Fresh off a competitive home series against Illinois, Wisconsin (9-7-1 Big Ten, 24-19-1) will take a break from Big Ten play to host a doubleheader with in-state rival Green Bay.
The Badgers won just one of the three games against Illinois, but they had a chance to tie or win the game in each of their losses.
Friday’s game one was a back-and-forth contest and it wasn’t until some late-inning Badger miscues gave the game to Illinois. The Fighting Illini grabbed the lead on a fifth-inning error by Macy Oswald. UW tied the game in the bottom of the sixth, but a baserunning mistake cost the Badgers the game, as Illinois took the lead for good in the seventh inning and won 4-3.
Game two saw a lot of early scoring. After Illinois grabbed a quick 1-0 lead in the top of the first, Wisconsin loaded the bases and jumped out to a 3-1 lead, with the big hit coming from a Kelly Welsh two-RBI single. UW added another run on a Katie Christner RBI single and won the game 4-1.
The final game of the series featured a 1-0 pitchers’ duel in front of a packed Goodman Diamond crowd. Illinois broke through and grabbed the winning run on a sixth inning fielder’s choice. Wisconsin was only able to muster four hits in the game.
UW looks to get its offense back on track against the Phoenix.
Green Bay (7-7 Horizon League, 16-26 overall) just completed a long home stand in which it went 3-3 against the University of Illinois-Chicago and Youngstown State. The Phoenix averaged more six runs per game during the home stand.
The Green Bay offense is led by four players who hit above .300 and have each accumulated more than 20 RBIs on the season.
“It’s an emotional game against an in-state rivalry,” head coach Yvette Healy said. “Green Bay plays really hard and I think we’re looking to get back on track and get some wins at home. It’s fun to play in-state kids and bring our A-games to get wins.”
After a tough game Sunday, junior right fielder Chloe Miller is looking forward to getting back out on the field.
“I think this game against Green Bay is going to give us a really good chance to get back at the couple of losses we had this weekend, and really just fight for seven innings,” Miller said.
Game one at Goodman Diamond begins Tuesday at 2 p.m. with game two scheduled to begin around 4 p.m.
Kelly Ward contributed to this report.
