Wildcats Hit the Road for Big Ten Weekend Series

Friday, March 29

Columbus, Ohio

5 p.m. CT

Northwestern

Ohio State

Wildcats Hit the Road for Big Ten Weekend Series

3/28/2024 5:25:00 PM | Softball

COLUMBUS, Ohio – After wrapping up a six-game home stand at Sharon J. Drysdale Field, Northwestern hits the road for its first Big Ten road trip of the season against the Ohio State Buckeyes.

The Wildcats will kick off the weekend against the Buckeyes on Friday night at 5pm CT, followed by a Saturday matinee at 1pm CT before finishing the weekend off at 12pm CT on Sunday. Action will be broadcast live all weekend on B1G+.

EIGHT THINGS TO KNOW

Northwestern is riding a nine-game winning streak entering this weekend, its longest of the 2024 season. Northwestern had two different 9+ game winning streaks last year, winning nine in a row from April 5-21 and 10 in a row from March 18-April 2.
The Wildcats won each of their eight Big Ten series last season, finishing with a 20-3 record. Northwestern is 42-7 (.857 win%) in Big Ten play since the start of the 2022 season, the highest mark in the conference.
Kansas Robinson was named the NCAA National Player of the Week and Big Ten Player of the Week after leading Northwestern in hits (9), batting average (.750), slugging percentage (1.583), on-base percentage (.778), home runs (3) and runs scored (5) in five games. In the Wildcats' series vs. Michigan State, Robinson batted 1.000, reached base in 10-of-11 plate appearances and posted a 2.667 slugging percentage. Robinson has reached base in all 24 of the Wildcats' games to open this season. Her streak is the longest by a Wildcat since 2019, when Morgan Nelson reached base in 34 consecutive games to close the season.
Ashley Miller currently leads the Big Ten and ranks 10th in the nation with a 0.85 earned run average. She has already tossed eight complete games this season, including three shutouts. Opposing batters are hitting .148 against Miller this year. Her 3.59 hits allowed per seven innings leads the Big Ten and ranks 11th in the nation, while her 8.7 strikeouts per seven innings ranks second in the conference. Miller holds a 7-3 record on the year thus far, each of her three losses on the season have been 1-0 decisions. In those three games, Miller holds a 0.78 ERA (2 ER/18.0 IP) while allowing just seven combined hits (.119 opposing average) and striking out 22.
Northwestern is 17-2 on the year when scoring at least one run. The last time the Wildcats lost when scoring a run was Feb. 16 in a 13-12 affair with #7 LSU.
Northwestern wrapped up a six-game home stand at Sharon J. Drysdale Field, going a 6-0 to extend the Wildcats' home winning streak to 30-consecutive games dating back to April 2022–the longest active home winning streak in Division I Softball.
Bridget Donahey ranks second on the team and fourth in the Big Ten with a .539 on-base percentage
on the year. Over the Wildcats' last 18 games entering this weekend, Donahey leads the team with a .593 on-base percentage, 17 walks and 15 runs scored. During that span, she has raised her batting average from .154 up to .314.
In the Wildcats' first two games of the Big Ten season, Kelsey Nader went 5-for-7 with three home runs, 7 RBI and 3 runs scored in a pair of wins over Michigan State. Nader hit more home runs in those two games (3) than she had in 74 career games prior to that (2).