Wisconsin has a chance to bounce back this Tuesday after a heartbreaking loss in extra innings to Iowa this past Sunday. After splitting the first two games of the series, the Badgers came up short in their last ten innings of play against the Hawkeyes.
The Badgers (2-9 Big Ten, 17-22 overall) will face Green Bay (5-6 Horizon League, 12-18 overall) in a doubleheader tomorrow at Goodman Diamond. The first game will start at 3 p.m. and the second will follow at 5 p.m.
The Badgers will need to build on their multidimensional performance against Valparaiso for the Green Bay matchup.
When it comes to overall team batting averages, Green Bay and Wisconsin are fairly close with .287 and .297 rates respectively. However, there are three Badgers on the roster currently batting over .350, compared to just one for Green Bay. Senior outfielder Maria Van Abel leads the team with a .414 average, but fellow seniors Marissa Mersch and Megan Tancill are not far behind with batting averages of .362 and .356 respectively. Wisconsin needs these seniors to keep the bats going tomorrow.
The Badgers will face some tough pitching as the top two Green Bay pitchers have lower ERAs than anyone Wisconsin has faced in their last two matchups. Phoenix pitcher Heather Sanderson leads the team in appearances and has the lowest ERA with a 4.45. The redshirt sophomore also leads the team in strikeouts with 64. Her teammate, junior pitcher Briana Cavin, is not far behind in appearances and has an ERA of 4.95. Cavin is also second on the team in strikeouts with 43.
The Badgers only committed two errors in their last three games against Iowa, losing the series 2-1. Green Bay committed two errors in their last two games against Wright State, splitting the series with the Raiders.
With similar statistics between the two in-state opponents, this game could come down to which team commits the fewest errors and which pitchers come to play.
