logged the most innings (34.1) and had the best ERA (2.24). The junior has a 1-3 record with two complete games. She has given up 30 hits, 18 runs, 11 earned runs and two home runs. She has a team-best 37 strikeouts and .227 batting average against. Angelina Russo and Madison Taylor have both tossed at least 20 innings. Russo has a 5.47 ERA while Taylor has a 7.00.

LAST TIME OUT
The Lopes went 3-2 at the GCU Invitational, dropping their last two games of the tournament.

WHAT'S NEXT?
The Lopes will host BYU on Friday at 2:30 p.m. in GCU Softball Stadium as part of the GCU/ASU Classic.

Grand Canyon University Athletics

Next Event

Related Videos